The monstrous statue of Stalin stood in Letná for seven years

Prague - The giant stone statue of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was intended by its sponsors to gaze down from Prague's Letná Plain for all eternity. However, shortly after the ceremonial unveiling of the monument on May 1, 1955, clouds began to gather over Stalin's legacy. In 1956, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev delivered his famous speech, in which he criticized the cult of Stalin's personality. Czechoslovak communists hesitated for a long time on how to react to the new course. They only came to the decision to remove Stalin's statue from Letná in 1961. The proposal to gradually dismantle the work was rejected due to its complexity, and thus the statue was blown up in three stages in the autumn of 1962. The demolition of the colossus began 60 years ago, on October 19, 1962, and was completed on November 6, 1962.

The idea of erecting a monument to Stalin in Prague emerged shortly after the end of World War II. There were several proposals for its placement, but a special committee led by Information Minister Václav Kopecký favored Letná, specifically a site near the Hanavský Pavilion. Ultimately, however, the decision was made to build the monument a little further east, directly opposite Čechův Bridge.

The design of the monument emerged from an artistic competition announced in April 1949. From more than fifty submitted proposals, the jury selected the study by architect Jiří Štursa, his wife Vlasta, and sculptor Otakar Švec for realization. The winning team proposed a composition in which eight figures, symbolizing the Czechoslovak and Soviet people, were arranged behind Stalin. Due to the number of figures, the monument was later nicknamed "the meat queue," but the jurors were enthusiastic.

The cornerstone of the future monument was laid by Prime Minister Antonín Zápotocký on December 22, 1949. Actual construction work began in February 1952. Under the hands of six hundred builders, the largest group sculpture in Europe began to rise. From the 15-meter-high pedestal, an even half a meter taller Stalin looked down upon Prague. The inside of the monument consisted of a reinforced concrete structure clad with 235 granite blocks from northern Bohemia. The monument weighed a total of 17,000 tons, and its construction cost 140 million crowns.

Due to the construction of the statue, the football club Slavia had to leave Letná and moved to Vršovice. Delays in construction meant that Stalin did not live to see the completion of his statue (he died in March 1953). However, neither did his co-creator Otakar Švec attend the ceremonial unveiling of the monument in May 1955, as he had committed suicide a month earlier.

Only the underground spaces of Stalin's monument remain, which served as storage until 1989. Shortly after the Velvet Revolution, a rock club was established here, and the first private radio station in Czechoslovakia, today known as Rádio 1, broadcasted from here. The first noticeable change was the installation of a giant pendulum by Vratislav Novák in 1991. In recent years, the city has reinforced the ceiling slab of the lower part of the monument. The space continues to serve skateboarders and for recreation. How the fragment of the former monument will be used in the future has not yet been decided by the city.