The Czech Edison who lit up Prague

Old Prague, illuminated by gas lamps in a misty haze, with an occasional horse-drawn carriage or cab clattering over the cobblestones, is depicted with stunning beauty in the works of Jakub Schikaneder and other Romantic painters. By the second half of the 19th century, however, this was no longer enough. As the Czech capital, Prague wanted to take its place among modern European cities and needed a new spark and energy to do so—electricity.

It was precisely this electric spark and energy that inventor and industrialist František Křižík—nicknamed the “Czech Edison” in his day—brought to Prague. Křižík was born in 1847 as the son of a poor shoemaker in the small town of Plánice in southwestern Bohemia. This was the same year in which two other prominent figures in electrical engineering were born: Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of the light bulb, in America, and Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, in Scotland. Even as a child, Křižík displayed extraordinary dexterity and technical talent. Although he could not afford the fee for his high school graduation exam, he managed to graduate from the Prague Polytechnic, now known as the Czech Technical University.

Yet Křižík left his greatest mark on Prague in the field of public transportation. On the occasion of the Jubilee Provincial Exhibition in 1891, he built Prague’s first electric tram line, which ran from Letná to the exhibition grounds in the Royal Game Reserve (today’s Stromovka Park). It was also the first electric tram line with a trolley pole in the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time. Křižík’s tram proved that electricity could transform the daily lives of residents and paved the way for the electrification of Prague’s entire public transportation system. Horse-drawn carriages soon became a thing of the past in the city.

For the Jubilee Exhibition of 1891, which showcased Prague as a modern and progressive city, Křižík also set up an exhibition power plant that supplied power to nearly two thousand arc lamps and incandescent bulbs to illuminate the exhibition grounds, exhibits and restaurants for visitors. Křižík’s light fountain became a masterful, visionary work that combined technology with art, in which water gushing to the rhythm of music was illuminated by multicoloured electric lights. As the literal highlight of the fountain’s evening performance, a bright cone of light from a giant searchlight—which Křižík installed at the top of the Industrial Palace tower—capped the show.

František Křižík was not just an inventor. He was a pioneer who helped Prague enter the electric age. He lit up its streets, brought electric transportation to them and demonstrated that technological progress can make a city more modern, safer and more comfortable to live in. Thanks to him, Prague earned the reputation as a city that is not afraid of new technologies and knows how to use them for the benefit of its residents.