BRATISLAVA, September 6, (WEBNOVINY) — The fate of the disputed statue of the Great Moravian ruler Svatopluk recently unveiled at the Bratislava Castle is in the hands of Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulik. The expert commission he established, led by historian Marina Zavacka, gave him three proposals what to do next with the sculpture of the monarch who ruled much of what is now Slovakia in the 9th century. The experts were asked to assess the historical, artistic and political aspects of installing the statue at the castle.
As the first solution, the commission proposed to relocate Svatopluk to another place within the castle premises on the condition that the controversial symbol, the double-barred cross depicted on Svatopluk’s shield resembling the symbol of the wartime fascist paramilitary organization Hlinka Guard will be removed. “It [the symbol] was apparently motivated by the depiction of Svatopluk in textbooks in the era of the wartime Slovak state,” said Zavacka. In the event that the author of the statue, the socialist-era sculptor Jan Kulich does not agree with moving the sculpture to another place, the commission proposes to transfer the artwork under the administration of the Slovak National Museum and its replacement by another Svatopluk memorial, which would be picked in a regular contest. The last solution, said Zavacka is to return the statue to the author while it would be replaced by another memorial.
Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulik says that all proposed possibilities are open. He only ruled out a new public contest for the memorial of Svatopluk.
The sculpture, which shows Svatopluk on horseback in full battle armor, was unveiled by the leaders of the previous governing coalition shortly before the June elections, in which they lost power. The idea of the constitutional trio of President Ivan Gasparovic, former speaker of parliament Pavol Paska and ex-PM Robert Fico who initiated the statue was to unify the Slovak nation. However, the statue has evoked controversial reactions since the beginning. UM! activists found their way into the closed castle grounds at night and wrapped the sculpture in a banner with the slogans ‘Statue of Lies’ and ‘Don’t Modify History’. Shortly after ultra-extremist movements had planned a national pilgrimage to the statue of Svatopluk but the police did not let them to the castle as protesters against extremists were meeting at the statue that time.
SITA