Cemeteries and Burial Sites in the Town - Strakonice
Abstract: The cemeteries occupy in a number of towns vast areas comparable, for example, with the areas of residential complexes (Olšany Cemeteries in the capital city of Prague extend on the area of over 50 hectares). Their position and the form have been in the course of history changed in connection with the procedure of burial, religious and consequently state regulations as well as the preferences of the particular time (crematoriums, ceremonial halls, forest graveyards, scattering meadows). In plenty of towns the old cemeteries represent significant greenery areas, which fulfil many other functions (ecological, eco-stabilization, microclimatic, recreational, preservation of monuments, etc.), they also influence a town image. Today´s parks and landscaped areas in the centres of historical towns originate in many cases in the cemetery area, which used to be more or less the only area of “public greenery” in the town. Specific are particularly the Jewish cemeteries and their position, which was influenced by the various restrictions from the state and cities side, in common with the burial objects of nobility and church dignitaries (tombs, burial chapel), which can be a valuable part of our fund of monuments. A position of cemeteries in the town is historically conditioned and testifies to the time of their origin and urban development of the settlement (in common with other functional areas in the town). The article discusses the development of burial in the town of Strakonice and above all deals with the central cemetery of Saint Wenceslas. It also mentions other cemeteries including extinct ones, the burial in churches as well as a specific example of the Jewish cemetery. It is not only a contribution to the knowledge of urban development of the town of Strakonice, but it also shows the common principles applied in a number of similar towns.
