Strange monuments of Prague. Prague - "amazing sculptures" Monument to pissing boys in Prague

Prague is filled with various monuments, including unusual and strange ones. I’ll start with something pleasing to our eyes - mushrooms

This is an unusual “exhibition” by the young Czech artist Michal Trpak in the small Trade Union Square (odboru) in Prague. A composition with 6-meter-tall Psilocybin mushrooms is located in front of the hotel building (“House of Mosaic”).

The man sitting above the entrance to the building is called “The Thinker” (Czech: Myslitel, Thinker). And happy people - women and men - fly around on umbrellas.

This is a view from Trade Union Square to the short Trade Union Street leading to the New Town Hall.

The man is one of the flying people.

The entire installation is called “Waiting for Happiness” (2013). Apparently by eating "magic moshrum". They say that people floating in the air are intended to symbolize the financial crisis...

Internet review. M. Trpak has many exhibitions with “Thinkers” or floating people called “Slight Uncertainty”, as an allusion to the financial crisis. In addition, he has several sculptural compositions and monuments: “Tornado” (“Tornado”, 2005 - No. 5), a sculpture of unusual pink animals - “Tenderness” (Czech “Mazlici”, 2014 - No. 1) or a monument with holes head, installed in the artist’s homeland in Budejovice - “Mental Insight” (“Mental Insight”, 2012 - No. 2), the monument “Humanoids” (“Humanoids”, 2009, one of the options was installed somewhere in our Siberia - No. 4) or the monument “Reminder” (“Memento”, 2014 - No. 3). One of the latest works is a philosophical sculpture with the painting “Escape into reality” - No. 6.

There are also flying people on Long Street (dlouha) in the northern part of the Old Town.

As you continue along Long (dlouha) Street you will inevitably run into a large woman. But the sight of her usually evokes mixed feelings among viewers. This is the work of a more famous avant-garde artist David Cerny than Trpak.

The 6.5-meter-tall composition is called “In the Womb” and is part of the gallery’s collection of contemporary art. The only beautiful thing is that stainless steel reflects light in different colors when the lighting changes.

One of the most famous compositions of the scandalous D. Cerny - “Piss-Gerget Brickworks” (2004) is installed in the courtyard of the Kafka Museum. Two bronze men write out (both meanings of this word finally come together) patterns and texts on the water surface of the fountain. The reservoir exactly follows the contours of the borders of the Czech Republic (see outline at the top left). Those. they simply flooded the country with their urine - amazing patriotism!

Tourists, of course, cannot resist touching the moving organ of the dudes, because the common people simply call the composition “Two Peeing Guys”.

This young man also did not escape the hands of tourists and shines in the most interesting place. It is installed in the courtyard of the information center in Visegrad (against the background of the remains of an ancient Gothic gate). Well, in the same courtyard there is a “house of Czech children”.

This is the monument to St. Wenceslas (author Josef Myslbek) on Wenceslas Square - long, similar to a wide boulevard. So, in the distance, at the other end of the square, D. Cerny installed the sculpture “Horse” (1999): Vaclav sits on the belly of his inverted dead horse. According to the author (?), this reflected either the political state of the Czech Republic, or a mockery of Vaclav himself.

Internet review. Currently, “Horse” (No. 2) is located in the “Lucerna” passage in Prague. One of the first actions of the young Cerny was to repaint pink the monument to the liberators of Prague - the Soviet tank (No. 1), now it is in the military museum of Lesany. The sculpture “Hanging Out” (No. 3) depicts the life-size figure of Sigmund Freud. Crawling Babies (2000 - No. 4) on the Zizkov TV tower in the east of the city. Performance purple “Fuck” (“Fuck the KSCM”, 2002 - No. 5) - an indecent gesture, as an attitude towards the Communist Party of the Czech Republic. In the courtyard of the FUTURA Contemporary Art Gallery there is an installation of two butts (2003 - No. 6). If you go up the stairs and look inside, you can see a vile video about politicians. Well, there are also indecent sculptures and designs by David, which I would not like to present here... This is such high art... By the way, in 2000 he received the Prize. Jindřich Chalupecký for young artists. And our Russian history has examples of similar awards.

Another group of naked men - Memorial to the Victims of Communism at the base of Petrín Hill (Czech: Pomnik obetem komunismu, 2002). I can’t say anything bad about this successful monument. It’s just a pity that there were no women among the victims... This is all the avant-garde in art, the aesthetics of which I apparently don’t understand.

