National Monument in Vitkov
Contact us:
National Monument in Vitkov
U Pamatniku 1900, 130 00 Praha 3, Czech Republic
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel. +420 222 781 676
www.nm.cz
For guided tours and educational programmes
for schools, dial +420 222 781 676.
Dear Visitors,
We would like to take the liberty of inviting
you to the National Monument in Vitkov. We
have prepared this guidebook for you to present
the history and the interior of the Monument.
We wish you a pleasant journey into the past
to discover the historical experience indelibly
imprinted upon this building.
�e National Museum acquired the National
Monument in Vitkov in 2000, and this was followed by major restoration work. �e Monument
includes, besides others, the Ceremonial Hall, the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the facilities of
the Klement Gottwald Mausoleum, an exhibition
entitled Crossroads of Czech and Czechoslovak
Statehood and many other exhibition halls. You can
also enjoy our viewing terrace and a lovely cafe.
The History of Vitkov Hill and Zizkov
after the 1850’s
Vitkov, a hill with a remarkable genius loci,
has always attracted Prague’s citizens and is
linked with important events in Czech history. The
first written mention of Vitkov dates back to the
14th century, to the time of Charles IV, who had
vineyards planted on the hills around Prague. The
vineyards stretched from the foot of Vitkov through
Vinohrady to Karlov. Besides grapes, Vitkov hill
was also used for the cultivation of hops.
The historical high point for Vitkov relates
to the Hussite movement and dates back to the
summer of 1420. A crusade against the Czech
Kingdom was declared in Wroclaw in March
1420. In April and May the crusader armies, led
by Emperor Sigmund, proceeded towards Prague.
The representatives of Prague’s towns decided to
stand against Sigmund and asked Tabor and other
Hussite-controlled boroughs for help. Sigmund
2
seized Hradcany and Vysehrad while the Praguers
and Hussite forces controlled Vitkov. The decisive
battle took place on 14 July 1420 when the Hussite
forces defeated the crusader army.
The latter half of the 19th century can be seen
as the culmination of the emancipation of the
Czech nation. This was closely linked to displays
of patriotism in places which were essentially
bound to Czech history. Thanks to its genius
loci, Zizkov quarter and Vitkov hill became one
of these places. In 1877, the town of Kralovske
Vinohrady I was renamed to Zizkov, as Jan Zizka
of Trocnov was perceived as the symbol of the
fight for Czech interests. In 1881 Zizkov was
promoted to the status of a town. Vitkov was seen
as the symbol of the Czechs and the ancient glory
of the Czech nation, which obviously led to the
idea of building a monument to Zizka here. The
initiative for building the monument is attributed
to Karel Hartig, the first mayor of Zizkov.
In 1882, the Association for the Construction
of the Zizka Monument in Zizkov was established in the hall of the U Deklarace pub. The
Association held national celebrations in Zizkov
(for instance in 1884) and in 1910 a memorial tablet was unveiled on the hilltop. The Association’s
most famous act was the announcement of the
tender for the Zizka Monument in 1912. No first
prize was awarded. The Association’s activities
were abandoned during World War One.
Establishment of the Czech Republic
and the Resistance Monument
In 1918 an independent Czechoslovak state was
declared. The state consistently supported activities
aimed at maintaining and developing the tradition
of foreign legions. The Resistance Monument was
established within the Ministry of National Defence
in May 1919 as an institution whose role it was to
collect written and material memorabilia relating
to the resistance. In 1920 the Monument became
a separate military institute, with colonel Rudolf
Medek being the commander. The objective of the
Resistance Monument as an institution was to build
a structure which would embody celebration and
reverence as well as pro-active scientific activities
in the field of history, i.e. including an archive,
library and museum. At that time the Resistance
Monument was already cooperating with the
afore-mentioned Association for the Construction
of Zizka’s Monument in Zizkov. The two institutions merged in 1926, establishing the Union for
the Construction of the Liberation Monument and
the Monument to Jan Zizka of Trocnov.
