New publication. The Soviet Marshal and his Prague Monument
The launch of the book will take place on Monday 6 May 2024 at 6 pm in the premises of Písecká brána in Prague 6 under the auspices of the Mayor of Prague 6, Mr. Jakub Stárek.
One of the prominent artefacts in the forthcoming permanent exhibition of the Museum of the Memory of the Twentieth Century will be a bronze statue of Soviet Marshal Ivan Stepanovich Konev (1897-1973), which was originally placed on the Interbrigade Square in Prague's Bubenč between 1980 and 2020.
In the first part of the new publication, historian Jiří Fidler describes the life story of Marshal Konev, focusing on his military career. In the second part, historian Petr Blažek presents the history of the aforementioned Prague monument, which was created as a propaganda gesture several years after Koněv's death. He describes in detail the choice of the monument's authors, sculptor Zdeněk Krybus and architect Vratislav Růžička. The popularization-oriented book is equipped with a number of contemporary photographs and archival documents. The foreword is written by architectural historian Zdeněk Lukeš.
Petr Blažek, the director of the Museum of the Memory of the XXth Century, says that this publication was created in preparation for the permanent exhibition in the House of Pážat: "The life story of Marshal Koněv and the fate of his statue will be set in the broader historical context of the end of the Second World War and the Sovietization of Czechoslovakia. We will also deal with the transformation of communist propaganda and post-Soviet conflicts in the interpretation of historical events."
Jakub Stárek, Mayor of Prague 6, took over the patronage of the book launch and added: "The public in Prague 6 perceives the historical context very sensitively. Whether it is statues, street names or public spaces. This is one of the reasons why Koněva's statue ended up in the museum. Similarly, we are now reflecting on street names in Prague 6 and preparing an information campaign to reveal how street names were changed in connection with communist propaganda."
Accreditation: until May 3, 2024 by e-mail: info@mpxx.cz
Contact: head of the director's office Erika Stařecká,
E-mail: erika.starecka@mpxx.cz,
Tel: + 420/603 860 454