02. Sculptures of some special, mysterious beauty. The musicians are naked and covered only with scraps of “bronze fabric”, but their faces are covered.

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05. It seemed to me that their wrapped faces symbolize absolute rapture with the sounds of music and disdain for their nakedness

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07. "Dancer". You are both a puppeteer and a puppet - brilliant!

08. “Men Pissing” (sculptor David Cherny). They stand in the courtyard of the Franz Kafka Museum, at Cihelna 2b, Prague 1 on Mala Strana. This composition represents two bronze men peeing on a map of the Czech Republic. The provocative sculptures were installed in 2004 and are controlled by a computer that adjusts the rotation of the hips and raises the hips.

09. So, you can even make the statues “write” your own phrase by sending an SMS message from your mobile phone to the number 724 370 770.

10. In general, there are a huge number of naked boys in Prague, and all of them have their private areas polished to a shine. This one stands in the courtyard of the Toy Museum (at Jirska 6, Prague 1)

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12. These are probably the most famous figures of babies by the famous Czech master David Cerny. They are called "Babies" and crawl next to the museum on Kampa Island

13. You can climb on them, and no one is chasing anyone

14. Monument to the victims of communism (sculptor Zoubek). Mala Strana, at the foot of Petrin Hill. It consists of a staircase on which there are seven sculptures symbolizing the suffering of a person doomed to death... A depressing sight

15. The theme of religious sculptures also deserves special mention. In addition to the classic statues of the Apostles and many crucifixes, the city has many extraordinary performances, such as Christ made from old shoes (usually these installations are dismantled for the winter, so I didn’t catch it)

16. This is how jokers depicted the crucifixion at the AMoYA - Artbanka Museum of Young Art at Karlova 2, Prague 1

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18. "Commander" at the Estates Theater. This is a monument in honor of the premiere of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni in 1787 (c sculptor Anna Chromi)

19. The “trick” of this character is that under the cloak... there is emptiness. This is also creepy

20. On the facade New Town Hall we meet Rabbi Loew. Legend has it that Death, who could not reach him for a long time, pretended to be a rose and was given to the rabbi by his daughter (now she is always crying next to him). If you don’t know this beautiful story, then all sorts of bad thoughts will come into your head;-P

21. On the other side of the building we are met by the Iron (Black) Knight of Scamp. It seems that the enchanted knight can be bewitched by the prayers of a young virgin (it worked out well, however).

22. A funny shop without legs, occupied by voluptuous musicians

23. Very touching guys are standing on one of the platforms of the Prague Main Station ( Wilsonova 300/8, Prague)

24. On the embankment, next to the Kampa Museum, the Dalai Lama stands and blesses the river buses passing by

25. Kafka is everywhere. This one is located at Praha 1, Dusni 141/12

26. "Sigmund Freud, the hanging intellectual" (with sculptor David Cherny). Plastic and epoxy resin sculpture symbolizes disconnection intelligentsia from the people.

27. A detached look and a hand in his pocket somehow hints that the comrade is completely indifferent to his safety, and in general, he has a philosophical attitude towards issues of life and death

28. Another interesting object “hovering” over Prague. Golden bone... (no comment)

29. And this sweetest car on human legs is called “Quo vadis - People's Car of the GDR “Trabant”” and stands in the courtyard of the German Embassy ( Vlašská 19, Prague 1, Malá Strana).

30. Prague boasts many lovely maidens. For example, this lady lights the way with her stone torches on one of the supports of the Chekhov Bridge

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32. In general, naked young maidens everywhere sparkle with their charms on the facades of Prague houses

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35. Some fabulous frog thoughtfully smokes a pipe on the pier

36. Another option for contemporary art in Prague is street art. For example, a whole orchestra of colored wire figures

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38. Every city has its own Tsoi Wall;-) In Prague, it bears the name of John Lennon and, at the same time, is the wall of the Maltese Garden (address Velkopřevorské nám.). Our VKontash dog is right there

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40. Graffiti in the passages is very colorful and cheerful. It’s curious that no one will spoil them with other inscriptions

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44. And this is my favorite “Embryo” by my beloved David Cerny. A sculpture resembling a human fetus," created in 1996 from metal, plastic and epoxy resin. It "grew" on the corner of the facade of the Na Zabradli theater building at

Everyone knows about the beauty of Old Prague and its numerous historical monuments. What can you say about contemporary works of art in the Czech capital? What unusual art objects are there in Prague and where can you see them?

