Alberto Vojtěch Frič`s now defunct villa

In 1911-1913, the traveller, botanist and ethnographer Alberto Vojtěch Frič (1882-1944) built a villa and greenhouses for his ethnographic collections and exotic plants, especially cacti, on the family plot, called Božínka according to tradition. The extensive sloping land also included an experimental acclimatization garden (1932-1944). During the First Republic, Božínka became the centre of social scene. Frič also conducted sporadic experiments with plants here.

Alberto Vojtěch Frič was a self-taught private researcher. The public knows him primarily as a cactus collector and grower. Less is known about his experiments in plant physiology and hybridization. He reconstructed both Mendel`s and Michurin`s original experiments, as well as those of other scientists, in order to point out the weaknesses of Mendelian ideas. He did not oppose Mendel, but Mendelism - that is, the contemporary concept of the application of Mendel`s laws in synthesis with Darwinism. He observed different facts on plants that did not correspond to the doctrine of the time. Frič was not an anti-Darwinist, on the contrary, he accepted Darwin`s original ideas and - like him - derived them from practical experiments and observations. He despised rather the emerging gene theory grafted onto Darwinism, considering its straightforward conclusions to be exploitable for eugenics.

Frič designed his experiments himself, using all methods known at the time. He corresponded with many scientists about his results. However, most of his questions and discrepancies could not be answered by contemporary science, and simple applications of Mendel`s laws were not sufficient to explain the observed phenomena, or were directly contradictory to them.

During the war, Frič concentrated on growing hybrids with suitable characteristics and yields that could be used for home self-supply of vegetables (e.g. tomatoes grafted onto potatoes). He also experimented with domestic animals crossbreeding.

After Frič's death in 1944, a small part of the villa continued to be occupied by his wife Draga Fričová (died 1971), although she was forced to sell the property. However, the greenhouses and experimental gardens were falling into disrepair. Despite numerous civic efforts, the villa could not be protected and was demolished in 2005. At the beginning of 2018, the last terrain remnants, reminiscent of the former greenhouses and garden, were removed. Nowadays, the only reminder of the glorious past of the former Božínka villa is the name adopted for the current development.

Crkal, K.: Lovec kaktusů. Praha 1983, s. 432.

Deyl, V.: Lovec života. Životní osudy A. V. Friče, cestovatele, národopisce, kaktusáře, spisovatele a tvůrce nových rostlin. Praha 1954, s. 209.

Frič, A., V.: O kaktech a jejich narkotických účincích. Praha 2015, s. 117.

Frič, A., V.: Indiáni Jižní Ameriky. Praha 1977, s. 252.

Frič, A., V.: Čerwuiš aneb z Pacheka do Pacheka oklikou přes střední Evropu. 3., upravené vydání. Praha 2011, s. 233.

Frič, A., V.; Frič Ferreira R.: Indiánská knížka. Praha 2012, s. 208. 

Fričová, Y.: Alberto Vojtěch Frič. URL: https://www.checomacoco.cz/a-v-fric/ [30. 8. 2021].

 

 

View of villa Božínka with greenhouses and storage gardens (Author: Private archive of A. V. Frič)

Hotbed at Božínka, 1924 (Author: Private archive of A. V. Frič)

View of the upper gardens at Božínka in winter (Author: Private archive of A. V. Frič)

At Božínka with a goat (Protectorate period) (Author: Private archive of A. V. Frič)

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