Vysočany

Vysočany (German: Wissotschan) is a part of Prague in the Prague 9 administrative district (partly in Prague 3), Czech Republic. It lays in the eastern part of Prague around the valley with Rokytka river.

History

 * The first recorded information about Vysočany is from 1115 when the duke Vladislav I. gave Vysočany vineyards to Kladruby monastery.
 * In 1896 - Emil Kolben - important Czech engineer and entrepreneur (former employee and friend of Thomas Edison) founded its factory which later became famous ČKD. This strongly influenced Vysočany as a heavily industrial district of Prague.
 * In the year 1902 - the emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria awarded Vysočany with the title of city and the right to use its coat of arms.
 * 1911 - Vysočany Town Hall was built
 * In 1922 - Vysočany became part of Prague.
 * In 1939 - after Nazi invasion of Prague. The majority of industrial production had to be refocused on military production to support Nazi-Germany war
 * In 1942 - several families from Vysočany were involved in the Operation Anthropoid (assassination of Reinhard Heydrich)
 * In 1945 - during the end of World War II the district was heavily damaged during the Bombing of Prague. The targets were factories which were forced to produce military material.
 * In 1968 - after the invasion of Russian armies - there was a special convention of the Czechoslovak Communist Party held in Vysočany which strongly condemned the invasion of the Soviet armies.
 * Since 1990s - the new era after Velvet Revolution saw Vysočany transforming from heavily industrial district to new modern residential part of Prague. Big part of construction is focused on the "brown-fields" after former factories.

Infrastructure

 * Vysočany has 2 metro stations on the line B: Vysočanská and Kolbenova.
 * 2 train stations (Praha-Vysočany and Praha-Libeň).
 * The oldest airport in Prague Kbely lies partly in Vysočany.

Interesting facts

 * The tallest residential building in the Czech Republic Rezidence Eliška is in Vysočany.
 * Vineyard Máchalka is the only one left in the almost 1000-year history of vine production in Vysočany. It was renewed in 1998.
 * Part of the Pragovka factory was rebuilt to an artist/community center
 * The largest flea market in Prague is in Vysočany district in the U Elektry street.
 * O2 Arena (Prague) with the shopping mall Galerie Harfa and Harfa Business District is generally considered as Vysočany although officially lies in Libeň district.