Liberec will unveil a plague column on Thursday, created by Seifert 56 years ago

Liberec – The corner of the historic town hall in Liberec today features a 2.5-meter high plague column titled Mezník by sculptor, medallist, and restorer Jiří Seifert. The city leadership will ceremonially unveil the artistic work on Thursday morning before a memorial event for the August occupation of 1968, during which nine people died in Liberec due to the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops. Seifert lived in Liberec at the time of the occupation, Jitka Mrázková, who is in charge of the sculpture installation at the town hall in Liberec, told ČTK today.

"It's a kind of modern plague column, created in connection with those events. Not for the plague, but it was meant to symbolize the occupation and suffering," said Mrázková.

Seifert created the plague column for the exhibition Sculpture and City, which took place in Liberec in 1969, where works by around 30 well-known artists were displayed throughout the city. "His wife was Hana Seifertová, who was the director of the gallery in Liberec at that time. And not many people know that in 1968 they were friends with Mr. (Václav) Havel and Mr. (Jan) Třísk, who came here when that exhibition was being prepared. Because of that, Mr. Havel and Mr. Třísk stayed here and broadcasted on the radio what was happening on August 21," added Mrázková.

The sandstone sculpture will remain in front of the town hall for about a year. "It will be a completely different sculpture than we were used to here. It is very traditional, but I think it will interest people," Mrázková stated. Artistic works by various authors have been alternating at the corner by the town hall in the upper center of the fifth largest city in the country since 2005, usually on display for about a year. Before Mezník, there was a four-ton wire Vulpes Gott by artist František Skála.

Liberec has borrowed Seifert's work for 20 years from the regional gallery in Cheb. In the second half of next year, the city leadership plans to move it to Českých bratří Square, where it was also located 56 years ago during the sculpture symposium.

Seifert, who passed away 26 years ago, is currently also commemorated in Liberec by another work. In the 1980s, he created a memorial to architect Adolf Loos, which the University of Liberec returned to Voroněžská Street five years ago. The restoration of the memorial cost approximately 1.4 million crowns.