The segment from a Degl film production company newsreel captures the 50th anniversary celebrations of laying of the cornerstone of the National Theatre. The celebrations took place on 16-18 May 1918 in Prague, with the participation of representatives of all Slavic nations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The first shots show the festively decorated building of the National Theatre. In the next part, the camera observes the events taking place in the upper part of Wenceslas Square. The staircase and the ramp of the National Museum, where the opening ceremony took place (specifically in its Pantheon), are filled with young people in national folk costumes. Shots of the crowded square. Cultural and political figures, such as poets Adolf Heyduk and Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, writer Alois Jirásek and the head of the National Theatre Opera Karel Kovařovic, are leaving the building of the National Museum. This is followed by the symbolic ceremonial removal of politician Karel Kramář from the building. Afterwards, the Slovenian writer and mayor of Ljubljana Ivan Tavčar is seen leaving the building, as well as Czech actors Eduard Vojan, Marie Hübnerová, Leopolda Dostalová, Marie Laudová-Hořicová, Karel Želenský, writers Ignát Herrmann, František Herites and Jan Herben with his wife Bronislava, poet Bohdan Kaminský, politicians Alois Rašín, František Soukup, Gustav Habrman, Václav Klofáč and other notable national figures.
Unedited film footage captures events taking place in the streets of Prague in October 1918 during the first weeks of Czechoslovakia´s independence. A public manifestation takes place in front of the building of the Czech Escompt Bank (Böhmische Escompte-Bank). A demonstration of Czech soldiers, dressed in the uniforms of the Austro-Hungarian army, is held on Old Town Square. Prime Minister Karel Kramář gets out of an arriving car. The gathering is attended by politicians Václav Klofáč and František Udržal. Gustav Habrman and Josef Scheiner speak by the Jan Hus Memorial. A shot of Karel Kramář, Gustav Habrman and Václav Klofáč in a train window at the Main Railway Station after their return from negotiations in Geneva on 4 November 1918. Czechoslovak soldiers in Austro-Hungarian uniforms march in a parade through Wenceslaus Square, which is decorated with Czech flags and the flags of the victorious states. A shot of a railway carriage with patriotic signs. A postcard with anti-Austrian caricatures. People in the parade carry the remnants of the Austrian coat of arms. Footage of the arrival of President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk in Prague on 21 December. The train pulls into the Main Railway Station. President Masaryk, accompanied by František Tomášek, departs in an open car and then transfers to a carriage on Old Town Square.
Unedited film footage taken in Prague in 1918 during the first months of Czechoslovakia´s independence. Soldiers march across Svatopluk Čech Bridge. A festive parade on Old Town Square. Crowds cheering at the Main Railway Station. A gathering by the statue of St Wenceslaus in the upper part of Wenceslaus Square is attended by Dr. Josef Scheiner. A military oath ceremony of officers and a military parade on Old Town Square on 8 November. Josef Svatopluk Machar in front of the building of the Provincial War Office in Sněmovní Street in Lesser Town. The event is attended by politicians František Staněk, Václav Klofáč and Karel Kramář, who returned from Geneva on 4 November. Karel Kramář and Gustav Habrmann, followed by Václav Klofáč and František Staněk, speak from a train window. Footage from the arrival of President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk at the Main Railway Station. General Otakar Husák is also present. Distribution of weapons to members of the new military forces at the Military Headquarters on Slavonic Island. A military oath attended by František Staněk and Antonín Kalina. The return of soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army. Large parades along Wenceslaus Square and Old Town Square.
Unedited film footage from the first days of the Czechoslovak Republic shot in Prague in autumn 1918. Images from a demonstration in front of the Czech National Bank. Footage from the military oath ceremony of the newly established army held on Old Town Square on 8 November. Soldiers are lined up wearing Austro-Hungarian army uniforms. The oath ceremony is attended by politicians Karel Kramář, František Staněk and Václav Klofáč. Shots of Karel Kramář, Gustav Habrman, Václav Klofáč and František Staněk in a window of the train on which they returned to their country from the Geneva negotiations on 4 November. A view of Star Summer Palace (Schloss Stern), where a public gathering took place on 8 November, the anniversary of the Battle of White Mountain. The covering of the statue of Marshal Radecký on Lesser Town Square. Removal of the Austrian Eagle from the façade of the Hybernia House. The tearing down of symbols of the Austrian monarchy. The despatching a military train carrying soldiers who are to take action against separatist attempts in the border regions of the country. Karel Kramář in a Praga car driving through the streets of Prague. A shot of Karel Kramář in front of the Main Railway Station.