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.
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.
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.