Ladislav Pospíšil’s Monument

Ladislav Jan Pospíšil (1848-1893), a native of Trutnov and deputy mayor of Hradec Králové, was instrumental in the demolition of the city walls and the purchase of the military fortress by the city. He took his dream to the final contracts. But they were signed a few days after his sudden death.

 

Negotiations for the construction of his monument were quite long, lasting 40 years.

On 4 December 1926, the proposal of the art department for the preparation of Pospíšil’s monument was approved. The design included the area for the monument in front of

the Sokol Path (today’s Hotel School on ČSA Street). The plinth with a relief of Pospíšil’s face was to be made of city wall blocks. The same department decided to draw up a design for the monument, commissioned to the academic sculptor Josef Václav Škoda (1901–1949) and architect Jaroslav Stejskal. The first design was placed just below the Sokol Path and

the second design included the space opposite the locksmith school. In the end, Jan Rejchl (1899-1985) was chosen as the architect.

 

In October 1930, The city council approved the construction of the monument designed by Škoda and Rejchl that. On 9 March 1931, the commissioning procedure for the actual placement of the monument took place. The commission subsequently decided that the area in front of the staircase to Hus’s house would be the most suitable. On 25 June 1933, Pospíšil’s monument was placed at the mouth of the avenue, which was also named after

the man, at the place where the symbolic demolition of the walls of the fortress began (1884). In April of the same year, the sculptural work on the sandstone monument was entrusted to

V. Škoda and Son company. The costs were to amount to about CZK 40,000. In May 1932, the academic sculptor Josef Václav Škoda and his father and brother’s stone company were commissioned to make and erect the monument on the basis of an agreed model for CZK 53,000. At that time, the idea of building the monument out of blocks from the former fortress was raised again, but after forty years there were no suitable blocks left. Therefore, the plinth was made of granite.

 

Ladislav Jan Pospíšil is presented with pure ease, with plans or prints in his hand, with a kind smile, but also with determination and purpose hidden behind an elegant jacket. He thus represents the intellectual and politician.

 

The monument was first to be unveiled on 6 March 1933 on the fortieth anniversary of

the politician’s death and on the eve of his birthday. However, the sculptor asked for

an extension of the deadline for the construction of the monument until 15 April. Department officials left nothing to chance, as evidenced by the meticulous preparations for the placement of the monument itself. The terrain was being landscaped, a petrol pump was moved, a power line pole was being removed, but most importantly, a dress rehearsal was held with a model of the monument. Afterwards, the sculptor handed the model over to Barták’s metal-casting plant in Prague-Hrdlořezy to cast it in bronze.

 

The city council finally agreed on the date of the unveiling ceremony on 25 June 1933. Invitations were prepared for the ceremony and the wreaths placed in front of the monument read “From the always grateful city of Hradec Králové.” Official congratulations, telegrams and apologies were sent to the city council in advance. The beginning of the ceremonial act belonged to the choir of the Nepasičtí pěvci, after which the mayor of the city, Josef Pilnáček, and the mayor emeritus, František Ulrich, gave their speeches. Afterwards, the national anthem was played and then the official guests gathered for lunch at the Grand Hotel.

During the Nazi administration, the monument was labeled a dangerous symbol and taken away; all that remained was a granite pedestal with the inscription “Lad. Jan Pospíšil liberated the town from the shackles of the city walls.” Fortunately, the bronze sculpture was neither melted nor lost and could be returned undamaged to its original place on 7 October 1946. Josef Václav Škoda participated in its reinstallation.

 

Today, Ladislav Pospíšil looks down on “his” street from a sandblasted granite pedestal. Without his visionary work, many of the important achievements that made Hradec Králové

a modern city would not have existed: quality drinking water for the city, the museum,

the theatre, the new hospital building, and much more. 

 

JFB