Miroslav Tyrš - Ceský Brod, Czech Republic - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

The life-size sandstone statue of Miroslav Tyrš (1832 – 1884), a Czech art historian, sports organizer and the cofounder of the Sokol movement can be found at the tennis courts located at the south outskirt of the city Cesky Brod. The statu comes from 1934 and its author is a Czech sculptor Josef Václav Škoda (1901 – 1949). Miroslav Tyrš is depicted here sitting on a boulder wearing a long simple dress and high boots.

Miroslav Tyrš was born to a German doctor in Decín. The family then relocated to Döbling near Vienna where both is parents and his two sisters died from tuberculosis. Tragically, this made him an orphan at the age of six years. As a result of the death of his family, he was raised by his Czech uncle in Kropácova Vrutice near Mladá Boleslav and this is how he was assimilated into the Czech community.

He studied Gymnasium in Malá Strana, Prague and passed its final exam in 1850. At a time when all students were required to take their exams in the German language, Tyrš insisted on taking the exam in Czech to make a patriotic, pro-Czech stance.

As a 16-year-old boy, he fought in the streets of Prague during the Revolution of 1848, and then boasted of his shot-through cap. He also changed his Christian name twice, first to Bedrich (the Czech version of Friedrich) and then to a very Slavic name, Miroslav.

His bad physical condition gave him an interest in sports. His doctor recommended that he attend Schmidt Institute of Sports and later the institute of Jan Malýpetr. He taught sports to the sons of a businessman in Nový Jáchymov and made up new sports terminology for them. In February 1862, together with Jindrich Fügner, his father-in-law, he founded Telocvicná jednota (Physical Training Union), which two years later adopted the name Sokol, as proposed by Emanuel Tonner. As a born German he wanted the club to be open to all the nationalities, but Germans in Bohemia refused to be in the same club with Czechs, so Tyrš changed his mind and started promoting the new club as bringing the Greek ideal only to Czech people.He saw in his teachings a kind of opposition to the German "völkisch" virtues established by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn. First Sokol president Jindrich Fügner introduced the members' habit of calling each other brother and sister.[1] Their costume was designed by Josef Mánes.Tyrš became the first vice-president. After the first trips to Ríp and Závist, the movement became widely popular among Czech patriots and in 1863 there were over 2000 members. Tyrš introduced the physical training system and nomenclature in Základy telocviku (Basics of Physical Training, 1865). He also introduced a Renaissance-like architecture of Sokol gymnasiums.

Tyrš was a member of the Umelecká beseda (Artistic Circle, 1863); he was an active promoter of the National Theatre opening in Prague (1881) and co-founder of the Museum of Prague City (1884).He was elected a member of parliament in Vienna for Tábor District.

Miroslav Tyrš went to the Ötztal for a holiday in summer 1884. He was declared missing on 8 August and found 13 days later in the Ötztaler Ache river. After a national funeral he was buried in Olšany Cemetery next to Jindrich Fügner.

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