140 years since first phone call was made in Czech lands

The first telephone call in Bohemia was made on April 10, 1881 between the Hartmann coal mine in Ledvice and a nearby train station in Duchcov, covering a distance of around two and a half kilometres.

The line was established by Saxon entrepreneur Richard Hartmann. Unfortunately, what exactly was said during that first phone call is not on record.

A year after the first phone call took place, the first switchboard was established at Prague’s Malé náměstí, in a house called u Rychtrů. That same year saw the release of the very first phone book, featuring dozens of contacts.

Its second edition, released on January 1, 1883, is displayed at Prague’s Postal Museum. Phone calls became more accessible with the arrival of first phone booths in the streets of Prague in 1911.