Prague’s First Film Screening Took Place 130 Years Ago

Prague’s first public film screening took place on October 18, 1896, at the Hotel U Černého koně on Na Příkopě Street.

Organized by the French branch of Thomas Edison’s company, the presentation introduced audiences to moving pictures, a technology that would soon transform entertainment across Bohemia.

The screening marked another milestone in a period of rapid technological change that had begun five years earlier.

In 1891, Prague hosted the Jubilee Provincial Exhibition, celebrating a century of industrial progress. The event helped reshape the city, leaving behind landmarks including the Industrial Palace, Petřín Lookout Tower and mirror maze.

The Hotel That Brought New Technology to Prague

The Hotel U Černého koně, or At the Black Horse, was among Prague’s most luxurious establishments in the late 19th century. Its owners, brothers Jindřich and Karel Cífka, were quick to recognize the commercial potential of new inventions.

Later in 1896, the hotel introduced another technological novelty, the X-ray machine. The device had been developed by German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who announced his discovery in December 1895.

Initially presented as an attraction, the machine soon acquired medical significance. In January 1897, physician Rudolf Jedlička used it to examine a patient suspected of having swallowed a foreign object. The image revealed a nail lodged in the man’s stomach.

Edison and the Lumière Brothers Compete for Audiences

The first film screening was organized by Adolf Oppenheimer, an optician and mechanic who operated a cinematograph supplied by Edison’s French company.

According to a contemporary invitation reproduced by Czech Radio, screenings took place daily, beginning at 4 p.m. and continuing hourly until 8 p.m. Additional shows were held on Sundays and public holidays. Admission cost 40 kreutzers, with discounts for schools.

Competition arrived almost immediately. Just five days after the Edison presentation, the Lumière brothers’ cinematograph was shown at the Hotel U Saského dvora on Hybernská Street.

Both companies promoted their technology as the genuine article. Their advertisements emphasized the quality of their moving pictures and their international reputations, reflecting the intense competition surrounding the new medium.

Czech filmmakers soon began producing their own material. In June 1898, Národní listy reported on a cinematograph pavilion at the Prague Exhibition Grounds where two young architects presented original films, including scenes from everyday life in Prague.

Viktor Ponrepo Opens a Permanent Cinema

For several years, traveling cinematographs brought films to audiences around the country. A permanent venue eventually followed.

In September 1907, Dismas Šlambor, better known as Viktor Ponrepo, opened what is widely regarded as the first permanent cinema in the Czech lands. It was located in the U Modré štiky building on Karlova Street.

Viktor Ponrepo

Originally a magician and illusionist, Ponrepo had become interested in image-recording technology after encountering Edison’s phonograph at the 1891 exhibition. He later toured the country with a traveling cinema before establishing his Prague venue.

Ponrepo became famous for greeting audiences with a bow before every screening. He eventually filmed the gesture and projected it before his shows, turning it into his personal signature.

By then, moving pictures had evolved from a technological curiosity into a new form of mass entertainment, with Prague among the cities embracing the change.

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