Two art contests were held for the design,
the more important being the second one in
1925, which assumed separate buildings for
the Monument. The first building, located on
Vitkov hill, should be a necropolis for prominent
representatives of the First Resistance, and the
second building at the foot of the hill, now used
by the Institute of Military History, was to house
the administration and museum. The architect Jan
Zazvorka won the first prize in the contest.
The construction of the museum at the foot
of the hill was launched in 1927 and completed
two years later. The construction of the National
Liberation Monument commenced in 1928 when the
corner stone was laid on the top of Vitkov Hill in the
presence of President T. G. Masaryk to mark the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Czech Republic.
The shell was completed in 1933 and interior works
continued, involving many leading artists. In 1938
the Monument was prepared to officially become
state property but that, however, did not happen because of the events in Munich. The Monument thus
remained the property of the Union and the artwork
decorations were not fully completed.
Ceremonial Hall
The Ceremonial Hall (5) is the core of the
Monument. Its design is based on temple architecture and consists of a deep three-naved hall
with tribunes above the aisles and a middle nave
clerestory. The dominating feature of the Hall is
the front part, which was to be used as a podium
for occasions of celebration and mourning. A large
metallic sculpture above the front part, installed
in 1938, was made by sculptors Karel Kotrba
and Ladislav Kofranek and represents the flying
and winged Genius Prophesying Freedom. It was
destroyed by the Nazis during World War Two,
recast and reinstalled after the war.
Above the podium is a tapestry with a large
national emblem of the First Republic, conceived
by the academic painter Karel Svolinsky. The
tapestry was made in the workshop of Marie
Hoppe-Tainitzer in Jindrichuv Hradec. To avoid
destruction by the Nazis, it was sent to the World
Exhibition in New York in 1938. After long series
of events it came back to the Monument as late
as in 2001.
The space above the cornice of the
Ceremonial Hall is divided into fields with
tiled areas featuring historical emblems of the
lands which were a part of the First Republic.
The floor, stairways and walls are made of fine
marble in colour combinations of grey-red, black
and white. The ceiling windows provide natural
light to the Ceremonial Hall.
The western part of the Ceremonial Hall has an
elevated platform with an organ and a space for the
singers. The reed pipes are protected with a cage.
Under the platform there is a mosaic entitled Where
Is My Home (the Czech national anthem) by Jakub
Obrovsky. The space between the stairways is filled
with a cubic marble block with a large laurel wreath
by Professor Karel Stipl.
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Presidential Lounge
�e Presidential Lounge (4) is a space with
uni�ed architectonic design. �e parquetry is
made of oak and walnut. �e walls are decorated
with the original silk brocade wallpaper with a
Byzantine pattern made according to a fragment
of cloth found in the Tomb of Czech kings in St
Vitus Cathedral.
�e seats and oval table in the lounge were
based on a design by Jan Zazvorka. An electric
furnace in the middle of the northern wall is
covered with a decorative cage and there is an
allegoric �gure above the lintel based on a design
by Jaroslav Horejc. �e opposite wall is decorated
with a painting entitled Tabor by Vincenc Benes.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
�e Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (10) is
located underneath the statue of Jan Zizka of
Trocnov on horseback. �e Czechoslovak Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier was originally made in
the Old Town Hall in 1922 as a temporary place
of piety and contained the relics of an unknown
soldier from Zborov. At the beginning of the
Protectorate Bohmen und Mahren in 1939, the
Tomb became a place where people expressed
their symbolic resistance against the Nazi power.
It was demolished by the Nazis in 1941.
When World War Two was over, consideration was given to renewing the Tomb and moving
it to Vitkov. As part of the 30th anniversary of
the Battle of Zborov1, the Headquarters of the
Czechoslovak Army decided to establish the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the National
Monument in Vitkov, which would contain the
relics from Zborov. However, Soviet embassy
officials denied the request to transfer those relics.
