The cemetery as part of a self-sufficient institution
At the beginning of the 20th century, a large-scale Earth Institute for the mentally ill was established on the outskirts of the then Bojnice. It was not designed only as a set of therapeutic pavilions. The area had its own economic facilities, workshops, farmhouses, technical operations, church and other facilities, thanks to which it worked almost as a separate town.
A natural part of such a complex has also become its own Constitutional cemetery. It lies approximately 700 metres west of the hospital area and its area is about 2.5 hectares.
The cemetery has been completed and ceremonially consecrated September 12, 1909.. Two days later, the first known funeral took place here. The 11-year-old constitutional inmate František was buried, who suffered from hydrocephalus and died of tuberculosis.
The cemetery was connected from the beginning to the spiritual administration of the Institute. His distinctive construction was a chapel with a morgue. In the cemetery space, a simple network of roads and a series of mostly modest graves were gradually created.
Last place of patients and employees
In the early years, most people who died during hospitalization were buried in the cemetery and whose families did not provide burial elsewhere. According to the preserved data, approximately one year of treatment was used. 80 deceased.
But they weren't exclusively patients. The cemetery was also rested by staff of the Institute, caregivers, nurses, workers or officials. So it was a real constitutional cemetery, not an anonymous burial ground for a single group of people.
Most funerals were simple. It was the modesty of graves that later contributed to the fact that after decades of decaying, individual graves began to disappear under vegetation and it became increasingly difficult to distinguish between the original division of the burial ground.
The war has brought more human destinies to the Bodnias.
The First World War has hit not only the Institute itself, but also its cemetery. As a result of the war events, patients were moved from the institutes to the territory of Austria-Hungary, including in the Trident region. A part of them died in the Bothnias and were buried right here.
The people of the Italian nationality also had a connection to war events in the cemetery. Later research work helped identify 48 buried persons of Italian nationality. In the period context, Italian soldiers and typhoid epidemics are also mentioned.
She could have killed the victims of war.
One of the main dominance of the cemetery became a mound reminiscent of soldiers and other victims of the First World War who died during their stay in the Bohlice Institute. Together with the chapel and the main axis of the cemetery, it formed an important composite point of the entire complex.
Bell taken for war purposes
The memorial book of the spiritual administration states that January 13, 1917. a bell from the cemetery chapel was also delivered for war purposes. It had an average of approximately 38 centimeters and weighed about 30 kilograms. Even this small event shows how deeply the war interfered with the daily life of the Constitution.
Tens of years in the rhythm of hospital life
After the creation of Czechoslovakia, the cemetery continued in its original position. The Bohnice Institute was also one of the most important psychiatric facilities in the country and the burial site remained a natural part of its operation.
In the interwar period, patients and people connected to the constitution continued to be buried here. The cemetery had its own spiritual context, chapel, morgue and regularly maintained space. Today's romantically overgrown form is therefore not its original state; it was created only as a result of long-term abandonment.
At the end of the 1940s, the Bohnice Institute was still a huge complex. In 1949 it was composed of dozens of medical, residential, technical and economic buildings and own cemetery was still listed among its components.
The cemetery stops fulfilling its original role
After February 1948, there have been major changes in the organisation of health care as well as in the position of church administration. The constitutional spiritual administration and the religious function of the church were abolished in Božnice in the early 1950s. It is this period that also involves the end of regular burial in a constitutional cemetery.
Some of the springs are referred to as the end of burial. 1951, others admit unique funerals in the years to come. However, the agreement is that the original function of the cemetery has gradually ceased to exist.
The key date is 1 January 1963when the constitutional cemetery was transferred to the operational administration of the Funeral Service of the capital city of Prague. It was no longer regularly buried here. From this moment on, a long stage of decay began.
The place is slowly disappearing under ivy
Without regular care, the cemetery was changing quickly. The roads grew, the tombstones fell apart or disappeared, the vegetation overlapped individual graves and the area lost the readability of the original arrangement. The cemetery was gradually disappearing from general awareness.
It was during this time that a picture of a mysterious and almost forgotten place was created. But later legends often overlay the true history of the cemetery, which in itself are extremely strong.
1984 - Amadeus
The gloomy atmosphere of the cemetery was used by the director Miloš Forman. In 1984 there was a famous scene from the film AmadeusIn which Mozart's body is placed in a common grave. The film later won eight Oscars and the Bohnice Cemetery also entered the history of world cinema.
1989 - Chapel fire
Five years later, one of the biggest wounds came in. The cemetery chapel with the morgue was in 1989 torched vandals. The roof structure has disappeared and the chapel has remained for decades only as a torso of perimeter walls.
