The controversial statue Tribute to Mining stands in front of the train station in Ostrava

photo: Josef Zajíc, source: https://www.novinky.cz/

Ostrava - The controversial statue of a horse with a cart, titled Tribute to Mining, which used to stand in the center of the roundabout at Ostrava's New Town Hall, was installed today in front of the main train station. When the metal sculpture appeared near the magistrate about three years ago, it divided both the public and the expert community. Some artists labeled it as kitsch, while others consider it a unique piece of art.

The statue in the roundabout replaced the traditional floral decoration arranged in the shape of a horse, which is the main element of the city’s coat of arms. At the time, the land was managed by the central city district, but later the city decided to take it back, had the statue removed this February, and thus returned the traditional floral decoration in front of the town hall.

"I am glad that the creators and owners of the statue, even after all the disputes and the subsequent removal of the horse from the roundabout in front of the town hall, have not given up on us, and together we found a different suitable space for a sculpture that evokes so many emotions," said Dalibor Mouka, the deputy mayor of the central city district.

The statue was created during the Symposium of Spatial Forms Ostrava 2013, organized by the AVE ART Ostrava Secondary Art School. "The horse sculpture with a lower cart returns to Ostrava crowned with the first prize from the internationally recognized Hefaiston competition in Helfštýn, which took place at the end of August. In Ostrava, some have condemned the statue, yet it captivated the jury of the 35th year of the international blacksmiths' art competition in the category of Free Creation and Chamber Sculpture," said the school’s director Jaroslav Prokop.

The statue by Ondřej Gély, Stanislav Holík, Jan Balner, and Jan Braunš has previously been praised by, for example, the artistic blacksmith Christine Habermann von Hochové, who is the daughter of Alfred Habermann, the founder of the world-renowned center for artistic blacksmiths in Helfštýn. "The statue is a unique work of art within all of Europe. Its concept is unconventional and therefore very original," said the artist.

The sculpture Tribute to Mining is not the only work that has evoked emotions in the city. Similarly, the public had mixed reactions to the statue of blue-eyed Icarus in Prokeš Square directly in front of the New Town Hall by the Prague academic sculptor František Štork. This mythical figure with wings, which has partly male proportions and blue eyes, appeared in front of the town hall in 1999 and still stands there today. The statue is 3.5 meters tall and weighs about seven tons.