History of Žižkov

Žižkov used to be a specific town district of Prague. Let´s explore its rich history and learn about the origin of its name. In the article we will transfer to the period of Charles IV, our Homeland´s Father, and to the Hussite period when one of the significant triumphal battles of the Hussites over Crusaders took place.

All about: Prague´s Žižkov

Settlement and founding of Žižkov
The contemporary Žižkov territory used to be a rarely settled landscape in the past, located behind the boundaries of Prague. V roce 1358 the Emperor Charles IV issued a decision to grow vineyards on the hillsides around Prague. The vineyards were also founded in the territory of the present-day Žižkov. Unfortunatelly, they were not protected and so they suffered from frequent raids of the hostile troops. There were some sixty-six houses and settlements in this village in 1837 and one hundred and sixty-nine inhabitants. In 1849 the territory was called Vinohrady and later in 1867 the Emperor Joseph I permitted to use a new name, Královské Vinohrady (Royal Vineyards).

Žižkov as an independant town
On July 16th, 1875, the Land Diet (Assembly) divided Královské Vinohrady in two parts, namely the current Žižkov and Královské Vinohrady. The name Žižkov was officially permitted in 1877 and on May 15th, 1881, the Emperor Francis Joseph I raised Žižkov to a town. On January 1st, 1922, the town became part of Prague. During those years a rapid construction of new houses was carried out and around 1920 the district was completely built-up. It is interesting that one of the first tram lines was heading right uphill to Źižkov.

All about: Prague 3 Monuments

The Battle of Vítkov
Also the Hussite period is inseparably connected to the history of Žižkov. Especially the local hill Vítkov had played an important role in the history. It was called after a Prague citizen Vítek of Hill who used to have vineyards in that location. The Vítkov Hill entered the history textbooks by the date July 14th, 1420, when the Hussites under the direction of Jan Žižka of Trocnov defeated the Crusader troops. In commemoration of the famous Hussite victory a bronze equestrian statue of Jan Žižka of Trocnov with a mace which nowadays ranks among the first ten of the world´s greatest equestrian statues was placed on Vítkov. The Hussitism also reflects in many street names of Žižkov, whose names very often refer to the representatives of the Hussitism or to the names related to the Hussite rebellion.