In front of the National Museum will be the once-planned Palach Monument

The fact that a tall mast stands in front of the New NM building, once the seat of the socialist parliament, which its author Karel Prager intended as a memorial to Palach's sacrifice during the construction of the building, was pointed out by Thursday's MfD. On the sidewalk between the building and the main road stands a nearly thirty-meter tall steel pylon. Evidence of its original purpose has now been discovered in Prager's archive.

The mast, which was designed as a huge sculpture, is being restored. "Now we are undertaking basic treatment of the memorial; after the museum's reconstruction is completed, we would like to place the originally planned sculpture by the artist Miloslav Chlupáč on the memorial. I believe that the extraordinary sacrifice of Jan Palach undoubtedly deserves this, regardless of the extraordinary story of this whole memorial," said Stehlík.

The authors obscured the true meaning of the memorial in the 1970s. Chlupáč's granite sculpture titled Flame was supposed to be placed on the mast near Palach's act, which officials prohibited in the early 1970s. However, a model of the sculpture is preserved in the National Gallery.

Prague will thus have two Palach monuments after a long time. A few years ago, a sculpture by American architect and sculptor of Czech origin John Hejduk was unveiled on Alšovo nábřeží. This memorial, named House of the Son and House of the Mother, consists of two geometric sculptures, also depicting stylized flames.

The National Museum should also prepare a new form of Palach's birthplace in Všetaty in the Mělník region, which the state has purchased. Preparations have so far stalled due to a lack of interest from companies in the construction work needed for its reconstruction.