Antonín Švehla in Antonín Švehla Park - Rícany (Central Bohemia)
N 49° 59.680 E 014° 39.593
33U E 475622 N 5538093
Depicted bronze statue of pre-WWII Czechoslovak politician and prime minister Antonín Švehla decorates a small park bearing his name in centre of town Rícany in Prague metropolitan area.
Waymark Code: WMV2CQ
Location: Středočeský kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 02/12/2017
Views: 25
Depicted bronze statue of pre-WWII Czechoslovak politician and prime minister Antonín Švehla decorates a small park bearing his name in centre of town Rícany in Prague metropolitan area.
Almost 250 cm tall bronze statue of Antonín Švehla on prismatic granite pedestal depicts politician, dressed in a suit, in a speakers pose. Statue, work of academic sculptor Antonín Bucánek was casted by Karel Barták from Prague.
The statue has really interesting history. Unveiled ceremonially in October 1936, it was soon removed during Nazi occupation of Czech lands (1939-1945), hidden in Prague, then reinstalled after liberation in May 1946. But soon Svehla's statue became again unwanted by an incoming communist regime. It was removed again in December 1948, put into storage room where it was waiting for planned destruction. In January 1949, the statue mysteriously disappeared and for 40 years nobody knew anything about its fate. Only after the fall of the communist regime it was claimed by a group of senior citizens, who as boys from peasant families secretly transported it using tractor through the frozen mill pond to village Lipany. There they hid statue deep in the well, where it spent 40 years in good conditions. The hopefully last reunveiling of the statue was held on October 28, 1990 and from this date it decorates Svehla's park...
Antonín Švehla (15 April 1873 in Prague – 12 December 1933 in Prague) was a Czechoslovakian politician. He served three terms as the prime minister of Czechoslovakia. He is regarded as one of the most important political figures of the First Czechoslovak Republic; he was the leader of the Agrarian Party, which was dominant within the Petka, which was largely his own invention. Švehla is also credited with the slogan of the Petka: "We have agreed that we will agree."
The garden of the European Campus of Sciences Po Paris in Dijon, France is named "Garden of the Agrarians of Antonín Švehla (1873-1933)" in memory of Antonín Švehla. [wiki]