The drinking place was becoming a landfill
After 1989, the site did not improve. On the contrary. Unclear property ratios, minimal supervision and long-term absence of regular maintenance have created conditions for further devastation.
Waste and rubble were rolled into the premises, old appliances, building materials and other messes appeared here. The cemetery was covered with flying wood and ivy. The chapel was without roof and other elements of the complex gradually fell apart.
In the early 21st century, a place where thousands of people were resting was close to disappearing from public memory altogether.Volunteers return the cemetery's dignity
The break came in 2013. A local citizen and then professional firefighter Jiří Vítek took care of the area as a volunteer. First alone and later with other volunteers, the cemetery began to dispose of waste, rubble and flight vegetation.
In the first period more than 30 tonnes of waste; later summaries indicate around 35 to 40 tonnes. The refrigerators, building materials, waste and burnt parts of the fallen chapel construction were removed. On the contrary, in many places, the Břetan was left as part of the characteristic atmosphere of the place.
In addition to physical recovery, memory recovery has also begun. There were guided tours, and information on individual buried, wartime fates and the history of the Institute was gradually sought out.
In 2014, Mass was served in the cemetery for the victims of the First World War. The cemetery gradually turned from a place known mainly to several adventurers into a piety and historically sought-after space.
Long way to transfer the cemetery
Voluntary care in itself could not resolve the state of emergency of buildings or complicated property relations. Since 2015, negotiations have therefore started to allow the cemetery to enter a public administration that would enable its systematic restoration.
The city of Prague 8, the capital of Prague, the Ministry of Health, the Psychiatric Hospital Bodynice and later the Office for the Representation of the State in Property matters entered the process. In 2018 Prague 8 approved further steps towards the transfer.
The process lasted several years. In the end, it was possible to set up a transfer so that the historical area switched to public administration City district Prague 8. This opened the way to investments, repairs and long-term concept of the whole place.
First visible repairs and new plan
The first concrete interventions followed the resolution of the site administration. In 2023 The main gate and goal have been renovated. The cross has also returned to the gate after many years.
Subsequently, an architectural study of overall revitalisation was developed. Her goal is not to turn the cemetery into a new park or wipe off traces of time. On the contrary - the basic principle is to maintain Genius loci, original composition and piety character.
The design of OHA architects works mainly with three main dominoes: chapels, mound and cross in the main axis. Part of the future renewal is also part of the historical travel network, cemetery wall and sensitive green work.
The crown above the chapel
The most significant element of the chapel renewal design is the new construction made of cortenic steel. Its shape resembles thorn crown - a symbol of pain, suffering, but also hope and a new beginning. A permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of the cemetery is also to be created in the restored chapel.
This entry describes the situation before the chapel was completed.
2025-2026 Location memory returnThe real revitalization begins
At the turn of 2025 and 2026, the first big phase of revitalisation started - reconstruction of the cemetery chapel. The Torzo construction is to be statically secured, supplemented and covered with a new cortenic structure.
The project also envisages further stages. The planned interventions include restoration of historical paths, reconstruction of cemetery wall, repair of the mound and installation of a new cross in the main axis of the complex.
- restoration and re-use of the cemetery chapel,
- repair and stabilisation of the cemetery wall,
- the restoration of part of the historical travel network,
- the renewal of the commemorative mound,
- a new cross in the main axis of the cemetery,
- Sensitive green modifications while maintaining the atmosphere of the site.
As of September 2026 the reconstruction of the chapel is still ongoing. The current information on the Bothnik cemetery website shows completion of the work during September 2026. Outside the immediate construction site, the cemetery remains accessible to visitors.
4300 human stories
Today, it is no longer possible to understand the Bohnice Cemetery only through the nickname "Cemetery of Fools" and stories of alleged paranormal phenomena. The real history of the place is much deeper.
It is a story of the development of psychiatric care, the life of the great hospital complex, the First World War, thousands of anonymous and specific human destinies, post-war social changes, decades of indifference, and eventually also the civil will to save the forgotten place.
Approximately 4,300 people buried represents the same number of individual lives. It is the return of their memory that today is one of the most important senses of the restoration of the cemetery.
The cemetery isn't supposed to be restored to look new. He's supposed to be saved so he doesn't lose his story.Updated · October 2026
The chapel is complete. Restoration continues.
The first big phase of revitalization brought the restoration of the cemetery chapel. The public was introduced on 1 October 2026. The open construction of cortenic steel resembles a crown of thorns and connects historical masonry with contemporary architecture.
Other projects include mound, cross, historical paths, greenery and cemetery walls.