sokol

Prague is not in Austria!!!! it is CZECH - please update your title and description. Perhaps the Czech republic was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire at the time, but Austria is something else altogether.

Thanks! Prague was indeed part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time that the photo was taken. We'll change the information in the source data and reload the description.

gov calif: We will update the description to reflect both the original caption and add that the location was the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Maybe complete the story by mentioning that it was the capital of Czechoslovakia from about 1919 till the recent breakup into Czech Republic and Slovakia

To be precise, at the time this photo was taken Prague was designated on maps as being in Bohemia, the Austro-Hungarian province of which it was the principal city. The most accurate description would be Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary.

What a treasure !!

There is a Wikipedia article on Sokol, which was the Czech version of the German Turnverein and other such youth athletic organizations which were part of a late 19th century mania for physical culture. The mass gatherings were called Slets, and are still held today. Here you can see one Flickr user's photos tagged with sokol. You can also Google "sokol slet" to find a YouTube video promoting the 2009 Sokol Slet to be held in Fort Worth, Texas.

Thanks for the additional information. We'll add it to the source data and reload the description.

From The Czech Sokol Organization website:

VI. festival 1912 was a social event of the Federation "Slavonic Sokol" and lasted five weeks. More than 30 000 Sokols participated and competed and ten times more people came to see it. Sokols from the USA, France and Slavic countries performed there as well. The scene "Marathon" with 1500 participants was dedicated to the ancient Greek culture. It was a great encouragement to our nation.

Though the negative caption reads "Turn-Fest" I think this might be part of the series of photos of Sokol slets which includes this item (with information about the event in the comments.)

Thank you. It does look remarkably similar to the event pictured to which you have referred. Will submit it for review.