| Stalin Monument | |
| Italic Title: | no |
| Other Language 1: | Czech |
| Other Title 1: | Stalinův pomník |
| Artist: | Otakar Švec |
| Completion Date: | May 1, 1955 |
| Type: | Sculpture |
| Material: | granite |
| Subject: | Joseph Stalin |
| Metric Unit: | cm |
| Imperial Unit: | in |
| Condition: | Demolished November 6, 1962 |
| City: | Prague, Czech Republic |
| Coordinates: | 50.0948°N 14.4161°W |
| Mapframe: | yes |
| Mapframe-Zoom: | 13 |
Stalin's Monument was a 15.5m (50.9feet) granite statue honoring Joseph Stalin in Prague, Czechoslovakia. It was unveiled on 1 May 1955 after more than years of work, and was the world's largest representation of Stalin. The sculpture was demolished in late 1962.
The monument was located on a huge concrete pedestal, which can still be visited in Letná Park. It was the largest group statue in Europe, measuring 15.5m (50.9feet) high and 22m (72feet) long. The sculptor was Otakar Švec, who killed himself a few days before the unveiling.[1] [2]
The process of de-Stalinization began shortly after the unveiling of the monument.[2] The monument, therefore, became a liability to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.[1] [2] As ordered by the Soviet Union, it was taken down with of explosives.[1] [2]
In 1990, pirate radio station Radio Stalin operated from a bomb shelter beneath the statue's plinth. The same shelter was also the home of Prague's first rock club in the early 1990s. Since 1991, the marble pedestal has been used as the base of a giant kinetic sculpture of a metronome. In 1996, the pedestal was briefly used as a base for a 35adj=midNaNadj=mid statue of Michael Jackson as a promotional stunt for the start of his HIStory World Tour. A billboard promoting Civic Democratic Party leader Václav Klaus was erected on the site during the Czech parliamentary elections of 1998 but was removed soon after due to high winds.
A green plaque below the metronome reads:
Metronome
Letenské sady
The Metronome, the work of sculptor, was erected in1991 atop the massive stone plinth thatoriginally served as the basefor the monument to Soviet leader JosefVissarionovich Stalin.Work began on Prague's Stalin monumenttowards the end of 1949, and in May 1955,it was finally unveiled. The largest groupsculpture in Europe during its existence,the monument had a reinforced-concretestructure faced with 235 granite blocks,weighing 17,000 tonnes and costing140 million crowns to complete.The gigantic composition, by sculptorOtakar Švec and the architects and [his wife] Štursa, did not tower for longover the medieval centre of Prague:in connection with Soviet criticismof Stalin's "cult of personality," the workwas dynamited and removed towards the endof 1962.
The City of Prague has been considering several options for redevelopment of the site for years, including a plan to build an aquarium.[3] The remaining socle is a popular meeting point for skateboarders and other people.[4]