In April, the equestrian statue of Žižka on Vítkov will begin to be repaired

Prague - In April, the monumental equestrian statue of Jan Žižka of Trocnov will begin to be repaired at Vítkov in Prague. The reconstruction, which will cost 30 million crowns, will last until November next year. Radka Schusterová, spokesperson for the National Museum, informed ČTK. The statue is part of the National Monument at Vítkov, which was reopened last year after reconstruction.
    According to Schusterová, the inside of the statue has long been humid, causing corrosion of the bronze shell and steel elements. "Currently, the damage to the statue has reached such a level that it is necessary to proceed with immediate general repairs," said Schusterová.
    The restoration of the statue will be handled by the company Houska and Douda, which the museum selected through a tender process. According to Schusterová, the same company previously worked on the repair of the trig on the National Theatre building or the equestrian statue of Jiří z Poděbrad. It is not yet clear whether the statue will be reconstructed on-site or moved to a workshop. "A decision will be made after a detailed restoration survey," noted Schusterová.
    According to Schusterová, the bronze monument is among the largest statues of its kind in the world - it is nine meters tall, with the pedestal it reaches 22 meters, five meters wide, and 9.6 meters long, weighing 16.5 tons. The statue was cast in 1946 at Maškova foundry in Karlín based on a design by sculptor Bohumil Kafka. The monument was unveiled on July 14, 1950, on the 530th anniversary of the battle at Vítkov.
    The National Museum has already invested about 321 million crowns into the repair of the monument at Vítkov. Since autumn, the monument has served as a museum of modern Czech and Czechoslovak history. It also includes the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, located beneath the statue of Žižka.
    The monument was created in the 1930s as a reminder of the founding of Czechoslovakia and the heroism of the Legionnaires from World War I. In its premises, for example, the parliament once convened, and later it served as a mausoleum for communist leaders. Their remains were handed over to relatives or buried in a mass grave at Olšany after 1989.