Jan Hus Memorial

There are six Jan Hus has memorials in the city of Hradec Králové and its immediate surroundings, namely the statue in front of the Evangelical Church by the sculptor František Fabiánek at 529 Nezvalova Street and its later replica in Sukovy sady Park (formerly Fialovy sady Park). Another memorial is a larger-than-life monument carved in sandstone in Plotiště nad Labem.
 

On 9 July 1933, a meeting of the Committee for the Erection of Jan Hus Memorial in Plotiště nad Labem took place. Representatives of the then progressive associations and political parties met and discussed the form of the monument and its location. The next meeting was held on 6 August of the same year, where the following were represented: the local education commission, the Czechoslovak Hussite Church, the Sokol organization, the Free Thought, the Republican Party of the Agricultural and Small Farmers, the Czechoslovak Social Democracy, the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party, and the Czechoslovak Middle-Class Trade and Business Party. Antonín Strumhaus became the chairman, Bohumil Souček the vice-chairman, František Pišl the managing director, and František Hroch the treasurer.
 

Subsequently, the fundraising for the construction of the memorial began. Several fundraising events were held and the proceeds were contributed to the building fund of the monument. Part of the municipal land behind the training ground was chosen for the location of the memorial; it was an unmaintained area where travelling companies often stayed or geese and goats grazed. On 25 October 1933, the Council of Elders of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church in Plotiště nad Labem decided that the money from the fund should be given to the Committee for the Erection of Jan Hus Memorial. Thus the initial capital of CZK 3,406 was created. In 1934, soil was brought to the site of the future monument, then it was ploughed and the ground levelled and fenced. 
 

The ceremony of laying the foundation stone took place as the second part of Hus’s celebrations on 14 July 1934, during which the play “M. Jan Hus před koncilem” (Jan Hus before the Council) and a procession was organized, which represented Hus’s journey to the border. The laying of the foundation stone was greatly assisted by the choir of the local branch of the Free Thought organization. Jaroslav Hynek, MP from Cerekvice near Hořice nad Bystřicí, was the festive speaker.
 

On 11 August 1935, a theatre performance “Libuňský jemnostpán” (The Gentleman from Libuň) was staged at the Masaryk Municipal School. František Pišl, executive director of the Committee for the Erection of Jan Hus Memorial, took over the theatre direction. The net sum from the performance amounted to CZK 1,822.80, which increased the assets of the committee so that a competition for the design of the monument could be announced. At Christmas of the same year, all the submitted designs were exhibited. The winning design was created by the academic sculptor Rudolf Semrád.
 

The sandstone monument depicts the figure of Jan Hus as a calm, proud and thin man with his head held high and wearing a long flowing robe. He holds a book in his left hand and his right hand is resting on his heart. The block pedestal bears the inscription: “The truth triumphs!” Hus’s face statue was redesigned because according to the original design, Jan Hus was beardless and youthful in appearance.
 

The unveiling of the monument was part of the celebration of the anniversary of the burning of Jan Hus, which was organized on 5 and 6 July 1936 under the supervision of the municipal council by the Committee for the Erection of Jan Hus Memorial in Plotiště. On the evening of 5 July, the participants of the parade met at the so-called Švehla’s lime tree in front of house no. 289, from where a lantern procession with music took off to the playground behind the Masaryk Municipal School. After a solemn speech by Bohuslav Semrád, a teacher from the local town hall, and two songs by the mixed choir of the local Free Thought organization, the symbolic burning of the pyre was closed with the song “Hranice vzplála” (The Pyre Caught Fire), after which Hans Scharling’s play “Jan Hus” directed by Jan Vyšanský was performed at the Sokol gym. On the morning of the second day, 6 July, a procession of the religious communities of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church took off from Švehla’s lime tree to the playground of the Masaryk Municipal School, where a service was held, during which the parish priest of Kutná Hora, Ferdinand Tichý, spoke. The monument was unveiled at 2 p.m. and handed over to the municipal protection and administration. The unveiling was followed by a speech by Mayor Josef Šimák, and the unveiling itself was concluded with the national anthem.
 

Soil from Jan Hus’s birthplace and from the battlefield at Lipany and a commemorative file were placed in the stone of the monument. At that time, the committee had the sum of CZK 33,163.10, out of which it spent CZK 10,500 on the statue and stonework. The rest was used for related expenses and costs for various festivities. The landscaping of the area alone (the park, grass seed, soil, cement, sand, lime, two steps, trees, foundation work, planks, iron fence, etc.) cost approximately CZK 11,000. After all the bills were paid, there was 1,000 CZK left in the treasury, which was ascribed to the national defense loan and handed over to the municipality. The committee officially disbanded on 9 July 1936 and its board was charged with laying the foundation stone for the memorial mound.
 

In 2014, the park surrounding the memorial was named after the monument, giving it the name Jan Hus Park.
 

JFB