In June 1949 restoration work was underway in
the military graveyard near Dukla, and during
exhumation work on 14 July 1949 the relics of
one of the unknown soldiers were unearthed in
the graveyard in Vysny Komarnik. �ey were
transported to Prague and temporarily lodged
with the National Museum. On Sunday 9 October
1949, when celebrations of the 5th anniversary of
the Battle of Dukla2 were at their peak, the relics
were moved to the Liberation Monument.
On 8 May 2010 other relics of an unknown
soldier from Zborov were put in the Tomb next
to the relics of the unknown soldier from Dukla,
thus ful�lling the original idea of the Monument.
�e relics are lodged in one of the coffins. �e sarcophagus is surrounded by six marble-clad pillars
which support the statue of Jan Zizka of Trocnov.
�e reliefs in the Tomb were made by the academic
sculptor Oskar Kozak. On the right hand side
there are memorial tablets commemorating Czech
troops who lost their lives in contemporary missions abroad. �e Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
is today perceived in all its breadth and meaning
as an expression of thanksgiving to the Czechs
and Slovaks who fell in the struggle to liberate the
Czech and Czechoslovak state. In 2006 General
Alois Elias and his wife were also buried here.
1
�e Battle of Zborov, Ukraine (2 July 1917) was part of the Russian summer offensive against the Austro-Hungarian
army on the Eastern front in the First World War. �e battle was a remarkable appearance of the Czechoslovak legions
in Russia (Czechoslovak Ri�emen Brigade) which largely contributed to the great success of the otherwise failing
Russian offensive in the �ghting near Zborov.
2
From September to November 1944, in the �nal stage of World War Two, the so-called Carpatho-Dukla operation was
underway, aiming at ensuring quick progress of the Soviet armies through the Dukla pass to Slovakia to provide assistance
to the Slovak National Uprising. �e operation was joined by the Czechoslovak 1st Army Corps in the Soviet Union, which
participated in the heaviest battles near the town of Dukla. A large number of Czechoslovak soldiers were killed in these
�ghts. Eventually the Czechoslovak troops entered Slovakia on 6 October 1944 near Vysny Komarnik.
4
�e author of the bronze sculptures in the
antechamber of the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier is the academic sculptor Otakar Svec.
�ey are allegories of military virtues – Courage
and Loyalty (a female �gure).
Central Hall – Permanent Exhibition
The Statue of Jan Zizka of Trocnov
on Horseback – Viewing Point
In the 1930’s, ten sarcophagi made from
polished marble from Slivenec and 16 dark
marble sepulchral tablets were placed in the
middle of the hall. �is concept was changed in
1960’s when, after the cremation of the relics of
Klement Gottwald, one of the red sarcophagi was
moved to the centre, and urns with the relics of
the Czechoslovak presidents Antonin Zapotocky
and Ludvik Svoboda were later placed in the other
two sarcophagi. �is was in the area where the
permanent exhibition entitled Crossroads of the
Czech and Slovak Statehood is installed now.
After the First World War the activities of
the Association for the Construction of Zizka’s
Monument in Zizkov were renewed. As early as in
June 1920 the cornerstone was laid in the presence
of President T. G. Masaryk. In the 1920’s several
art tenders were held, with no satisfactory results
(1923, 1925 and 1928). �e monument was eventually commissioned in 1931 from the sculptor
Bohumil Kafka, a professor at Prague’s Academy
of Visual Arts, outside the tender. �e sculpture
was supposed to be monumental and realistic.
It took Kafka a whole ten years to complete the
sculpture, and an advisory board of nine people
was established to supervise his work, consisting of
specialists, historians and hippologists.