There are many modern exhibits at exhibitions and in Prague museums, but we will look at works of art that are in the open air. Let's talk about modern monuments on the streets of Prague. Of the ten most popular street statues, seven were created by the notorious sculptor David Černý.

“Horse” (Kůň), 1999

“Babies” on the TV tower

Ten giant “negros” – 3.5 m each – were installed on a building in the Zizkov district of Prague. Black, shiny and faceless crawling babies were made by the sculptor back in the 90s, but there was no suitable place to place them. In 2000, Prague was declared a European cultural center. In honor of this event, Cerny, who lived on Žižkov at that time, placed the “kids” on the TV tower. For a whole year and a half he chose a specific place for each figure.

Not all residents and guests of Prague liked “Babies”. In 2009, on one well-known Czech tourism portal, the Žižkov TV tower with “babies” was named the second ugliest building in the world. The tower is located at: Prague 3 – Žižkov; Mahlerovy sady 2699/1.

Three similar bronze babies are installed on the island.

"Pissing Men" performed by Cerny, 2004

Many people have seen “Pissing Boys” as fountains, and the public will not be surprised by this. David Cerny went even further. He has men peeing (Čurající fontána) - mannequins of fully mature husbands, each 210 cm high, controlled by an electronic device that allows you to rotate your hips and raise your penis so that the flow of water on the surface of a lake in the shape of the Czech Republic writes letters. While doing their usual “work,” men are quoted by celebrities in an unusual way. The “creativity” of these original fountains can be ordered in advance by sending the corresponding SMS to +420 724 370 770. And the desired phrase will be (literally!) “written.”

The fountains are located in the courtyard.
Address: Prague – 1; Cihelna 2.

"Suspended" (Viselec), 1999

In this case, Cerny “hung” the statue of Sigmund Freud to a height of 220 cm. The unfortunate sculpture of the eminent psychologist hangs from the roof on one hand (Socha Sigmunda Freuda visícího za jednu ruku) on Husova Street. This figure has repeatedly visited various exhibitions around the world. In 2007 she exhibited in Chicago. There, the work of David Cerny caused quite a stir. In the darkness, a realistic figure was mistaken for a person in trouble, and they tried to call rescuers to him.

"Where are you going?" (Quo vadis?), 1990

The sculpture of a Trabant car walking on human legs is dedicated to refugees from the former GDR. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germans fled en masse to Prague in their Trabants (they did not need a Czech visa). These people abandoned their cars near the German Embassy and went to ask for political asylum. In the park of the German Embassy in the Lobkovickém paláci in Prague, this funny monument has been erected since 2001.

Cars on the facade of "MeetFactory"

Two red cars decorate the MeetFactory cultural center

MeetFactory is the building of David Cerny's studio - a multifunctional cultural center. Two more red cars are suspended vertically on its façade. The studio is located in a former railway depot in the Smichov district.
Address: Prague 5; Ke sklarne 15.

“Toadying” or “Brown-nosing”

The English play on words "Brown-nosing" is clear to most people without explanation. This installation was installed in the Futura gallery (at the exhibition of contemporary art). Two huge naked statues (or rather, their lower parts) stand leaning at a right angle. Climbing the stairs, you can look into each figure's... very essence. There, inside, there is a video with Vaclav Klaus and Milan Knizak. Prominent political and cultural figures eat porridge there!

The gallery is located at: Prague 5; Holečkova 49.

A six-meter statue of a chair stands at the entrance to the Jana a Medy Mládkových museum. Magdalena Etelova, a Czech sculptor, created a four-meter sculpture in the 1980s. It was installed at the gateway of the Vltava River and one day was destroyed by a flood. At the Fine-Industrial School, in 2003, they made a new – six-meter version of the “Chair”. They installed it in the same place. She weighs 8 tons, and rising water will no longer harm her.

"Penguins" at Re-Evolution

The penguin figurines are part of the Re-Evolution exhibition, owned by (a project of the art group Cracking Art Group). They are made from recycled plastic bottles and stand by the river, near the “Chair” we already know. At night, the formation of 34 yellow penguins (žlutých tučňáků) is illuminated. That's very beautiful!

"Victims of Communism"

The Memorial “Victims of Communism” (Pomník obětem komunismu) was opened near Újezd ​​Street in 2002. Authors: sculptor O. Zubek; architects: Z. Holzel and J. Kerel.

This memorial of seven statues represents the indestructible political prisoners of the communist rule of 1948-1989. Thin, almost ethereal figures mournfully walk up the stairs and seem to disappear into space. There is a bronze plaque in the center of the monument. It indicates the number of victims of the communist regime.

