In the footsteps of Jan Čáky
His genius lay in his ability to combine a wealth of information with a talent for storytelling and beautiful imagery, which was conditioned by his love for the local area. Jan Čaka was a distinctive and hard-working artist with unusual modesty and firm principles. He was also a proud patriot.
1. HIGHWAY
After the closure of the trade school during the German occupation, Jan Čáka worked at the Příbram railway station.
Although Jan Čáka was born on 12 June 1929 in Prague, most of his ancestors came from Příbram and Březové Hory. He himself was close to this region since his childhood, visiting his grandparents here regularly. In 1941 the family returned to Příbram permanently. At his mother's request, Jan Čaka went to study at the local business school, but it was closed a year later and its pupils were totally deployed.
After the end of the war he finished his schooling. He did not find clerical work fulfilling, so he enrolled at the State School of Graphic Arts in Prague. After graduating and completing his compulsory military service, he returned to Příbram and worked as a cartographer at the Uranium Mines. In 1967, he became a member of the Union of Artists, and since then he has worked only as a freelancer.
2. BRDY
His love was Brdy. He always wanted to learn as much as possible about the places he explored with a backpack on his back.
As a member of Junák, he was close to the Czech landscape, which he walked with a backpack on his back. That's why his first book was called Walking the Brdy Mountains. It was followed by Wandering the Brdy Mountains. He always wanted to see all the places he wrote about with his own eyes. "I would like my works to arouse the interest of people for whom this region is a true home in a deeper knowledge of its past. That this knowledge would deepen their love for the places where they live, and perhaps even sow the seeds of new activity," he used to say.
Most of his work is connected with Podbrdsko and the central Povltava region. He reminisced about "his" town in his books I Walk Through Old Příbram, Disappeared Příbram by the Old Flexarette, Příbram Corners or Příbram Folk Songs, Pop Songs and Rhymes, which were published in the 1970s but soon destroyed due to their "ideological defect".
3. PENSION U MUZEA
He had a personal relationship with Březové Hory. One of his daughters, Alena Čáková, runs the Penzion U Muzea here today.
It was scouting that got the State Security interested in Jan Čaka. Although he ran into existential problems during the normalisation years, he always remained faithful to his principles: not to betray his views on life, his convictions and to do a professional job perfectly. In the 1990s he reissued several older titles and published his most extensive work, The Vanished Vltava. His book Central Brdy - an Unknown Landscape was also published at this time. In total, he published over 30 books and small publications.
Čák's work resulted not only in valuable texts, but also in numerous drawings, prints and heraldic designs. Much of his work was connected with mining and he had a personal relationship with the Březové Hory Mountains. A lookout point in the Brdy Mountains near the top of Prague was named after him.
The life journey of the Brda pilgrim and Příbram patriot ended on 2 September 2018.
4. BIRCH MOUNTAINS
On the gallery of the tower of the Ševčinský Mine there are Čák's prints describing the panorama of the Březové Hory and Brdy.
Václav Bešt'ák with texts by Hana Ročňáková and contributions by Alena Čáková
Photo: Karolina Ketmanová