For this job, Bohumil Kafka had a new studio
built in Orechovka, Prague, 27 m high and 18 m
wide. �e initial idea was for the model of a horse
without the rider. Several men then modelled for
the rider part, conceiving the rider’s position, body
and head. Experts in historical armament provided
information not only on the rider’s clothing style,
but also many details, such as the design of the foot
frame. Kafka made a plaster model of Zizka’s statue
in November 1941 and died shortly afterwards.
�e sculpture was cast after the liberation.
It was unveiled on 14 July 1950, to mark the
anniversary of the Battle of Vitkov. It is tethered
to reinforced concrete plugs anchored in the
structure of the Monument. �e sculpture is 9 m
high, 9.6 m long, and weighs 16.5 tons.
�e Central Hall (4) is one of the places of
reverence, originally designed for burying distinguished Czechoslovak legionaries, although none
were actually ever buried here.
�e Central Hall features four great reliefs
sculpted in marble blocks built into the building’s
structure, made by Karel Pokorny. �ey depict the
themes of Assault (an attacking French legionary
in the NE corner of the hall), Defence (a defending
Russian legionary, SE corner), Dying (a wounded
Italian legionary, SW corner) and Death (a dead
Serbian legionary, NW corner of the hall).
�e reliefs are linked to the interesting fate of
the Monument during World War Two and the
Nazi occupation. When World War Two began,
the lower buildings of the museum, now the
Institute of Military History, were seized by the
Nazis and devastated at the end of the war. �e
Monument’s building escaped the Wehrmacht’s
attention until November 1942. �e administration of the Monument therefore took advantage
of this to carry out concealed actions from the
autumn of 1939 to the summer of 1940 to save
everything valuable, such as metals for casting
sculptures, and removed and stored works of
art. All works that could not be moved were
5
permanently masked. �is was also the case of the
reliefs that were ‘converted’ into unworked blocks
with the structure and gloss of the original stone.
From November 1942 the Monument was occupied by the Nazi administration and before the
end of the war the Wehrmacht used it as a store.
After World War Two the renewal of the
Monument commenced. Works also began on the
new building which was to be used as a tribute to the
second resistance. However, the events of February
1948 brought new ways of using the Monument.
Oppression against the legionary tradition broke
out in full force in 1950. Following the decision of
the Central Committee of the Communist Party
of Czechoslovakia, the Monument of Liberation
was converted in a proletariat pantheon, thus
changing its ideological function.
Another turning point in its history was in
1953 when the Central Committee decided to
set up the Klement Gottwald Mausoleum in the
Monument.
Columbarium
�is place of reverence (6) was originally designed for the burial of distinguished
Czechoslovak legionaries. However, they were
never buried here. Starting in 1951, it was used to
bury leading Communist Party Officials, such as
Bohumir Smeral or Stanislav K. Neumann, whose
relics were all removed after 1989, the urns placed
in the Olsanske graveyard or given to the survivor
families. �e decorations of the Columbarium are
by the sculptor Jaroslav Horejc.
Nowadays this place is used to commemorate remarkable personalities who in�uenced,
whether in a positive or negative sense, Czech
and Czechoslovak history in the 20th century.
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Chapel of the Fallen
�e original design assumed a northern
entrance to the necropolis to be made where the
Chapel of the Fallen (5) is located now. �e Chapel
was designed to house the relics of 44 Italian and
3 Russian legionaries who had been executed by
the Austrian authorities during the First World
War. �eir names were engraved into a grey marble
slab which was replaced with white marble slabs
containing verses by Vitezslav Nezval in the 1950’s.
�e wall mosaics were made by Max
Svabinsky, a leading Czech artist, who completed the design in 1935. �e mosaic depicts the
apotheosis of the Homeland and consists of four
wall �elds and two ceiling �elds. �e wall �elds
are dedicated to the Russian and Italian legions, a
commemoration of France and the mourning of
Prague and the Homeland. �e ceiling �elds are
composed of nebulae, stars and the Milky Way.
