Hradec Králové wants to procure a monument of former mayor Ulrich on the third attempt

Hradec Králové - The City Hall of Hradec Králové intends to make a third attempt to establish a monument for the former significant mayor František Ulrich. It wants to carefully prepare the possible placement of the monument in Ulrich Square in cooperation with preservationists to avoid the failures encountered during two previous attempts made 14 and 22 years ago. This was stated today by the deputy mayor for heritage care and urban planning, Adam Záruba (Change for Hradec).

According to him, the City Hall has recently received a number of suggestions from the public regarding the creation of Ulrich's monument. "We will therefore begin with preparatory work. We agreed that it makes no sense to discuss another space than Ulrich Square," said Záruba. He reminded that Ulrich Square is one of the most significant spaces in the city, which was architecturally designed by architect Josef Gočár between the wars.

Therefore, the city, according to Záruba, will commission a construction-historical survey for the square. It wants to find out how the space originally looked, which of the original elements would be worth restoring or preserving. After the survey, there should follow an architectural-artistic competition for the monument, which will include conditions and requirements from the preservationists. Záruba believes the city could have the competition results by 2025.

The intention to build a monument in Ulrich Square, depicting Ulrich sitting at a writing desk, failed 20 years ago precisely due to the objections of preservationists. The statue was to be placed on a high column, and people would watch it through a trio of telescopes. Preservationists rejected the proposal, arguing that the monument would disrupt the architecturally cohesive space of the square.

In 2010, the City Hall acquired a statue of Ulrich and placed it in Freedom Square. However, the statue of the sitting mayor by sculptor Stanislav Hanzík was deemed artistically and qualitatively unsuccessful by both the public and experts. Therefore, the City Hall had the work removed in 2011 to a publicly inaccessible area of the Technical Services at the airport.

"The statue should be transferred to the Museum of Eastern Bohemia in March. It will be placed in its depository. We are also searching for materials for the monument's creation and for the previous competition," Záruba stated.

František Ulrich was the head of the City Hall from 1895 to 1929. During his era, the city received a modern appearance following the demolition of the Hradec fortress and experienced significant development. It gained, for example, railway and road connections as well as the regulation of the Elbe and Orlice rivers. Ulrich invited prominent architects Jan Kotěra and Josef Gočár to the city. Hradec Králové began to be referred to as the salon of the republic at that time.