Saint Nicholas Cemetery

Saint Nicholas Cemetery (Mikulášský hřbitov in Czech) is one of the oldest and historically most significant cemeteries in Plzeň, laid out around the Church of St. Nicholas in the city's eastern suburb. No burials take place there today, but its surviving network of paths, monuments and family chapels makes it a notable memorial site and a destination for visitors interested in history and funerary architecture.

How did the cemetery come to be?

The story begins with the church itself. In 1406, a Plzeň burgher named Vít Malíř, who owned a vineyard on the site, financed the construction of a church dedicated to St. Nicholas. A few years later, in 1414, King Wenceslas IV granted the citizens of Plzeň permission to establish a cemetery around the church. It was created as a burial ground for the city's poorer residents, located outside the town walls, which was a common arrangement for cemeteries serving people of limited means in the medieval period. From the 16th century onward, non-Catholics were also buried here, which was not the standard practice at parish cemeteries of the time.

Why is it called Plzeň's Slavín?

A turning point in the cemetery's history came in 1784, when Emperor Joseph II issued a decree banning burials within built-up areas inside city walls. As a result, the parish cemeteries in central Plzeň were closed, while St. Nicholas Cemetery, situated in the suburbs, took on a new role — it became a prestigious burial place for wealthy merchants, city officials and other notable citizens. From this period, spanning the 18th and 19th centuries, a rich collection of stone funerary art survives: classicist and eclectic monuments, family chapels, and finely crafted crosses and steles. Because of the concentration of distinguished figures buried in a relatively small area, the site is sometimes referred to as Plzeň's Slavín, echoing the famous pantheon of notable Czechs at Prague's Vyšehrad cemetery.

What changed in the 19th century?

In the mid-19th century, the cemetery was extended northward. A new boundary wall with an entrance gate was built, along with a caretaker's house, and the grounds were laid out in regular, geometric burial blocks. This layout, typical of modern cemetery design in that era, survives to this day and gives structure to the space alongside the older, less regular sections of the grounds.

Who is buried here?

Among those buried at St. Nicholas Cemetery are figures of significance to Czech and Plzeň history. It is the resting place of Josef Kajetán Tyl, the Czech writer and playwright who wrote the lyrics to what became the Czech national anthem, who died in 1856. The cemetery also contains the grave of Emil Škoda, the industrialist who founded the Škoda Works, who died in 1900. The presence of these and other notable figures reflects the standing the cemetery gained as a burial place for the city's elite during the 19th century.

Why was the cemetery closed to new burials?

In 1901, St. Nicholas Cemetery stopped accepting new burials. This followed the construction of a new, much larger municipal cemetery — the Central Cemetery on Rokycanská Street, built between 1897 and 1901, which took over as Plzeň's main burial ground. Since then, St. Nicholas Cemetery has functioned primarily as a historical and monumental site, open to visitors.

Frequently asked questions

Are burials still carried out at the cemetery? No, the last burials took place in the early 20th century; the cemetery was closed to new burials after 1901.

Who is the most notable person buried here? The writer Josef Kajetán Tyl and the industrialist Emil Škoda, founder of the Škoda Works, are the most frequently mentioned.

Why is the cemetery called Plzeň's Slavín? Because of the large number of distinguished and wealthy citizens buried there after 1784, following Emperor Joseph II's decree banning burials in the city center.

Where is the cemetery located? It lies next to the Church of St. Nicholas in Plzeň's eastern suburb, close to the city center.