The monument of Hradec mayor Ulrich will cost 3.5 million

Hradec Králové - The acquisition of a monument to the former significant mayor of Hradec Králové, František Ulrich (1859 to 1939), will cost the city treasury approximately 3.5 million crowns. Of this amount, two million crowns will go to the sculptor Stanislav Hanzík, while the remainder will cover the installation of the statue and the adjustment of its surroundings in Svobody Square. The city council decided today on the purchase of the statue and inclusion of the expenses in next year's budget, said Deputy Mayor Martin Soukup to ČTK.
    This move by the city hall also marks an important step in the long-standing effort to erect a monument to the mayor in the city. The unveiling of the statue from Hanzík's sculpting workshop is planned for next October.
    The monument will consist of two parts. The figurative part will be made of dark Prachatice diorite and will depict the seated mayor Ulrich. The second part will be an artifact made of light granite, in which the regulatory plan of the city by Gočár will be partially carved. It will also include a sundial.
    Hanzík as the creator of the statue was recommended to the city by the Prague Society of Fine Artists Mánes. The artist then submitted a conceptual design that the city accepted. Hanzík is, for example, the author of the lions in front of the Karolinum building, the sculpture of a lying horse in the spa town of Teplice, and the monuments of Jaroslav Seifert in Kralupy and Ivan Hlinka in Litvínov.
    František Ulrich led the city hall from 1895 to 1929, during which time the city gained, among other things, railway and road connections and the regulation of the Elbe and Orlice rivers in the city center. Ulrich also invited significant architects Jan Kotěra and Josef Gočár to the city.