MEDIEVAL SETTLEMENT – THE CORE OF EUROPEAN CITIES

USING THE EXAMPLE OF AN INTERACTIVE CARTOGRAPHIC IMAGE OF PRAGUE

„It was as if I were excavating Old Prague like Pompeii or Herculaneum, part by part, from the rubble that covered it in later centuries.“

Václav Vladivoj TOMEK, Paměti z mého života, díl I. [Memories from My Life, Vol. I], Praha 1904, p. 452.

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RESULTS

Web map application

The interactive web map application captures Prague using the unique plan by Václav Vladivoj Tomek (1892), reconstructing the medieval settlement of Prague’s towns up to the pre-Hussite era, in comparison with time horizons at the end of the 18th century (Herget’s Plan of Prague, 1790/1791), in the first half of the 19th century (Jüttner’s plan of Prague, 1815), on the imperial legal deposit imprint of the map of the stable cadastre (1842), after the urban renewal of Josefov at the beginning of the 20th century (1910) and at present.

Papers

  • Eva Semotanová, Předhusitská Praha na plánu Václava Vladivoje Tomka z roku 1892 [Pre-Hussite Prague on the plan of Václav Vladivoj Tomek from 1892], in: Husitství - reformace - renesance : sborník k 60. narozeninám Františka Šmahela = Hussitism - reformation - renaissance : volume to the 60th birthday František Šmahel. Praha : Historický ústav AV ČR, 1994, pp. 1001–1012. (available here)

Current texts related to the resolution of the project are now being prepared.

About the project

The development and transformations of the medieval settlement form an important part of European and world cultural heritage. The project focuses on the area of the Prague towns, the historical development of which is interpreted through the analysis of historical sources (especially with the use of cartographic heritage) and GIS technologies.

The most important source is the detailed plan of the prominent historian and Prague expert Václav Vladivoj Tomek Maps of Old Prague for 1200, 1348 and 1419, based on which a reconstruction interactive map was created, which also enables a comparison with the later territorial development of the Czech metropolis through other cartographic sources. The intention is to use the narrative potential of a wide range of historical sources (primarily written, archaeological and building history sources, partially cartographic), and the goal is to attempt to reconstruct the previous appearance of the city – the scale of the built-up area and the subsequent cultural landscape – working from Tomek’s plan and set within the present-day administrative boundaries of the metropolis.


Obrázek 1: Václav Vladivoj Tomek (1818–1905), an important Czech historian, who dealt with the history of Prague in the medieval period over a long period of time
Source: WikiMedia Commons



Obrázek 2: Josefov - Tomek’s plan of Prague from 1419, 1892 (left) vs. Jüttner’s plan of Prague from 1815 (right)
Source: Map Collection, Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences



Obrázek 3: Josefov - Tomek’s plan of Prague from 1419, 1892 (left) vs. Imperial legal deposit imprint of the map of the stable cadastre, Prague (Old Town) from 1842 (right)
Source: Map Collection, Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences; Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre, Prague - web application



Obrázek 4: Josefov - Tomek’s plan of Prague from 1419, 1892 (left) vs. Orientation plan of Prague and neighbouring municipalities, 1910 (right)
Source: Map Collection, Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences