Tour of Kralovice

There is a trail that connects Stupice and Kralovice which are villages to the east of Prague and lie about 2 miles apart. At the halfway point of that trail is a small rest and picnic area. It's called U Tří Kaštanů (Three Chestnuts). There is a fantastic signpost to keep you from losing your way between the villages. It is the perfect spot to start a tour of the Vokoun home region in the Czech countryside. I hope to get my picture there some day.

 Three Chestnuts (U Tří Kaštanů) sign post

I should mention at the outset that it was an incredible stroke of luck, from a genealogic standpoint, that Jan Vokoun's birthplace was listed in his obituary. Czech records are not nationalized and exist almost solely at the local level. Without a starting point, searching for people in the historical record is needle-in-haystack endeavor. I have run into a brick wall with other names, such as Otradovec, that while rarer, don't have a place of origin. 

We start with the map of Prague with our area of interest to the east. It is outside Prague but it does straddle the border of Prague City (think of it as a county) and the region known as Central Bohemia. Prague is situated in the heart of the Bohemian Basin which is ringed by mountains but is characterized by fertile soil and natural streams that make farming the main industry as it has been for centuries or longer. The principle crops are grains including wheat, barley, oat, and corn along with other staples such as onion, potato and, of course, hops to supply all those Czech breweries.

Here is a close up of that area known as Prague 22. I have marked some of the areas. A. Kralovice, home of Jan Vokoun, Anna Bechyne Vokoun, and Josefa Sazima Vokoun and where all of the Vokoun siblings were born except the youngest (Joseph Edward who was born in Chicago). B. Border of Prague City and the Central Bohemian Region. C. Uhrineves where marriages and baptisms likely occurred but were definitely recorded. D. Stupice, home of Jan Vokoun's grandfather, Jan Nepomucky Vokoun b. 1749, who was a landowner in the area. E. Nedvezi, home of the Rathauskys. Anna Rathausky b. 1771 was Jan Nepomucky Vokoun's second wife and Jan Vokoun's grandmother. F. Dubec, birthplace of Lidmila Katerina Vokoun born 1672, the oldest Vokoun birth record found so far in this region. G. Kolovraty, location of a church in Uhrineves Catholic parish where some of the marriages and baptisms likely occurred. Listed as location of Jan Nepomucky Vokoun and Anna Rathausky's wedding in 1790.

Prague 22

Here is a closer view of Stupice, Kralovice and Uhrineves. I don't show the scale but one could easily walk the round trip in day with plenty of time to spare.

Just to keep things straight for what follows, here are the family relationships:

1. Jan/John Vokoun born 1831 married to Anne Bechyne and then Josepha Sazima. Immigrated to Chicago.

2. Jan Vokoun born 1804 married to Anna Klin born 1809, father of John Vokoun

3. Jan Nepomucky Vokoun born 1749 married to Anna Rathausky born 1771, father of Jan Vokoun, grandfather of John Vokoun. Wealthy land owner.

Kralovice is the home of Jan Vokoun b. 1831and his family before they immigrated. I have marked houses/plots 15, 5 and 2 which are among those listed in the records. House #15 is listed as the place of birth for Frank, and Rudolph. #15 is also the birthplace of some of Jan Vokoun's younger siblings so it may have been his father's house (another Jan Vokoun b. 1804 just to make things confusing!) Louis, Charles and Anna were born in #2. #2 is also listed as the place of death for Anna Bechyne and then marriage of Jan and Josefa Sazima so it seems plausible that Jan moved out of his father's home and into #2. Lastly Vincent is born in #5. Obviously, it is possible some of these addresses were the residence of a midwife or healer. We can't really say. The aerial view gives a good sense of the size and surrounding farm land. From this agrarian village across the ocean to Chicago is a move that broke from the past and embraced the future in both a geological and metaphysical sense.

Kralovice aerial

Here is Kralovice circa 1840's with arrows marking the same houses where Vokoun children were born. These maps are linked in our genealogist's report. They were created by the Hapsburgs presumably to survey and document land ownership for tax purposes.

Kralovice is big enough and old enough to have its own coat of arms which I quite like.

Some present day pictures of Kralovice 15. I don't know if the structures date to 1870s but as I have learned in my travels there is a difference in the perception of old between new and old world. In America, a house dating to 1850 gets a historic landmark designation. In Europe it gets trash pickup and mail delivery!

