Stalin's Monument () was a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

statue honoring

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. It was unveiled on 1 May 1955 after more than years of work, and was the world's largest representation of Stalin. The sculpture was demolished in late 1962.

History

The monument was located on a huge concrete pedestal, which can still be visited in

Letná Park Letná Park (in Czech ''Letenské sady'') is a large park on Letná hill, built on a plateau above steep embankments along the Vltava River in Prague, Czech Republic. Letná's elevation and location afford commanding views of the Prague Old Tow ...

. It was the largest group statue in Europe, measuring high and long. The sculptor was Otakar Švec, who killed himself a few days before the unveiling.Stalin statue site reveals chilling remains of Prague labour camp

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

(28 March 2020) The process of

de-Stalinization De-Stalinization (russian: десталинизация, translit=destalinizatsiya) comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the thaw brought about by ascension ...

began shortly after the unveiling of the monument. The monument, therefore, became a liability to the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comint ...

. As ordered by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, it was taken down with of explosives. Blowing_up_the_Stalin_Monument

Later use of site

In 1990,

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

station Radio Stalin operated from a bomb shelter beneath the statue's

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

. The same shelter was also the home of Prague's first rock club in the early 1990s. Since 1991, the marble pedestal has been used as the base of a giant kinetic sculpture of a

metronome A metronome, from ancient Greek μέτρον (''métron'', "measure") and νομός (nomós, "custom", "melody") is a device that produces an audible click or other sound at a regular interval that can be set by the user, typically in beats pe ...

. In 1996, the pedestal was briefly used as a base for a statue of

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

as a promotional stunt for the start of his

HIStory World Tour The ''HIS''tory World Tour was the third and final worldwide solo concert tour by American singer and recording artist Michael Jackson, covering Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and North America. The tour included a total of 82 concerts spanning ...

. A billboard promoting Civic Democratic Party leader

Václav Klaus Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second ...

was erected on the site during the Czech parliamentary elections of 1998 but was removed soon after due to high winds. A green plaque below the metronome reads:

Metronome
Letenské sady
The Metronome, the work of sculptor Vratislav Karel Novák, was erected in 1991 atop the massive stone plinth that originally served as the base for the monument to Soviet leader Josef Vissarionovich Stalin. Work began on Prague's Stalin monument towards the end of 1949, and in May 1955, it was finally unveiled. The largest group sculpture in Europe during its existence, the monument had a
reinforced-concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hi ...
structure faced with 235
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...
blocks, weighing 17,000 tonnes and costing 140 million crowns to complete. The gigantic composition, by sculptor Otakar Švec and the architects Jiří and Vlasta /nowiki>his wife/nowiki> Štursa, did not tower for long over the medieval centre of Prague: in connection with Soviet criticism of Stalin's "
cult of personality A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an id ...
," the work was dynamited and removed towards the end of 1962.

The City of Prague has been considering several options for redevelopment of the site for years, including a plan to build an aquarium. The remaining socle is a popular meeting point for skateboarders and other people.Letná Park (praha7.cz)
/ref>

References

External links

Article from Prague local about Stalin monument

1990 Bomb shelter housing Stalin Club and pirat radio station
photo by Peter Lind {{coord, 50, 05, 41.38, N, 14, 24, 57.97, E, display=title 1955 sculptures Buildings and structures demolished in 1962 Colossal statues Czechoslovakia–Soviet Union relations Demolished buildings and structures in the Czech Republic Destroyed sculptures History of Prague Monuments and memorials in Prague Outdoor sculptures in Prague Statues of Joseph Stalin Buildings and structures completed in 1955 1955 establishments in Czechoslovakia Prague 7 Stalin, Prague 1962 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia

History

Later use of site

See also

References

External links