<h1>Borders received 20 proposals for the Masaryk statue, the jury will decide</h1>

Hranice - The architectural-artistic competition for the design of the statue of T.G. Masaryk in Hranice, in the Přerov region, received 20 proposals. The ranking of these proposals will be determined by a jury, said Petr Bakovský, spokesperson for the Hranice town hall, to ČTK today. The statue is to adorn the area in the city’s heritage zone in front of the elementary art school on Školní náměstí. The competition for the work valued at 3.5 million crowns was announced by the city in February, and the number of proposals has pleasantly surprised city representatives. Masaryk visited the town twice, and the city has been attempting to restore his memorial since the 1990s.

"A total of 20 proposals were submitted, and on Wednesday, a professional jury will meet to determine the ranking of these anonymous proposals. After that, the city council should approve their selection. We are pleasantly surprised by the number of proposals; we believe that there will definitely be something to choose from," said the town hall spokesperson.

The city prepared the competition in cooperation with the Czech Chamber of Architects, and the independent jury members are Milan Houser, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno, architect Petr Janda, and the now former director of the Museum of Art in Olomouc, Michal Soukup. In addition to expressing tribute to the Czechoslovak statesman, philosopher, educator, and the first Czechoslovak president, the selection will also consider the compositional integration into the space where the artwork is to stand. The city left the authors a free hand in their approach; they could propose the work in a figurative or abstract interpretation. The size of the statue was not specified either. "We plan to present the proposals to the public this summer and also print a catalog," Bakovský added.

The statue of Masaryk was supposed to be unveiled for the first time in October 1938, on the 20th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, right at Školní náměstí. However, due to political events, it was not installed, and the statue was destroyed during the war. Masaryk's memorial was then unveiled at Školní náměstí ten years later. The statue stood here until 1963 and again from May 1968 until October 1974, when it was permanently removed and destroyed.

The city attempted to restore the memorial several times in the 1990s, but this was unsuccessful. A compromise eventually became the bust of Masaryk, which was installed in 2001 in the Old Town Hall premises. The current impetus for reviving the idea of a permanent Masaryk monument in the city was last year's centenary of the republic and the renovation of the Hranice Elementary Art School, Bakovský added.