Tag: Karlovo Namesti

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Karlovo Namesti – Eliska Krasnohorska

IMG_0259[1]Where: This statue is located on Karlovo Namesti (Charles Square) in Prague 2 near one of the entrances to the metro line and the tram stop. GPS: 50.075965, 14.419597

What: It is a statue of Eliška Krásnohorská and was unveiled in 1931. The autor of the statue is Karla Vobišová-Žáková. The monument is carved from a single block of white marble. It depicts, a slightly larger then in life,  Eliška Krásnohorská standing in a dress with a cape tied at her neck holding a scroll of papers. She is standing on a small pedestal which has the inscription Eliška Krásnohorská.

Who: Eliška Krásnohorská (18th of November 1847 – 26th of November 1926) was a Czech author and  a pioneer of the women’s movement.  She wrote works of lyric poetry and literary criticism, however, she is usually associated with children’s literature and translations. In 1890 she founded the Minerva School in Prague. This was the first gymnasium for girls in Austria Hungary and its language of instruction was Czech.

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Karlovo Namesti – Dr. Vaclav Benda

 

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Where: At Karlovo Namesti (Charles square), in Prague 2 at house number 287 and opposite of tramstop Novoměstská radnice. It is a small walk from the Palacky monument.  GPS: 50.077495, 14.419256

What: It is a plaque with a sculptured head that commemorates Dr. Václav Benda. The plaque reads; “In this house, from 1969-1999 lived and fought for freedom and democracy Dr. Václav Benda dissident and politician”.

Who: Dr. Václav Benda (August 8, 1946 – June 2, 1999) was a Czech political activist. While originally striving for an academic career, this all ended when he refused to join the Communist party in 1970.  Benda became active in the dissident movement against the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and was one of the founding members and a signatory of the Charter 77 in 1977.

This Charter was a document that criticized the Communist government for failing to implement national and international human rights provisions it previously agreed with. Charter 77 was signed by various influential people who represented all sorts of occupations, political viewpoints, and religions.

For his role as a spokesman for Charter 77, Dr. Václav Benda was arrested in 1979 and imprisoned until 1983 by the communist regime. After the fall of communism in 1989 he went into politics and became the first chairman of the Christian Democratic Party, the KDS and stayed active in different political positions until his death in 1999.