Graffiti on Charles Bridge. The young man from the shots signed up, the inscriptions are already being cleaned
The case was brought to the attention of the ČTK reporter around noon on Friday. According to the agency, inscriptions such as “hate you”, “love” or “sorry” are sprayed with non-washable blue paint. The spray also appeared on the lamp.
The Prague City Hall, like the police, is dealing with the whole situation. “Colleagues from the Technical Administration of Communications (TSK) are already solving current graffiti and will probably remove it in cooperation with Galerie hl. m of Prague, because one tag also appears on one of the statues, “Vít Hofman, a spokesman for the municipality, told ČTK.
The day the foundation stone was laid
The irony of fate is that the event took place on July 9th. According to legend, the foundation stone of the bridge was laid by Charles IV. it was on this day of 1357 at 5:31 that the palindromic combination of odd numbers would bring good luck to the building, as the royal astrologers had hoped. Charles Bridge in the center of the metropolis, which was built on the site of the former Judith’s Bridge, remained until 1841 the only “land” connection across the Vltava.
The iconic building has survived for centuries, including devastating floods. In recent years, however, it has increasingly become the target of vandals. In addition to the aforementioned graffiti “SEPSIS” (measuring 2 x 5 meters) in Kampa towards U lužického semináře street, one of the pillars “decorated” in March of this year the inscription “Krakow + Moscow = Prague”. According to TSK spokeswoman Barbora Lišková, the so-called tag was also recorded on the stairs at the turn of May and June.
In the case of German tourists, the case was condemned. Benjamin Wittig, who was the perpetrator of vandalism with his brother Niclas Steiger two years ago, appealed to the Supreme Court in Brno a few months ago against the verdict. He does not agree with the annual suspended sentence, a fine of one hundred thousand crowns and deportation for five years. According to Wittig, the inscription was only sprayed by his brother, who admitted the wine, saying that the Germans did not know what the monument was.
Graffiti then overnight on July 28 professional professional cleaner Miloslav Cerny using hot water and steam. The mayor of the capital, Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates), then met with Černý, who had served 12 years in prison for double murder because he criticized the actions of the authorities, and the restoration work was to last until mid-August. On the contrary, the conservationists were concerned that the Black Intervention would not damage the masonry of Charles Bridge without his consent.
According to the news portal iDNES.cz, Černý, who became a media celebrity the year before last, now prefers to stay away. Last time, the municipal company warned him. “When I see that they are doing it properly and it makes sense, I will not go into it. But when I see that they are messing with it, I will rush to it, “quoted the” phantom “website from Charles Bridge.
Cleaning must begin as soon as possible
This time, the oators were to take care of an experienced restaurant. “The removal of the current inscriptions will take several hours, a maximum of several days depending on the difficulty,” a CTK spokeswoman Lišková quoted. In the afternoon, the spokeswoman stated that TSK had already contacted the restorer, whom he had contracted for similar cases. He actually started working on removing the signs on Saturday afternoon.
The restorer Jakub Tlučhoř estimated that he would complete the work in a matter of days. He had once removed the vandalism of sprayers from the oldest bridge in Prague, but he described this case as the most extensive so far. A man called the Technical Communications Administration told reporters that it was important to start removing graffiti as soon as possible.
In the morning, he mostly took samples for the solubility tests contained in the sprays used. He then developed a suitable mixture of organic solvents. “It is a gel that is applied to individual scuffed areas and cyclically blown into the stone surface with pressurized steam to expel pigments from the porous system and prevent any damage to the stone,” wrote the man who interrupted the holiday due to the current case.
The railing underwent reconstruction some time ago and some of the blocks are new. According to Tlučhor, however, this will not play a role in the spray removal method. “The new stone has a similar composition. It is a coarse-grained quartz sandstone with similar porous systems, “they explained. He will start working on his own, he will probably continue overnight. If the removal takes a long time, the help team is calling.
“It’s important to remove graffiti as soon as possible. Time plays a role, because polymerization plays a role in colors – the binders that are on it, “he stressed. According to him, graffiti also attracts other vandals. “If, for example, you have older graffiti on the facade, you are attracting another graffiti artist who will sign it. It’s like having a landfill – another person throws his mess in there, “he said.
The young man confessed
“Currently, on-site documentation and camera recording is underway. An unknown perpetrator faces up to three years behind bars for the crime of damaging another’s property, “said Prague police officers on an official Twitter account. On Saturday afternoon, they then released a video that captures the man and woman they wanted to listen to in connection with the events and also ask the public for help with the search.
“In the early evening, a young man arrived at the local police department, who was identified in footage in the media and confessed to spraying the bridge. We also already know the identity of the girl from the published footage who was with him, “said police spokesman Jan Daněk.” Given that they are both juveniles, the law does not allow us to provide further information on the matter, “the spokesman added. The damage was preliminarily estimated at 100 thousand crowns.
While foreign tourists today passed graffiti unnoticed, Czech visitors to the bridge often resented them and called vandals unflattering expressions. “Charles Bridge is our pride, we must not like this damage,” said the restorer. He told the perpetrator that if he could, he would have him remove graffiti on all monuments as punishment. “To find out it’s not just that. There is a lot of work behind it and also the risk of damaging the monument, ”he added.