Vojta Náprstek: Threats of being boiled alive, the beginnings of cremation, and a spectacular funeral at a railway station. With Pavla Hubáčková from the Náprstek Museum.

Pavla Hubáčková from the Náprstek Museum talks with Sandra Šindelářová in a podcast about the funeral of Vojta Náprstek.

How did we go from threats of being boiled alive to becoming a cremation superpower?

One hundred and fifty years ago, burials took place solely in the ground here. And everyone strongly opposed cremation.

Today, over 80% of funerals in our country are cremations. And yet everyone opposes human composting, also known as teramation. Who knows what it will look like in a hundred years?

Do you know the story of the person who actually pushed for cremation here? Vojta Náprstek was not only one of the first feminists (he founded the American Ladies Club, where he promoted education for women), but also one of the first Czechs to be cremated despite the opposition of both the church and society.

His decision was backed by science: it was supposedly more hygienic, more economical, and cleaner—at a time when graves were regularly robbed and dead bodies sold to young medical students for practice.

We talked (not only) about him with Pavla Hubáčková from the Náprstek Museum in our podcast, and if you also want to know how we got from threats about boiled bullets to the majority choosing cremation, be sure to listen to us!

And definitely make sure to visit the Náprstek Museum this April, where his urn is on display again (as per his wish)!