In Pilsen, there is once again a competition for a monument to American General Patton

PLZEŇ - Eighteen artists have registered for the second competition for a monument to American General George Patton, which the city of Plzeň announced in the middle of the year. The models will be exhibited on Friday at 12:00 at the city hall on Škroupova Street. After a two-week exhibition, the winner will be decided by the city council in February. This was stated to journalists by Milan Svoboda, head of the concept and development department.
"The timing of the monument's realization will depend on the results of the competition and the financial demands of the winner," he stated. The limit on maximum costs was not set in the competition conditions. According to information from ČTK, the costs of all competition proposals are in the hundreds of thousands of crowns.
The city announced the competition after the failure of the first project for a statue of the legendary general. The council approved 500,000 crowns from last year's budget surplus for its preparation in April. According to Mayor Miroslav Kalous, the monument is meant to symbolize a general expression of respect from citizens to all war victims.
At the beginning of the year, the city halted the project of the Military Car Club, which wanted to erect a nearly three-meter bronze monument by Patton Bridge, designed by sculptor Jaroslav Bocker. The city leadership disapproved of Bocker being registered as an agent of the former communist secret police, the StB. The statue was supposed to be unveiled in Plzeň this year for the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Last May, both the former mayor and the American ambassador laid a cornerstone for it. The Military Car Club removed the pedestal on April 1.
Bocker's monument has stood since May in Dýšín near Plzeň. According to the author, its price is 1.7 million crowns. The community has launched a fundraiser for it.
Patton currently has only one statue in the USA and one in Luxembourg. The statue in Dýšín depicts him according to a period photograph from a military parade in Rokycany: standing with a riding whip in hand.