Přidušené město / The Stifled City

Karel Bucháček, even in his demanding profession as a mathematician, captured the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops in 1968 in a detailed yet non-descript manner, with an emphasis on personal vision. In the following years of normalisation, he photographed life in the newly built prefabricated housing estate in Prague-Bohnice, the redevelopment of parts of Žižkov, Holešovice and other districts of Prague, including the centre of the city marked by the construction of the underground, May Day celebrations, Matějské pilgrimages, horse races in Velké Chuchle, all-night waiting in line for new TV sets, children playing in the streets. But he also captured the anti-regime demonstrations of 1988-1989, the beatification of St. Agnes, the dispersal of the demonstration on Národní třída, the Velvet Revolution, the election of Václav Havel as president and his greeting after arriving from a speech at the United States Congress. This Prague diary by Karel Bucháček is unique in its breadth of coverage and its attempt to systematically cover everyday life and axial events in Prague. Nevertheless, Bucháček never exhibited independently and the vast majority of the photographs are published for the first time.