Originally published on Twitter on 18 October 2022.
Čáslavská was built in 1910.
Čáslav, population 10,000, is a town in Central Bohemia, in the Kutná Hora district.
It was founded in 1264 by Přemysl Otakar II, who I am just going to start assume founded everything, including me.
Initially on the side of the Catholics in the Hussite Wars, Čáslav changed sides in 1421. In July of the same year, the Bohemian Parliament met there and voted in a Hussite government.
(Picture: ‘Čáslavský sněm‘ by Jan Skramlík)
When Jan Žížka died in 1424, his body was first deposited in Hradec Králové (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/06/24/prague-3-day-176-hradecka/), but is then reputed to have been transferred (in secret) to Čáslav.
In November 1910, during renovation work on St. Peter and Paul Church in the town, various human bones were found in a bricked-up niche.
A committee concluded that the skull parts that were discovered most likely belonged to Žižka, a conclusion also made by anthropologist Emanuel Vlček in 1980.
It’s believed that the remains were hidden by a local clergyman, Matouš Ulický, in the early 1620s (i.e. shortly after Bílá Hora).
Ulický was arrested in 1627 for sedition. He was executed in the same year, undergoing severe torture beforehand.
After the 1420s, Čáslav followed a pattern that seems to come up a lot in this set of posts – prosperity despite a couple of large fires (1452 and 1522), followed by having a pretty crap time of it during the Thirty Years’ War (the Swedes invaded in 1639 and 1643).
In the early 19th century, Čáslav became an important administrative centre in the region.
The town’s most famous son must surely be Miloš Forman, who was born here in 1932.
It was also the birthplace of military intelligence officer František Moravec (1895-1966).
Although he died in the US, his remains were recently transferred to the Czech Republic, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of Operation Anthropoid.
His remains were ceremonially buried in Čáslav in April 2022: https://english.radio.cz/wartime-czechoslovak-spymaster-frantisek-moravecs-remains-brought-back-us-8748759.
Čáslav is also noticeable for its successful athletes, being the birthplace of Jarmila Kratochvílová (gold medals in 400 and 800 metres at the 1983 World Championships, setting a record in the latter which still stands).
The comments on that video. Sigh.
There’s also Ludmila Formanová (gold medal in 800 m at the World Championships in 1999).
What's in a Prague street name 
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