The competition for the design of the Monument to the Prague Uprising will be announced by Prague 6 after the elections

Prague - A statue commemorating the liberation of Prague at the end of World War II could be situated in Interbrigade Square in Prague 6 by 2025. The design of the monument to the Prague Uprising will emerge from an architectural and artistic competition. The city council of the sixth district wanted to announce the competition in June, but has now postponed the announcement to the turn of 2022 and 2023. According to representatives of the district, the reason for the delay is that a jury for the competition has not yet been established. The councilors of Prague 6 agreed on the postponement of the competition announcement. The memorial to the liberation of the capital during World War II will replace the previously removed statue of Soviet Marshal Ivan Konyev in Bubenec Square, as decided by the district's councilors in 2019.

The composition of the jury for the competition regarding the monument's design will be known after the autumn municipal elections, and once a new leadership is seated at the city hall. The newly formed coalition will have its representatives in the jury, who will decide on the competition's winner. In addition to them, the jury should comprise sculptors, architects, and urban planners. The final composition of the jury should thus be preliminarily approved by the councilors of Prague 6 in November, along with the competition assignment.

Artists and architects participating in the two-phase competition will have the task in the first round to propose the design of the monument, the execution of which will cost no more than seven million crowns, the placement of the monument in public space, and the modifications to Interbrigade Square. Proposals selected by the jury will advance to the second round, to be chosen in April 2023. The winner of the competition should be known in the autumn of 2023. The monument and alterations to the square according to the winning design could tentatively be realized in 2025.

Interbrigade Square previously hosted a monument to the controversial Soviet Marshal Ivan Konyev. The statue was removed by the city hall in April 2020 based on a decision from September 2019, when it was also decided that Konyev's monument would be replaced by a memorial to the liberation of Prague at the end of World War II.

The monument to the commander who participated in the liberation of Prague from the Nazis but also in the bloody suppression of the anti-communist uprising in Hungary in 1956 was a frequent target for vandals. The Russian embassy condemned the removal of the monument as outrageous. Czech communists strongly protested against the city hall's actions at that time, as did Russia through its embassy in Prague and President Miloš Zeman. Today, the city council of the Czech capital is also considering revoking the honorary citizenship of Prague awarded to Marshal Konyev. The leadership of Prague 3 is also contemplating renaming the current Konyev Street after the first mayor of Žižkov, Karel Hartig.

The statue of the Soviet marshal is currently stored in a depot in Měšice in Prague-East. In the future, it will be exhibited at the Prague Museum of Memory of the 20th Century. Prague 6, as the owner of the statue, has a ten-year contract with the museum, with the possibility of extension, as previously reported by Prague 6 Deputy Mayor Jan Lacina (STAN) to ČTK.