2024

MEMORIAL FOR THE VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM

Memorial to visit
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This group of statues is located at the bottom of Petřín hill, not far from the starting point of the funicular. A row of sculptures of naked and dark men decompose as one rises up the stairs, a symbol of communism that destroys everything to the very flesh of its citizens. The work of Olbram Zoubek (Pomník obětem komunismu), created in memory of the victims of the communist era, has been controversial since its creation and was even damaged in 2003.

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2024

VÍTKOV NATIONAL MEMORIAL

Memorial to visit

Memorial (Národní památník na Vítkově) commemorating the Hussite wars, and in particular the Battle of Vikov in 1420. 9 m high equestrian statue of the Hussite war commander Jan Žižka has dominated the site since 1950. Considered the highest equestrian statue in the world, it is visible from almost every other part of the city.

Behind it, a huge granite building, built in 1930, housed the Communist Party mausoleum. Inside were preserved the "sarcophagus" of Clement Gottwald and the tombs of other great names of communism. But all the vaults are empty now. After 1989, the bodies were burned and the funeral urns handed over to the families. The greatest mystery surrounds Gottwald's mystery that the family did not want to accept. It must be said that Gottwald had been exposed, mummified in his stone sarcophagus as it was customary to do in the East (Lenin's mausoleum in Moscow, Dimitroff's in Sofia). To carry out this mummification, and to maintain it, cold rooms were built in the basement of the mausoleum where the thanatopractors worked tirelessly... The Gottwald case was particularly difficult because, because of its alcoholism, mummification turned into a disaster. In desperation, the party called on the Barrandov film studios, which rebuilt Gottwald out of plastic using the mummified remains of his remains, which were cremated in 1962... All this was a bit morbid.

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