Ladronka is a

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses *Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...

at Tomanova 1028/1 in

Prague 6 Prague 6, formally the municipal district Prague 6 (''Městská část Praha 6''), is the largest Prague district. It is located in the north-west of Prague. It covers 41.54 km² and has 100,600 inhabitants (31.12.2008). The administrative ...

, in the Czech Republic. Built by Charles IV, it was bought by an Italian count, then owned by the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

before being broken into flats during

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. It was then

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

in 1993, becoming an internationally famous

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

self-managed social centre Self-managed social centers, also known as autonomous social centers, are self-organized community centers in which anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venues affiliated with anarchi ...

which was evicted in 2000. After several years of renovation, Ladronka was re-opened as an activities centre in 2005, to serve the park it sits within. There are facilities for dining, cycling, rollerskating, beach volleyball and football.

History

Ladronka was built as a

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV ( cs, Karel IV.; german: Karl IV.; la, Carolus IV; 14 May 1316 – 29 November 1378''Karl IV''. In: (1960): ''Geschichte in Gestalten'' (''History in figures''), vol. 2: ''F–K''. 38, Frankfurt 1963, p. 294), also known as Charle ...

in 1340. It was a

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

and stopping point on the road to

Karlštejn Karlštejn Castle ( cs, hrad Karlštejn; german: Burg Karlstein) is a large Gothic castle founded in 1348 by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor-elect and King of Bohemia. The castle served as a place for safekeeping the Imperial Regalia as well as ...

castle. An Italian nobleman, the Count Filip Ferdinand de la Crone (or Lacrone), bought the farm in 1688 and it came to be known as Ladronka in a Czech mispronunciation of his name. Ladronka was subsequently owned by the

, then divided into flats under

. After the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

it stood derelict and was

Self-managed social centre

Ladronka was occupied by

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

in 1993 and became a

. Among the people living there was rapper Vladimír 518. The

squatters Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

organised events such as gigs, exhibitions, readings and theatre, also publishing the magazine ''Autonomie''. The first police raid came in February 1994 and the squatters mustered support with demonstrations and petitions. A year later in January 1995, a large police raid searched the entire building and arrested eight squatters. The squat was not evicted but there were plans to turn the building into a hotel, so the squatters mobilised support again. At a public meeting, local people voiced their opposition to the development plans. An eviction date had been set and on the day the squatters symbolically handed over a paper model of the building to the municipality and continued the occupation. The social centre became internationally famous as a hub for counter-cultural activities and anarchist organisation. The squatters formed the Ladronka Foundation and successfully negotiated with the city of Prague to legalise the occupation. By the late 1990s, the focus of the centre was shifting from politics to cultural activities, as part of a general downturn in anarchist activity in the Czech Republic. By this time, the city had signed a contract with the Santé group which planned to develop Ladronka into a luxury medical centre. The social centre was evicted on 9 November 2000 by private security and police as part of a

moral panic A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear, often an irrational one, that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usua ...

following the anti-globalization protests in Prague. The eviction was not mandated by any juridical decision.

Activities centre

After Ladronka was evicted, it was used as a training facility for police dog handlers. Reconstruction plans were delayed by various factors such as the floods in 2002 and the discovery of archaeological remains on the site. Since the park surrounding the building, now known as Ladronka Park, was used for recreation, a plan was devised to use the Ladronka homestead as an activities centre. At a cost of 80 million crowns, born by

and the city of Prague, Ladronka was renovated. It now houses facilities for cycling, rollerskating and other sports. Equipment can be hired and there is a restaurant. Later,

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

and football courts were added. It was opened in September 2005, marking the 85th anniversary of Prague 6. The following year, the centre was nominated for Building of the Year, as decided by the ABF foundation. The leisure centre is rented from Prague 6 by Ladronka s.r.o. and is located at Tomanova 1028/1 in the

Břevnov Břevnov () is a district in the west of Prague, located in Prague 6. The district is home to the Břevnov Monastery (Czech: ''Břevnovský klášter''). On the territory of Břevnov stems Brusnice brook. Břevnov was first mentioned in the 10th c ...

district of Prague 6.

References

External links

Activities centre
{{Authority control Squatting in the Czech Republic 1340 in Europe 2005 establishments in the Czech Republic 2000 disestablishments in the Czech Republic Evicted squats Anarchism in the Czech Republic Buildings and structures in Prague 1993 establishments in the Czech Republic Infoshops National Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic

History

Self-managed social centre

Activities centre

See also

References

External links