Strašnice Crematorium, Crematorium in Prague 10, Czech Republic.
Strašnice Crematorium is a constructivist building on Vinohradská street in Prague 10-Vinohrady, completed in 1931 and opened in 1932 to Alois Mezera's design. Its pale yellow block carries five tall narrow windows above a columned entrance, with a shallow stone basin on the paved forecourt. The main hall is 16 metres high and covers 450 square metres.
A public architectural competition in 1926 chose Alois Mezera's constructivist design from 40 entries; construction began in summer 1929 and the building opened in January 1932, with operations starting 4 April 1932, the day the provisional crematorium at Olšany closed. During the Nazi occupation about 2,200 people were cremated in a "third night shift"; after 1948 bodies of those executed in political trials were again brought here, and director František Suchý kept a secret register of the dead.
The ceremonial hall holds 80 seated and 500 standing guests and has its own organ; a small hall to its right, the Baxa Hall, was added later. In the vestibule a memorial plaque lists the first president T. G. Masaryk, mayor Karel Baxa, architect Alois Mezera and builder Tomáš Amena.
Hearses enter the building down a gentle three-degree slope, and the ceremonial hall seats 200 with a glass viewing area for mourners outside. The grounds adjoin Vinohrady Cemetery but are separated from it by a wall, with a passage through a small gate by the crematorium building. The site opened to the public during European Heritage Days in September 2012.
The crematorium's manager František Suchý kept a secret register of the bodies burned here under the Nazi and Communist regimes, hiding ashes meant for compost and recording names despite the threat of punishment. His son, who witnessed the disposals, joined the anti-Communist resistance and was sentenced to 25 years in 1952.
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