Josef Drásal (4 July 1841 – 16 December 1886) is the tallest
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
ever measured and one of the
tallest people of the world. He measured at least and weighed .
Life
Drásal was born in
Chromeč
Chromeč is a municipality and village in Šumperk District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants.
Geography
Chromeč is located about southwest of Šumperk and northwest of Olomouc. It lies in the Mohelnice D ...
, into a poor family as the third of six children. At an early age, he differed from his peers and reportedly suffered from the pain they attributed to his abnormally rapid growth. Growth pain probably affected his mental development. He had great strength, but despite graduating from elementary school, he did not learn to read and write properly.
Drásal was considered a good and gentle man. After school he started working as a day
laborer
A laborer ( or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor typed within the construction industry. There is a generic factory laborer which is defined separately as a factory worker. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in whic ...
in his native village and then as a
coachman
A coachman is a person who drives a Coach (carriage), coach or carriage, or similar horse-drawn vehicle. A coachman has also been called a coachee, coachy, whip, or hackman.
The coachman's first concern is to remain in full control of the hors ...
in
Bludov Chateau. In 1860 he went to the town of
Holešov
Holešov (; ) is a town in Kroměříž District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zone.
Administra ...
to work as an agricultural worker.
In Holešov, a local innkeeper noticed him and turned him into a circus attraction. He became known as "
Hanakian Giant" and performed in the
traditional costume
Folk costume, traditional dress, traditional attire or folk attire, is clothing of an ethnic group, nation or region, and expresses cultural, religious or national identity. An ethnic group's clothing may also be called ethnic clothing or ethnic ...
typical of this ethnographic region. He travelled all over Europe with his performance, most notable were his performances for emperors
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
and
Wilhelm I
Wilhelm I (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 1861 and German Emperor from 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the first head of state of a united Germany. ...
. His circus career earned him his own house in
Holešov
Holešov (; ) is a town in Kroměříž District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zone.
Administra ...
, where he lived until his death. Nothing has been preserved from the building modifications adapting the house to his height.
[
]
Height
Drásal's height was caused by acromegaly
Acromegaly is a disorder that results in excess growth of certain parts of the human body. It is caused by excess growth hormone (GH) after the growth plates have closed. The initial symptom is typically enlargement of the hands and feet. There ...
disease. No evidence of his height has been preserved, but a copy of his skeleton is stored in the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University
Masaryk University (MU) (; ) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno, it now consists of ten faculties and 35,115 students. It is named after To ...
in Brno. The most frequently mentioned height based on his skeleton is ,[ but according to other measurement of the torsion after exhumations, he probably measured .][
]
Honours and legacy
Drásal's name bears the prestigious and most difficult Czech cross-country cycling
Cross-country (XC) cycling is a discipline of mountain biking. Cross-country cycling became an Olympic sport in 1996 and is the only form of mountain biking practiced at the Olympics.
Terrain
Cross-country cycling is defined by the terrain on w ...
race named ''Bikemaraton Drásal'', which takes place every year in Holešov.
A street in Holešov is named after Drásal.
A permanent exhibition on Josef Drásal has been in the Regional Museum in Olomouc
Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region.
Located on the Morava (rive ...
since 2015. It includes his unique costume.
See also
*List of tallest people
This is a list of the tallest people, verified by ''Guinness World Records'' or other reliable sources.
According to Guinness World Records, Robert Wadlow of the United States (1918–1940) was the tallest person in recorded history, measurin ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drasal, Josef
1841 births
1886 deaths
People from Austria-Hungary
People from Šumperk District
People with gigantism