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.
The segment captures the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic held in Prague on 28 October 1923. Festivities by the Statue of St Wenceslaus on Wenceslaus Square. Karel Kramář stands at the rostrum. Crowds gathered on the square wave their hats.
Segment of the Československý filmový týdeník (Czechoslovak Newsreel) 1935 No. 24 captures the funeral of composer Josef Suk held in Prague on 3 June 1935. The footage opens with a photo of a bier with the coffin. The coffin with the deceased is carried out of the National Museum and transported at the front of the funeral procession across Wenceslaus Square, past the National Theatre, across Palacký Square and past Emmaus Monastery. The procession ends in front of the building of the Vyšehrad Town Hall, from where the remains were taken to Suk´s final resting place in his native Křečovice (not seen in the segment).
The segment captures the funeral of the Zborov hero, General Stanislav Čeček, held in Prague on 5 June 1930. The coffin with the deceased is transported from the Pantheon of the National Museum to the National Liberation Monument in Žižkov. The funeral procession includes not only representatives of the Czechoslovak Legions but also Prime Minister František Udržal and Minister of Supplies Rudolf Bechyně. General Rudolf Medek delivers a speech over the the late hero´s coffin (silent).
The segment captures the funeral of the Mayor of the Czechoslovak Sokol Society Josef Scheiner held in Prague on 15 January 1932. The segment starts with an image of the monument to Miroslav Tyrš and Scheiner´s funeral announcement. The funeral procession sets out from the historic Sokol building in Sokolská Street. The coffin is flanked by a Sokol guard of honour. The camera offers a close-up of the wreath from Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. The funeral procession comes out of the Sokol building in Sokolská Street and continues along Ječná, Žitná and Mezibranská Streets. After dusk, the procession moves on across Wenceslaus Square in the effective light of street lamps and burning candles.
The segment captures the state funeral of Minister of Finance Alois Rašín held in Prague on 21 February 1923. The shots of the preparations in front of the National Museum in the beginning of the segment are followed by views of the block of flats in Žitná Street in Prague´s New Town, where Rašín was assassinated on 5 January 1923. The funeral procession assembles in front of the National Museum. Funeral wreaths are carried out from the Pantheon. The coffin is loaded onto a horse-drawn hearse. The funeral procession moves across Wenceslaus Square, continues to Charles Square and Žitná Street towards the Olšany Cemetery crematorium. The streets are filled with on-lookers. The procession includes Sokols, representatives of the chimney sweep guild, scouts, Czechoslovak generals and soldiers. Minister of National Defence František Udržal, Deputy of the National Assembly František Tomášek, Minister of Foreign Affairs Edvard Beneš, Minister of Postal and Telegraph Services Alois Tučný, Minister of Social Welfare Gustav Habrman, Minister of Supplies Emil Franke, Minister of Agriculture Milan Hodža, and Deputy of the National Assembly Mořic Hruban.
Special issue of the Československý zvukový týdeník (Czechoslovak Sound Newsreel) No. 39 from 1937 captures the final farewell with the first Czechoslovak President T. G. Masaryk held in Prague on 21 September 1937. Shot of the mournfully decorated castle courtyard with the coffin draped in the national flag. President E. Beneš delivers a speech over the coffin (original sound). The grand funeral procession makes its way through Prague to Wilson Railway Station. It is led by the Inspector General of the Czechoslovak Armed Forces, General Jan Syrový, on horseback. The late president´s son Jan Masaryk, grandsons Leonard and Herbert Revilliod, E. Beneš and representatives of the Czechoslovak government walk behind the coffin. The funeral procession stops in front of the Wilson Railway Station. This is followed by a parade of troops in front of the coffin, attended by the family, diplomats, French Prime Minister Léon Blum and others. The coffin is then carried through the station building and loaded onto the platform of a special train dispatched to Lány. The train departs, mourners are along the track. The coffin is interred at the local cemetery in Lány.
The segment captures the funeral of writer Alois Jirásek held in Prague on 16 March 1930. Crowds stream to the Pantheon of the National Museum, where the coffin containing the late writer´s remains is displayed. A car carrying President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk arrives at the National Museum. In the upper part of Wenceslaus Square, a monumental cenotaph is erected and passed by a number of commemorative processions, Sokols, soldiers, legionnaires, and members of political parties and various associations. Officials of the Czechoslovak Sokol Society carry the coffin with the deceased from the Pantheon of the National Museum. University dignitaries and distinguished Czech writers walk behind the coffin. The event is also attended by the guard of honour of the Vysoké Mýto 30th Infantry Regiment of Alois Jirásek. Prominent politicians present at the ceremony. The segment concludes with a view of the urn containing the writer´s remains in a car heading to the late writer´s final resting place in his native Hronov.
Segment of the Český zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czech Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1939 No. 20 captures the solemn event of the interment of the remains of poet Karel Hynek Mácha at Vyšehrad Cemetery in Prague on 7 May 1939. Mourners walk past the coffin with the poet´s remains in the Pantheon of the National Museum. The large funeral procession starts on Wenceslaus Square and continues along National Street, Masaryk Embankment and narrow alleys to Vyšehrad. The streets are lined with crowds of people. The film footage is accompanied by the recitation of the fourth canto of the poem May delivered by Václav Vydra Jr., an actor of the National Theatre. This is followed by images from the solemn ceremony in the Slavín Tomb at Vyšehrad Cemetery. The coffin with the poet´s remains is lowered into the grave. Rudolf Medek bids farewell to Mácha on the behalf of Czech writers. Actor Eduard Kohout recites 7 May 1939, a poem by Josef Hora. People walk past the grave, placing flowers on it, some crossing themselves. The mourners include composer Vítězslav Novák, painter Max Švabinský, Minister of Education and National Enlightenment Jan Kapras and the Mayor of Prague Otakar Klapka.
Segment from Československý zvukový týdeník Aktualita (Czechoslovak Aktualita Sound Newsreel) 1942, issue no. 28, depicts a public manifestation held on Wenceslas Square in Prague on 3 July 1942, which was to unequivocally condemn the assassination of Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich. The gathering was attended by 200,000 people. Wenceslas Square is decorated with Protectorate and Nazi flags. Footage of the crowded square and onlookers in the windows and on the roofs of surrounding houses. State President Emil Hácha, Prime Minister of the Protectorate Government Jaroslav Krejčí, Minister of the Interior Rudolf Bienert, and Minister of Education and People´s Enlightenment Emanuel Moravec stand on a grandstand. Krejčí and Moravec deliver speeches on cancelling the state of emergency and the need for active collaboration with the Reich. The manifestation concludes with the Czech anthem and people performing the Nazi salute, among them Minister of Finance Josef Kalfus, Minister of the Interior Rudolf Bienert, Prime Minister Jaroslav Krejčí, and Minister of Transport Jindřich Kamenický.