In the Milada Horáková Park in Ostrava, a set of four sculptures is being restored

Ostrava - The renovation of four valuable sculptures in the Milada Horáková park in Ostrava is nearing completion. These sculptures were created at the International Symposium of Spatial Forms held in the city in 1967 and 1969. The renovation should be completed by October 10, when the unveiling of the sculptures with a guided tour is scheduled. Ilona Rozehnalová informed ČTK today on behalf of the event's organizers.

The sculptures can be restored thanks to a new grant program for public space improvement announced by the city this year. Originally, five million crowns were allocated for it, and ultimately, 4.3 million crowns were distributed, as 11 out of 16 projects were successful. Among them was the restoration of the sculptures, which was taken on by the Antiquarian Bookshop and Club Fiducia and the Beautification Society for a Beautiful Ostrava in collaboration with the sculpture restorer Tomáš Skalík.

"We consider the collection of symposium sculptures in the Milada Horáková park to be the most important artistic collection in the area of the city of Ostrava. Currently, we are restoring the oldest sculptures from the first symposium from the late 1960s," said Rozehnalová. She reminded that these are untitled sculptures, created by Rudolf Valenta, Yves Trudeau, and Otto Cienciala, as well as the sculpture Miracle Tree - City of Utopia by Štefan Belohradský.

In the park, there is also a second group of four sculptures created at the so-called renewed symposium as replacements for previously destroyed works by other artists. "We would like to restore those next year if we receive enough funding," Rozehnalová stated.

The sculptures currently being restored were, according to her, dirty, spray-painted, and previously poorly repaired with inappropriate coatings. "Three of the four sculptures are originally colored, so we are restoring them by cleaning off dirt and old coatings and then repainting them to match their original appearance. The fourth sculpture is unpainted with a corroded surface, which has only been cleaned and treated," Rozehnalová added.

The restored sculptures will be first displayed to the public on October 10. The event is scheduled to start at 5:00 PM at the House of Culture of the City of Ostrava. According to Rozehnalová, the intention of the original Ostrava symposium was to create a space for the emergence of progressive art that would reflect the industrial character of the city and suitably complete its public space. Therefore, the material used was exclusively metal. Thirteen artists from then-Czechoslovakia and abroad participated in the biennale. Their works were installed in the Comenius Gardens. However, in 1974, all of them were dismantled, some destroyed or damaged, and distributed to more or less distant locations, from which four sculptures were successfully returned to Ostrava at the beginning of the 1990s. They were then supplemented by a set of four more sculptures created by the authors of the destroyed works.