The Liberec City Hall built a monument to the victims of communism

Liberec - The Liberec City Hall has built a monument to the victims of communism in the park on Jablonecká street. It consists of two large-scale mirrors set into the intersection of park paths. Everyone who approaches them will have to walk around and look themselves in the eye. The city announced an architectural competition for the design of the monument, which attracted 15 proposals. The memorial with an optical effect of double reflection won due to its symbolism and also because the design was feasible, unlike some other projects. The city's spokesperson Martin Korych said this today.
The monument to the victims of communism, requested from the city hall by the Confederation of Political Prisoners four years ago, will be officially unveiled on June 27, on the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Communist Regime. The Confederation initially wanted to place the monument near the F. X. Šalda Theatre, later considering the park on Gutenberg Street, but eventually the city decided on the park on Jablonecká street. "Last autumn we began its reconstruction for 4.6 million crowns. We carried out terrain and landscaping adjustments and acquired new furniture. The monument itself, including lighting, cost 1.2 million crowns," added Deputy Mayor for Investments Naďa Jozífková.
The artistic design of the monument was proposed by a quartet of architects from the Prague studio Sporadical. Two vertically aligned glass panels with fifty percent light permeability rise to a height of 4.5 meters. Each mirror weighs three-quarters of a ton and has a thickness of 18 millimeters, with a massive frame made of galvanized steel.
"People lived here for 40 years in totalitarianism. The syndrome of oppression and restriction of freedom permeated the entire nation, and today it is difficult to say who was the victim and who was just the tyrant," said one of the authors of the monument, architect Petr Janda, to ČTK. According to him, the philosophy of the monument is also echoed in the mirrored inscription at the base of the slab: Look within yourself to see if you defend, honor, or restrict freedom.
"We ensured insurance for the artwork, as well as for the lighting and benches, even before installation," pointed out Jozífková. The city council's concerns about damage to the monument aren't deemed overly exaggerated because, for example, the Sphere - a giant sculpture on Gutenberg Street - has only been vandalized once, right after its unveiling three years ago. "Moreover, the park is monitored by city police patrols," Korych stated.