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The Statue of Youth is located in Prague Castle next to the Toy Museum, in the old part of the city of Prague. This monument to a naked boy hides many stories about its origin and purpose. There is also a belief that touching the monument will bring happiness and love.

Some believe that he is a symbol of democracy, others believe that the statue is a representation of childish spontaneity and craving for everything new. When those who were particularly interested asked the architect what the meaning of this sculpture was, the architect simply threw up his hands and replied: “Nothing.” .

Of course, there are some beliefs here. Many tourists touch, expecting that it will bring happiness and unearthly love. Perhaps this is true. In any case, it’s worth going to Prague, admiring the statue and trying your luck.

Statue of the knight Bruncvik

Near the Charles Bridge on the Kampa Peninsula side there is a statue of the legendary knight of Czech legends Bruncvik (an analogy of the Russian Ivan Tsarevich). In the Czech Republic, the image of Bruncvik symbolizes the customs post of Charles Bridge, but is still located on the territory of the Small Town.

Stone Bruntsvik has his famous magic sword in his hands, and at his feet is a lion - his faithful friend and servant, who, after the death of his master, died at his grave. According to legend, the hero’s sword was walled up somewhere at the base of the Charles Bridge, and in the hour of mortal danger for his people, he must break out of captivity and to the call of the resurrected Bruntsvik - “Heads off your shoulders!” - must hit the enemy. One cannot help but remember that this particular statue of Bruntsvik was Marina Tsvetaeva’s favorite monument.

Crawling Baby Statues

Ten statues of crawling babies, made of bronze, were installed on the Žižkov Television Tower in 2000 as part of the project “Prague - European City of Culture”. The author of this idea is the extraordinary Czech sculptor David Černý. The sculptural composition was an incredible success, and since 2001, baby figures have become firmly established on the TV tower.

You can look at the 100-kilogram statues up close, photograph them and even sit on them in Kampa Park, where replicas of those same crawling babies are located. Despite the controversial public opinion, this creation of Cherny is one of the city’s attractions and a popular tourist attraction.

Statue of Saint Wenceslas

The Czech Republic has two patron saints - Saints Wenceslas and John of Nepomuk. They can be found in many parts of the city, as the Czechs themselves are very fond of their national defenders. There is a statue of St. Wenceslas in the main square of Prague, but the history of this monument is not as simple as it might seem.

Wenceslas Square, or as the townspeople themselves call it, Vatsavak is one of the largest squares in Europe. Many historical events took place at this place. Today, in the center of Prague's business and shopping center is a majestic statue of Prince Wenceslas, the country's patron saint. The first statue was installed here at the beginning of the 17th century and it is strikingly different from the one today. The first monument is distinguished by its poetic and ecclesiastical beauty, in which the country's leaders saw a little more naivety than is appropriate for the central statue of the city. Therefore, the first Vaclav was moved to Vysehrad, and in its place, according to the design of Joseph Vaclav Myslbek, a sculpture more in keeping with the national character of the Czechs was installed. The modern sculpture is surrounded by four other saints - St. Ludmila, St. Agnes of Bohemia, St. Procopius and Adalbert of Prague. Saint Wenceslas himself sits on a horse, protectively raising a banner above himself.

On the pedestal there is an inscription: “Saint Wenceslas, Duke of the Czech Land, our sovereign, do not let us or our children perish.” There is a legend that the saint sleeps under Mount Blanik, and when the Czech Republic is in mortal danger, the king and his knights will awaken and go out to fight.

Statue of Francisco Xavier

The statue of Francisco Xavier, located on the Charles Bridge in the Czech capital, Prague, is dedicated to the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier, who in the 16th century, on behalf of Pope Paul II and the Portuguese king, tried to convert Asians to Christianity. The first statue was created in 1711 by the sculptor Ferdinand Brokoff, commissioned by the Faculty of Philosophy and Philology of the University of Charles. In 1913, on the site of the statue that drowned during the flood of 1890, a copy of the work of Vincenz Vozmig was erected.

One of the most valuable and complex sculptures of the Charles Bridge represents a missionary standing on a high pedestal, overshadowing an Indian prince kneeling to his left with a highly raised crucifix. The pedestal is represented by the figures of a Tatar, a samurai and a black man. The boy to Francis's right hands him a shell of water for him to bless. Next to the boy you can see a sculpture of a pensive man with a book, who bears a portrait resemblance to the creator of the sculptural composition, Ferdinand Brokoff.

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