Brno Central Cemetery

JIHLAVSKÁ 1

Leoš Janáčekdied suddenly from pneumonia at the Klein sanatorium in Ostrava on 12 August 1928, and his funeral was  held three days later in Brno. The coffin was first of all displayed at the Municipal (today's Mahen) Theatre, and then the funeral procession led to the Central Cemetery. At first Janáček was buried in a different place and it was not until 17 August 1928 that his body was moved to grave number 64 in the so-called honorary circle. On his gravestone, which was designed by Eduard Milén, are carved verses from Janáček's male chorus The Wandering Madman. Janáček's family - his wife Zdenka, and his children Olga and Vladimír - are also buried in the Central Cemetery.

It was the head. Beautiful, hard, confident, persistent. It was stubborn! That was what enabled Janáček to wait. That was why he had such an amazing sense for rests. What was Brno like forty years ago when "Jenůfa" was born? But the spirit was raised up above the desert and the spirit won. What better example can there be for today's impatient people?

From an article by the conductor Václav Talich "Around Jenůfa" (Eva, year 13, no. 6, 1941)