The birthplace of Jan Palach has been converted into his memorial

Prague - The Birthplace of student Jan Palach, who self-immolated in 1969 in protest against people's resignation to the development of society after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact troops, was transformed into a memorial commemorating his act and his life after 2015. The National Museum, under which the house falls, opened the memorial in Všetaty in the Mělník region a year ago, on October 9, 2019.

The memorial includes Palach's birthplace as well as a new building with a multimedia exhibition. The aim of the memorial is not only to remind visitors of Palach's fate but also to motivate them to reflect on key events in our history, said Michal Lukeš, Director of the National Museum, during the memorial's ceremonial opening last year.

In 2015, the National Museum announced a competition to transform the original village house with a small garden, which was won by Miroslav Cikán and Pavla Melková from the MCA atelier. The author of the historical exhibition is historian Petr Blažek.

The birthplace has been redesigned, passing through a so-called edge of evil, which symbolically stops at a table that honors Palach's family. The edge consists of a large metal prism. The building's windows are darkened, and one can only peek outside through small spyholes, symbolizing the separation of the family from society. There is also a fragment of stairs that led to Jan Palach's room. In the newly built part of the memorial, there are authentic items that Jan Palach had with him on January 16 in Wenceslas Square in Prague at the moment when he set himself on fire. The exhibition also includes Jan Palach's death mask created by sculptor Olbram Zoubek and a sculpture he created called Jan. There are also multimedia screens with historical facts and contexts. A documentary by director Olga Sommerová is screened here. Each visitor also passes under the flag that covered Jan Palach's body after his death.