Kralovice #15 entrance

Kralovice #15 plot

Kralovice #2

Kralovice 5

I have searched to find some sites of Kralovice to give you a sense of the village.

Field near village

Kralovice street

Kralovice Sokol field with Fortress Kralovice in distance

Religious symbols are scattered about.

Virgin Mary statue near town center

Crucifix

Kralovice Fortress (Tvrz Královice) dating to the 14th century and recently renovated. There were several fortresses east of Prague that protected the city. Many have been destroyed or have only remants that survive. (If you are disappointed that you can't actually visit the fortress, don't fret. Just order and build the paper model!)

Královice Fortress

Kralovice Fortress (renovated)

Fortress interior

St. Margaret Church (Kostel Svaté Markéty) and cemetery. The church is located on a spot where reputedly once stood a castle in which the Czech king Wenceslas' II and his wife Jitka's daugher, Marketa, was born. Out of the gratitude towards her patron saint, the king converted the castle to the church. The first mention of the church dates to 1364. The church features a renaissance-style tower decorated with battlements. In 1739 the church was rebuilt in a Baroque style. Then again in 1865 the church was rebuilt. The most recent repairs to the exterior of the church occurred in 2002. I think that some of our forebears are buried in the cemetery.

Church entrance

St. Margaret cemetery

Field near St. Margaret

Frantisek Vokoun headstone at St. Margaret

Frantisek Vokoun b1833 d1877

The hillfort of Šance (Hradiště Šance), also known as the hillfort of St. Markéty, is located on a promontory above the Rokytka river. It's a fortified earthwork built on a hill (hillfort, get it?) This one dates to the early medieval period around the end of the first millennium AD.  It is assumed that it had an important military, administrative and/or economic function in the Premysl era. It is one of the oldest known archaeological sites in Bohemia.

The Rokytka river, a tributary of the Vltava river that runs through Prague, runs through Kralovice along the border of Prague and Central Bohemia Region. (Frankly, if I'm being honest here, it looks like a creek to my eyes). The river was the site of the Battle of Prague in the Seven Years War in 1757 during which 64,000 Prussians routed 60,000 Austrian defenders. To put the date in perspective, Jan Nepomucky Vokoun would have been about 8 years old and thus a witness to the battle that occurred. I've made it look scenic but frankly it's known to be especially polluted (i.e. sewage) so don't take a dip!

Rokyta River

Rokyta River

There is a legend about the Rokytka. The legend tells of a flood on Rokytka on March 3, 938 A.D. after the murder of St. Wenceslas by order of his brother, Boleslav I. 

"And they came at night, took the most holy body, and loaded it on a cart, they drove until they came to a stream called Rokytnice (today Rokytka). And behold, the water was so high that even over the banks the roller flooded all the meadows, and those who brought the holy body had no hope but death. But when they were in such trouble, it occurred to them to beg the blessed Wenceslas himself to have mercy on them..."

I don't know if St. Wenceslas spared his murders' lives but if he did hopefully he at least gave them a proper drenching.

Moving on to Stupice, the birthplace of Jan Vokoun b. 1831. It is home to about 150 inhabitants and as rural as that population implies. Stupice #1 is bracketed. It was once home to a fortress like Kralovice but that disappear centuries ago. You can read a bit of Stupice history here. It looks to be bit constricting for a young, bored small-town kid which, I am quite sure, accounts for his move to big city Kralovice, the metropolis of 300 residents!

Stupice aerial view

Here is the map circa 1840's

Stupice showing Johannes Wokaun's land including plot #1 (underlined)

Here is a picture of the building. Today it is owned by the Czech farming cooperative, SELGEN. 

Stupice #1

Did I say that Stupice is small?

Downtown Stupice

Finally, I have just a bit of Uhrineves which is where the marriages, baptisms were recorded. The Catholic parish of Uhrineves has Vokoun records dating to the 1670s. Some of those events could well have been performed at this church. All Saints Church (Kostel Všech Svatých) built in a Baroque style in 1746.

All Saints Church (Kostel Všech Svatých)

After all of this sightseeing, it is natural to be a hungry tourist. Can I suggest this Uhrineves bistro just down the street from the church.

 Bohemian Burgers and Pit BBQ

All you can drink - is that a thing?