<p>The sculptor Josef Klimeš has died, awarded at the Brussels Expo 58 exhibition.</p>

At the age of 89, Czech sculptor Josef Klimeš passed away on Friday in Prague. He received the Grand Prix award for his iron sculpture at the Expo 58 exhibition in Brussels. His daughter Natálie Mojžíšová announced this to the Czech News Agency today. Klimeš is also the author of numerous sculptures enhancing buildings and public spaces, especially in Prague. His concrete sculptures near the Barrandov Bridge are well-known.

"He died suddenly on Friday, just a few days before his 90th birthday, which he was to celebrate on Monday," said Mojžíšová. The last farewell to Josef Klimeš will take place on Friday, January 19, in the morning at a church in Prague's Nebušice. He will be buried in the local cemetery.

Academic sculptor Josef Klimeš was born on January 15, 1928, in Měřín in the Žďár region. His father, an amateur painter of copies of paintings from reproductions, led him to art. He graduated from the secondary school in Velké Meziříčí and in 1954 he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts. Four years later, he was awarded for his sculpture titled Everyone Has the Right to Education, created for the entrance hall of the Czechoslovak pavilion at the Brussels Expo.

Among Klimeš’s other well-known works are the concrete sculpture Balance on the Braník side of the Barrandov Bridge and similarly monumental roofing of the staircase on the opposite side of the bridge, nicknamed Hippopotamus Bath or Elephant Feeder. Both date from 1989. Klimeš is also the author of the concrete sculpture Wing on the façade of the President Hotel in downtown Prague or wooden reliefs in the neighboring InterContinental Hotel.

Other Klimeš works enhance the Franciscan Garden in Prague, the Thermal Hotel in Karlovy Vary, or the Holešovice station of the Prague metro. His bronze statue Cup was chosen in 1990 as a gift for Pope John Paul II during his first visit to Prague.

In addition to concrete, metal, and wood, Klimeš also worked with plaster, clay, and stone. He also created hammered portraits from thin copper sheeting. Most major galleries and museums across the Czech Republic have Klimeš's works in their collections.