A sculpture titled Flame was unveiled at the National Museum in honor of Palach

Prague – A bronze sculpture titled Flame was unveiled today in front of the new building of the National Museum at Palach's pylon. The thirty-meter steel column serving as the pedestal for the statue has stood in front of the former Federal Assembly building in Prague, where part of the museum is located, for nearly forty years. Until recently, few people knew about the object located close to the Prague ring road.

Student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Prague on January 16, 1969, in protest against the fact that people were falling into lethargy after being shocked by the occupation of the Warsaw Pact troops, and he wanted to awaken them to action. He died from severe burns on January 19.

The sculpture was unveiled by Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek together with the General Director of the National Museum Michal Lukeš and its author, academic sculptor Antonín Kašpar.

Zaorálek stated that this is the largest commemoration of Palach in Prague. According to him, Palach wanted to rouse people from the habit and routine they returned to after the occupation. "I fear that the remembering of November 17 or Jan Palach will become the same habit and the same routine," he noted. "People should take their lives into their own hands," he added.

"Our homeland and its inhabitants are currently going through difficult times. Nevertheless, and precisely for this reason, we decided to unveil the Jan Palach memorial today, modestly and in compliance with all current anti-epidemic rules, using a television broadcast and online technologies. This is to honor those who have contributed to our freedom in the past, to remind ourselves of its importance for the present and not to forget to protect it in the future," said Lukeš.

When the Federal Assembly building was being constructed, the author of the pylon, Karel Prager, planned a reminder of Palach's act close to where it occurred. Evidence of its original purpose was only recently discovered in Prager's archive. The National Museum restored the mast, which was designed as a huge sculpture. It has now been topped with a sculpture representing flames by Antonín Kašpar, who also restored the pylon. Kašpar was the only applicant in the tender and won the contract for 3.7 million crowns.

The authors in the 1970s concealed the true meaning of the memorial. Originally, it was to be topped with a granite sculpture by Miloslav Chlupáč titled Flame, but officials banned it in the early 1970s. A model of the sculpture is preserved in the National Gallery. For decades, there was a Czechoslovak state emblem on the pylon.

Thus, Prague now has two memorials to Palach after many years. Several years ago, a sculpture by American architect and sculptor of Czech descent John Hejduk was unveiled on Alšova embankment. This memorial, titled House of the Son and House of the Mother, consists of two geometric sculptures also representing stylized flames.

Last October, the National Museum opened the Palach Memorial in Všetaty near Mělník. It includes Jan Palach's birthplace and a new building with a multimedia exhibition.