Hranice wants to build a statue of Masaryk in the square and has announced a competition

Hranice - One of the squares in Hranice in the Přerov region should soon be adorned with a statue of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. The town hall announced an architectural and artistic competition this week, estimating the price of the work at up to 3.5 million crowns. Masaryk visited the city twice, and the city has been attempting to renew his monument since the 1990s, said the town hall spokesperson Petr Bakovský. The statue is to be placed in the city's heritage zone in front of the basic art school on School Square.

"The work is understood as a tribute to T. G. Masaryk, the Czechoslovak statesman, philosopher, educator, and the first president of the Czechoslovak Republic," states the competition conditions. According to the city's vision, the artwork should withstand the test of time, while the concept and compositional integration are left to the authors, as well as the possibility of whether the work will be figurative or abstract. Its size is not specified either. The city prepared the competition in cooperation with the Czech Chamber of Architects, and the independent jury members are Milan Houser, dean of the Brno Faculty of Fine Arts, architect Petr Janda, and Michal Soukup, director of the Olomouc Museum of Art.

"The history of attempts to create a stable reminder of the first Czechoslovak president in Hranice is quite rich. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk visited the town of Hranice twice, once as president in 1924," said the town hall spokesperson.

After Masaryk's death, the unveiling of his statue was planned for October 1938, on the 20th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, specifically at School Square. The statue was created based on a joint design by Olomouc sculptor Karel Lenhart and Hranice artist Ladislav Vlotka. "However, due to the political events of the autumn of 1938, the installation did not take place, and the statue was destroyed during the war," added Bakovský. Masaryk's memorial was then unveiled at School Square ten years later, on May 9, 1948. It was created in 1927 by sculptor Jelena Mandičová for the Subcarpathian city of Uzhhorod. The statue stood at School Square until 1963 and was again present from May 1968 until October 1974, when it was permanently removed and destroyed.

The city attempted to restore the monument several times in the 1990s without success. As a compromise, a bust of Masaryk was installed in 2001 in the Old Town Hall at the initiative of the Military Association of Rehabilitated. The impetus to revive the idea of a permanent Masaryk monument in the city was last year's centennial anniversary of the republic and the renovation of the Hranice Art School, Bakovský added.

Architects and artists can submit designs for the form of Masaryk's statue until mid-April. After the announcement of the results, the competition designs will be presented at an exhibition. The date of the statue's installation will depend on the nature of the selected work, town hall representatives added.