Old cemetery in Ďáblice

Malý Ďáblický Cemetery is a small burial ground in the Prague 8 district of Ďáblice, sitting on a plot at the junction of Ďáblická and K Lomu streets. Covering only about 0.2 hectares, it ranks among the smallest cemeteries in the Czech capital, yet its origins date back to the late 19th century and are tied to a very specific and dramatic reason for its creation.

Why was this cemetery built?

Until 1872, residents of Ďáblice buried their dead at the cemetery in Prosek, next to the Church of St. Wenceslas. That arrangement stopped being adequate once a serious smallpox and cholera epidemic swept through the region. The scale of the deaths pushed regional authorities to order every municipality under their jurisdiction to build its own local cemetery — so that infectious disease outbreaks would no longer require transporting bodies over long distances, and each community could manage burials independently during a crisis.

When was it built, and by whom?

The cemetery in Ďáblice itself was constructed in 1896. The building work was carried out by master builder Josef Krejza from Líbeznice. The site was formally consecrated on 23 August 1896, in a ceremony led by Reverend Štěpán Pittner, a vicar from Líbeznice. This date is well documented and serves as the reference point for the cemetery's history — from that moment on, it served the local community as a burial site.

What should visitors know about this place?

Malý Ďáblický is a modest, small-scale cemetery — it should not be confused with the much larger and better-known Ďáblický hřbitov in Střížkov, which lies in the same general area but is a separate, considerably larger burial ground with a different history and scale. The name "malý" (small) in Prague's local toponymy immediately signals this difference in size and function: this is a local parish cemetery, not a major municipal necropolis.

Given its small footprint, the cemetery has a quiet, intimate character typical of suburban cemeteries built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in response to the sanitary needs of growing communities around Prague. For anyone interested in the urban and public-health history of the Czech capital, it's a good example of how 19th-century epidemics directly shaped local infrastructure — not just hospitals, but cemeteries too were built as a direct response to sanitary crises.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is Malý Ďáblický cemetery located? In the Ďáblice district of Prague 8, on a plot at the junction of Ďáblická and K Lomu streets.

When was the cemetery built? It was built in 1896 and consecrated on 23 August 1896.

Why was this cemetery built in the first place? Because of a smallpox and cholera epidemic in 1872, after which the existing cemetery in Prosek could no longer cope, prompting authorities to order municipalities to build their own local cemeteries.

Is this the same as the famous Ďáblický hřbitov? No — Malý Ďáblický is a separate, much smaller local cemetery, distinct from the considerably larger Ďáblický hřbitov in Střížkov.

How big is this cemetery? It covers roughly 0.2 hectares, making it one of the smaller cemeteries in Prague.