Zvuky Prahy / Sounds of Prague

Josef Váchal lived in Prague since he was fourteen (from 1898). He left during the protectorate in 1940, when he moved to Studeňany, where he lived with Macková until his death in 1969. Among the neighborhoods where he often went were Vinohrady, Vršovice, Nusle, Michle, Strašnice, Žižkov and Smíchov. In Prague, Váchal got training as a bookbinder, went to painting school by Alois Kalvoda, Anatonín Hervert and Rudolf Bém. At the invitation of Karel Amerling, he became a member of the so-called Vinohradský corzo, where he became friends with, for example, Jiří Reichman and Lev Sychrava. His mother Anna Váchalová-Hlaváčková lived In Barákova street no.15 (today's Voroněžská), and Váchal used to visit Mikoláš Alš at Bělehradská Street. Váchal himself first lived in Brandlova (today Římská), Kladská no. 3 (1910–1915) and in Tyršova no. 7 (today the corner of Žitomírská and Kodaňská). He lived there since 1915 and got visits by, for example, Jakub Deml, Rudolf Medek, K. Neumannová and S.K. Neumann, Sigismund Bouška, František Procházka, E. A. Hruška, J. E. Hnátek, bookbinder Leoš Bradáč, the Přibilovy sisters, architect Polívka, priest and poet F. Kašpar, Laurin, Váchal's apprentice Jan Hodek and others. Here he also met people from the theosophical, spiritualist and esoteric circles. He used to go to Union Café, where the Prague Theosophical Society met. He became friend with J. Adamíra, M. Maixner and Karl Weinfurter, with whom he went to the Šibalov in Žižkov. Váchal himself belonged to the circle of spiritualists who met at "brother" Zeman's place. Another meeting place of Prague occultists was the "Cellar", i.e. the studio of the sculptor Bohuslav Schnirch in Mikovcova Street in Vinohrady. In 1912, thanks to J. Hodek, he met Máša Pešulová on the embankment, they married, but Marie died in 1922. Later he lived with Anna Macková, who lived in Kollárová (today's Černomořská) Street No. 13. He liked to go for walk to the Kunratice forest. Bohdalec Hill and the emergency colony of Slatina towards Záběhlice were a key place for him. There, Váchal went to meditate with his beloved dog Tarzán.