Panopticon of the City of Prague

Crimes of Old Prague

Panopticon of the City of Prague (1971) is the name of the final volume of Jiří Marek's collection of detective stories set in the environment of First Republic Prague. The stories were based on real events that caused sensations in the old days. These are the cases of Chief Constable Knotek, his successor, Councillor Vacátek, and the members of the Mordparty, Inspector Bouche, Brůžek and Mrázek, which were later also captured in famous television adaptations, in the series Sinful People of Prague (1968, directed by Jiří Sequens) and Panopticon of the City of Prague (1988, directed by Antonín Moskalyk), where, after the death of Councillor Vacátek, Councillor Korejs acted. Four feature films were also made with Rada Vacátek (J. Marvan) from 1970 and 1971 (Partie of the Beautiful Dragoon, The Little Foam and the Paraplegic, Death of the Black King, Murder at the Excelsior Hotel). Through the author's gentle humour, kindness, compassion for human sins, and his mastery of language, the nostalgic world of the metropolis and its peripheries comes to life, as well as many distinctive characters.