Žižkov

Žižkov is a cadastral district of Prague, Czech Republic. Most of Žižkov lies in the municipal and administrative district of Prague 3, except for very small parts which are in Prague 8 and Prague 10. Prior to 1922, Žižkov was an independent city.

The district is named after Hussite military leader Jan Žižka. It is situated south of Vitkov hill, site of the Battle of Vitkov Hill on 14 July 1420, where Žižka's peasant army decisively defeated the forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor.

General character of the neighborhood

Žižkov was historically a working-class district, and was sometimes referred to as "Red Žižkov", because so many of its inhabitants supported left-wing parties. Before World War II, it had a reputation as a rough area. This reputation spread across the whole former Czechoslovakia and it was still possible to trace it amongst the people many decades later.

The Žižkovians were very proud of their bad reputation and up to this day they tend to refer to their neighbourhood as the "The free republic of Žižkov". This sentiment was very often a source of inspiration for novelists or film makers. This was captured in a humorous novel by Vlastimil Rada and Jaroslav Žák, Z tajností žižkovského podsvětí ("Secrets of the Žižkov Underground"), and in a 1985 film by Ivo Novák, Fešák Hubert.