Another artwork in the Chapel of the Fallen is a
sculpture entitled �e Wounded by Jan Stursa. It was
made in 1920–1921 and the author revives memories
of the hardships of war. It is intended to express the
frustration of life and the last battle of a fading body.
�e art decoration also includes a �gural
candlestick from the 1930’s and door reliefs from
the 1950’s, featuring elements of socialist realism,
all made by Jaroslav Horejc.
Main Hall – Exhibition Area
�e original layout placed a sarcophagus in
the Main Hall (7) as the place where President
T. G. Masaryk was to be buried. He eventually
rejected the plan, and so did his family after his
death. In 1953 this area was given a new function – it was rebuilt into the Klement Gottwald
Mausoleum. �e Minister of National Defence
and Gottwald’s son-in-law Alexej Cepicka
was in charge of the preparatory works for the
conversion. �e example came from Moscow
(V. I. Lenin, J. V. Stalin) and So�a ( J. Dimitrov).
�e Mausoleum included technical facilities,
described in a separate chapter. �e construction
work also involved the son of the Monument’s
key architect, Jan Zazvorka Jr., a �lm architect.
Klement Gottwald’s body was exhibited in the
centre of the Mausoleum in a glazed sarcophagus.
�e lid had built-in lights with small mirrors. �e
body was moved in and out the underground
laboratory by a vibration-free telescopic device.
�e embalmed body was dressed in a blue general
uniform of the Head Commander of Czechoslovak
armies. In 1958 it was changed to civilian attire.
Liberation Hall
�e Liberation Hall (9) is the easternmost part
of the Monument, built after World War Two. �e
construction was already planned during the war
by architect Jan Zazvorka and was supposed to pay
tribute to the Second Resistance. �e intention
was changed after 1948 and the new structure was
opened as the Red Army Hall in 1955.
�e walls of the hall are tiled in red marble.
�e window panes are made of thin Romanian
marble slabs. �e eight pillars between the windows are decorated with mosaics based on a design
by Vladimir Sychra. �e mosaic �elds depict
examples of various types of Soviet Army weapons,
accompanied by verses by Vitezslav Nezval.
Technical Facilities for the Klement
Gottwald Mausoleum
�e technical facilities for the Klement
Gottwald Mausoleum were built in the under-
ground premises of the Monument (10) and
consisted of a laboratory, room for doctors and
nurses, control centre, warehouse and engine
room. Great emphasis was put on the technology and air conditioning, which had to meet
the strictest criteria. �e construction of the
underground premises was completed in October
1953 and its original design served until Klement
Gottwald’s cremation in 1962 when some of the
equipment was removed. �e only things to have
been preserved are the control room and the
ground plan for the laboratory.
�e mummi�cation of Klement Gottwald’s
body was performed by Soviet experts led by doctor Zbarsky. Czechoslovak doctors and experts
took custody of the embalmed body and all
technical facilities in 1955.
All the rooms where the body was handled
required controlled conditions. �e prescribed air
temperature in the laboratory was 16°C and 80%
humidity. �e laboratory was furnished with the
latest equipment, such as �re alarm sensors and
electric �y killers.
�e red sarcophagus from the Central Hall,
in which Klement Gottwald’s urn was placed
after the cremation in 1962, can be seen in a
niche in the laboratory.
Further information and accompanying
pictures on the history of the Monument can
be seen in a self-service information panel in the
exhibition.
�ank you very much for your visit.
7
8
Floor 2
Floor 1
Monument Plans
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7–8
9
10
11
Stairway to the 1st �oor
Cafe
Toilets
Presidential lounge
Ceremonial Hall
Toilets
Lift to the viewing point
Stairway to the viewing point
Lift
Entrance to the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier
Cash desk
Stairway to the 2nd �oor, wardrobe
Lift
Permanent exhibition
Chapel of the Fallen
Columbarium
Exhibition Areas
Liberation Hall
Underground entrance
Underground exit