The museum announced a competition for the Palach Memorial in Všetaty

Prague - The National Museum (NM) today announced an architectural and artistic competition for the design of the Jan Palach Memorial in Všetaty. The winner of the competition should transform the original house of Palach's family into a symbolic place commemorating the sacrifice of Jan Palach. The author should also design a new exhibition pavilion and the spatial and artistic solution for the new exhibition. The spokesperson for the National Museum, Tereza Petáková, informed ČTK about the announcement of the competition. The memorial should be established by 2018.
    Student Jan Palach self-immolated on January 16, 1969, in protest against how quickly people resigned from any resistance to the occupation of the country by the Warsaw Pact armies. In Prague, Palach's act is commemorated by a memorial plaque in the pavement of Wenceslas Square, another on the wall of the Faculty of Philosophy at Palach Square, and his grave in Olšany. The house in Všetaty was purchased by the Czech state last year and is managed by the NM.
    Competition proposals for the memorial's design must be submitted by January 15, 2016. The chairman of the jury is architect Josef Pleskot, and its members include the mayor of Všetaty, as well as architect Zdeněk Fránek, musician and artist Vladimir 518, and artist Jiří Sozanský.
    "Through the competition, we are looking for a strong creative personality who will approach such a significant topic as the extraordinary human sacrifice of Jan Palach with respect and sensitivity," stated NM director Michal Lukeš. The overall solution for the memorial should be based on its conceptual division into three main zones - symbolic, contemplative, and educational.
    The house has been uninhabited for a long time and is in poor condition. The original furnishings are either entirely missing or destroyed, and no objects from the time when Palach lived there have survived. Therefore, the memorial that will commemorate Palach's sacrifice will not be a classical memorial site based on period furnishings but a completely new structure with a strong emotional charge, the museum states.
    The land adjacent to the house will then be used as a space for visitors’ meditation and personal reconciliation with the absolute measure of Jan Palach's human sacrifice. The concept of the garden and its design will, however, stem from the individual approach to the given topic by the selected author. The exhibition itself will be created in the new exhibition pavilion in the garden.