On the site of Koněv’s monument in Prague, a goblin statue with Putin’s face is temporarily standing
Update: 5/12/2022 2:50 p.m
Issued by: 5/12/2022, 2:50 p.m
Prague – From today, a statue depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin as a goblin who tightens a gas valve temporarily stands on Interbrigády Square in Prague 6. The place where the monument to the controversial Soviet marshal Ivan Koněv used to stand will be there for 30 days and will then be auctioned. The auctioned money will go to purchase weapons for Ukraine, which has been facing a Russian invasion since February. ČTK was informed by the author of the statue, blacksmith and sculptor Dušan Dostál.
The statue of Marshal Koněv stood on Bubeneč Square until the spring of 2020. Prague 6 City Hall had it removed based on a decision from September 2019, when it was also decided that the monument would replace the monument to the liberation of Prague at the end of World War II. The place has now been temporarily occupied by a statue of Putin, which, according to the author, is intended to point out the culprit of the current increase in energy prices. According to him, the statue with his right hand raised also represents Putin in combination with the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, he took and thus took the position that the president.
The work entitled Demon Ahriman, a demon from Persian mythology, was created on the occasion of an international meeting of artistic blacksmiths. It represents absolute evil, he added to the statue of its author.
The installation of the statue and its subsequent auction were organized by businessman Dalibor Dědek, who at the beginning of May announced the Gift for Putin giving money for weapons for Ukraine attacked by Russia. “The statue should send a signal to the Czech Republic that the problem in Ukraine still persists and needs to be resolved. The second signal is to the Ukrainians that we are with them, and the third should be to Russia, that just as the statue of Marshal Konev stood here before , which was perceived positively, so now they have spat on their history,” said Dědek today. He believes that Putin’s statue could be auctioned for a six-figure sum.
The sculpture took Dostál 14 days and he worked on it 20 hours a day, he said. The meeting of artistic blacksmiths, during which it was created, takes place regularly at Helfštýn Castle and is attended by artists from all over the world.