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This photo page shows some pictures that are part of our family history. These photos augment some of the stories and photos that are a part of our Family History pages.

This picture, taken from the town square of Kutna Hora, shows the storefront (look for the "A. J. Munk") on the first floor that was the Munk family business. This was the house where my grandfather, Frank Munk, was raised. 

The early history of Kutna Hora revolves around the silver mines that made the city one of the most important in medieval Bohemia, just after Prague, in the 14th and 15th centuries. The first evidence of mining in the area goes back to the 10th century, but in the 13th century major silver deposits were discovered. The silver mines in the area were so rich that, in the 14th century, Czech King Vaclav II bestowed upon Kutna Hora the privileges of a royal town and instituted a currency reform, closing all other mints in the country. With the aid of Italian craftsmen, he founded a royal mint in Kutna Hora that produced the Prague groschen, a coin that was used throughout central Europe into the 19th century. Vaclav II also began construction on a palace here, though it was later used as a royal mint, and its name, Italian Court, reflects the influence of the minters from Florence.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, Kutna Hora became the financial center for the Czech Kingdom and its second most important city after Prague. In fact, at the end of the 14th century, it had a population equal to London's. However, much of the town's wealth went towards the development of Prague. Unfortunately for the town, the silver mines in the town began to run out in the 16th century, and the last groschen was minted there in 1549. The production of silver in the town had reached such a state in the 17th century that pillaging Swedes were bought off with beer, not silver, during the Thirty Years' War.

In 1902, my grandmother, Nadia Prasilova Munk was born in Ceske, Budejovice. In 1907, the family moved to Kutna Hora where her father ultimately became the Director of the local agriculture school.

The period of my grandmother's childhood is documented in her 1968 letter that she wrote to her extended family and is also described in remarks made at the funeral service for her younger sister, Vera Scott, in 1996.

Speaking of Vera, this picture of my grandmother, Nadia Prasilova, was taken in the 1920s by Vera Scott. Vera was a well-known photographer, sculptor, and artist.

This house was my grandparent's house when they lived in Prague - and by extension, my mother's house for her first two years before they all left Czechoslovakia in 1939 to come to the United States. The house was designed and built in the very popular Bauhaus style. It was located near the outskirts of Prague at the time and is still standing at last check.