The atmospheric and expansive Prague main burial ground was established in 1680 to handle the high death toll from a plague epidemic. It is the final resting place of Jan Palach, a student who set himself on fire in January 1969 to protest the Soviet invasion, and the first communist president of Czechoslovakia, Klement Gottwald. Palach's grave can be found by entering the main gate (flanked by flower shops) on Vinohradská, turning right, and then going about 50m along the path on the left.