Karel Sladkovský

Karel Sladkovský
Jan Vilímek: Karel Sladkovský (c. 1875)
Personal details
Born	(1823-06-22)22 June 1823 Prague-Malá Strana, Bohemia, Austrian Empire
Died	4 March 1880(1880-03-04) (aged 56) Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
Nationality	Czech
Alma mater	Gymnasium in Malá Strana
Occupation	Writer, journalist

Karel Sladkovský (22 June 1823 – 4 March 1880) was a Czech lawyer, politician and journalist.

Early life and education

Born as a son of a tailor in Malá Strana in Prague, Sladkovský studied gymnasium of Malá Strana and later finished studies of law at the University of Vienna. He was presented at Prague Slavic Congress and later took part in the June revolution of 1848 as a Prague student leader during the fights on the barricades.[1] He was arrested for this, also accused of the participation of May Conspiracy[2] and sentenced to death in 1850, then pardoned and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Finally he was released in 1857 due to a general amnesty. In 1861, he received an estate of rehabilitation.

From 1860 he worked as an editor at the newspapers Čas, Hlas and Národní listy. Later he became one of the most important personnel of the Czech public life during the era of late Czech National Revival: with interruptions he served as a member of the Bohemian Diet from 1862 to 1880, also was a leading spokesman of the Czech national movement and keynote speaker at the laying of the foundation stone of the National Theatre.[3] Sladkovský was member of a National Party (Old Czech Party)[4] and later a co-founder of the Young Czech Party in 1874.

He and František Ladislav Rieger negotiated with the government about the return of Czech deputies to the Reichsrat. In 1879 Sladkovský was elected for the mandate again, but could not take up his mandate due to poor health.^[citation needed]

Karel Sladkovský died on 4 March 1880, aged 56. He was buried at Olšany Cemetery to the tomb created by sculptor Josef Václav Myslbek.^[citation needed]

Memorials

Grave of Karel Sladkovský at Olšany Cemetery

Since the time of his death he was popularly commemorated by building the statues or renaming the streets and squares after him, including Sladkovského Square in Prague-Žižkov.[5]

See also

• Prague Slavic Congress
• May Conspiracy
• Young Czech Party

References

1. Polisensky, Josef V. (2015-07-29). Aristocrats and the Crowd in the Revolutionary Year 1848: A Contribution to the History of Revolution and Counter-Revolution. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-1626-7.
2. Cornis-Pope, Marcel; Neubauer, John (2004-05-28). History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and disjunctures in the 19th and 20th centuries. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-9553-8.
3. Music Makes the Nation. Cambria Press. ISBN 978-1-62196-871-9.
4. Toman, Jindřich (2023-05-01). Bohemia's Jews and Their Nineteenth Century: Texts, Contexts, Reassessments. Charles University in Prague, Karolinum Press. ISBN 978-80-246-5288-7.
5. "Prague City Line » Church of St. Prokop". Archived from the original on June 9, 2017. Retrieved 2023-09-05.

Further reading

• Bouček, Antonín; Sladkovský, Karel: Karel Sladkovský. Prague: Orbis, 1948. (in Czech)
• Vývoj konstitucionalismu v českých zemích. Linde Praha. ISBN 978-80-7201-927-4. (in Czech)

External links

• The Free Dictionary