František Ulrich (1859–1939) had a strongly relationship with the city of Hradec Králové, especially as an art-loving mayor, elected first for the Young Czech Party and later for the National Democratic Party. He was in office from 1895 to 1929 and his work contributed significantly to the modern appearance and development of the city. After successfully passing the graduation exam, he studied at the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague, where he graduated in 1881. During his studies, he was active as a man of letters – in 1878, for example, he participated in the publication of the almanac Máj (May). In 1888 he opened an independent law office in Hradec Králové. Subsequently, he was elected to the municipal council and on 6 February 1895, he became the mayor. In 1901, he was elected a deputy to the Provincial Assembly for the Free Thought Party.
He also invited Czech architects, such as Jan Kotěra and his pupil Josef Gočár, to design new architecture in the city, and in 1924 he asked them to regulate the historic center, the green belt north of the walls and other parts of the city, while at the same time inviting Vladimír Zákrejs to create the urban plan of the Greater Hradec Králové. However, the idea of a unified East Bohemian agglomeration failed to come to fruition during Ulrich’s lifetime. Ulrich also promoted competitions: in addition to individual public buildings, there was a competition for a unified regulatory plan in 1908, which resulted in a unified master plan by Václav Rejchl Jr. and Oldřich Liska.
The commemorative bronze bust of Mayor František Ulrich was placed on a wooden pylon in the premises of the former headquarters of the Czechoslovak State Railways (today the seat of the state authorities, the Regional Police Headquarters of the Hradec Králové Region). The work of art was made by the academic sculptor Karel Samohrd (1895–1970) in 1928. The bust was cast by František Barták in Prague in the same year. Samohrd was a graduate of the masonry and sculpture school in Hořice and the sculpture studio of Jan Šursa. From 1925 he had an independent studio in Hořice, where he also worked on Ulrich’s bust. Unlike his other monumental works, Samohrd conceived of statues of important men in a civil manner, often using an artistic condensation, which can be attributed to Štursa’s influence. This is evidenced by his monument to writer Alois Jirásek in walking clothes in Nový Bydžov and the bust of composer Jan Malát in Hořice. The bust of Mayor Ulrich for Hradec Králové, which does not stand out for its expressiveness like other artistic treatments of Ulrich’s portraits (for example, the well-known drawing by Max Švabinský) was conceived in a similar manner. Architect Gočár placed the bust in the entrance hall of the constructivist office building, and its pendant is a large stained glass window depicting the achievements of the modern world and commerce by Josef Kaplický.
LZL and JFB
