Kam zmizli sochy Lenina a Gottwalda? Premena československého verejného priestoru po roku 1989
Where did the Statues of Lenin and Gottwald Disappear to? Transformation of the Czechoslovak Public Space after 1989

Summary/Abstract: This article focuses on the situation in the public space of Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. It analyses the status and interventions on monuments and memorials built during state socialism in Czechoslovakia. Attention is given to the statues of communist leaders and their emblems (Lenin, Gottwald, Zápotocký, Militiaman, and others). The text is divided into eight interconnected parts. The first and second sections of the article explore in detail the public space in Czechoslovakia during November and December 1989 and its visual side. The other parts focus on the treatment of pro-regime monuments – their removal, destruction, and replacement. The sixth and seventh sections are dedicated to the museumization of these unwanted objects in squares and museums. The last part examines the new potential uses of statues from the period of state socialism in terms of their transformation into new representative symbols or their sale. The main aim of this article is to respond to questions related to statues and monuments used as political representations from the period of state realism and their cultural and historical role after 1989 in former Czechoslovakia. The research seeks to take a critical look at the accepted hypothesis that statues of the former regime were destroyed and more closely discusses their status after the Velvet Revolution.

• Details
• Contents