The monumental statue of St. Christopher at D35 had to be removed, it was damaged

Olomouc – After 16 years, the monumental nearly four-meter statue of Saint Christopher, the patron of pilgrims and travelers, had to be removed from the embankment near the D35 highway not far from Olomouc. The author is academic sculptor and painter Marius Kotrba. Over the past weekend, an unknown perpetrator removed several kilograms of bronze from it, disrupting its stability. The damage has been assessed at a quarter of a million crowns, police spokesperson Petra Vaňharová informed ČTK today. According to Miroslav Mazal from the Olomouc office of the Roads and Motorways Directorate (ŘSD), the perpetrators attempted to cut it off but were interrupted. The ŘSD will attempt to restore the work.

The perpetrator damaged the statue of walking Christopher with a child on his shoulder, standing on the embankment by the Olomouc bypass, which drivers passed between the Olympia shopping center and a gas station, on the night from Saturday to Sunday. "The thief removed a sheet of bronze from part of the left calf and another piece from the right leg of the statue. Then he also cut off the thumb of the right foot and sliced two more toes," stated the police spokesperson. The police spokesperson initially reported that the perpetrator had come for several kilograms of bronze, later adjusting that police found the removed sheets from the legs in the vicinity on Saturday evening, with only the thumb of the right foot of the statue missing.

According to the police, the perpetrator also damaged the beam securing the statue in the concrete base, which then shifted several centimeters towards the highway. "Due to the disruption of the statue's stability, it was decided to immediately remove it," Vaňharová stated. She added that the police are investigating the case for suspected damage to someone else's property, for which the perpetrator faces up to a year in prison.

According to Mazal, the unknown perpetrators tried to cut and steal the bronze statue standing by the D35 highway at the 270th kilometer, which they failed to accomplish. "A hunter noticed the unusual activity resembling metal cutting, and after his report, the situation was handled by the Czech Police, who are continuing to investigate the case. The unknown perpetrators completely cut off one leg of Christopher, and they did not manage to finish cutting the second limb, so the significantly unstable life-sized work had to be removed," Mazal told ČTK. "Not only out of respect for one of the significant Czech sculptors, but the ŘSD's effort will be to restore the artifact in its full glory at its original location," Mazal added.

The statue watched over passing drivers from the embankment above the highway near Nemilany since October 2005, its unveiling then completing the construction of the southern bypass of Olomouc. The author of the statue is academic sculptor Marius Kotrba from Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. The author stated at the time that he originally worked on the figure of a pilgrim, but eventually decided on the statue of Saint Christopher, the patron of pilgrims and travelers. Academic sculptor, artist, and professor at the University of Ostrava Marius Kotrba died in May 2011 after suffering a heart attack during a business trip to Slovakia. He is also the author of the four-meter Shepherd, who has been guarding motorists on the D1 highway near Lipník nad Bečvou in the Přerov region since 2011.