Franz Kafka memorial

How Franz's Kafka memorial came into existence 

In 2000 on Mrs. Marta Železná's, who was a director of an F. K. company impulse, there was a competition announced.

Eight significant Czech sculptors were called on. There was a requirement of figurative composition as well as respectable duration and resistivity in the conditions of the competition. The area was chosen on recommendation of the Town Hall's specialists recommendation - the corner of Dušní and Vězeňská streets, between Spanish Synagogue and Holy Spirit Church, in the first district of Prague. The place itself is very symbolic - not only that the Kafkas lived in 27, Dušní Street but also because there is a border of Staré město (Old Town) and Josefov (Jewish Town) - two districts of Prague - going under the sculpture. Further, the sculpture is situated in the spiritual zone of three religions - among synagogue, catholic and protestant churches. In this contemplative and romantic part of old Prague Kafka spent practically all his short life.

Jaroslav Róna, 1957, graduate of Glass design Studio in Art and Crafts School in Prague, won the competition. His design was a sculpture made up of two bodies. When we look at it closer we find out that the lower part is only an empty men's suit (jacket and trousers). This suit bears a figure of Franz Kafka on its shoulders (as a small child). One hand is resting on his thigh while the other is bent in 90° angle and is pointing his index finger directly forward. According the sculptor's explanation, the work was inspired by Kafka's famous novelette Popis jednoho zápasu (Description of one match). This separated design was inspired by the spiritual separation that the author reveals in his texts. The novelette is about one character (K) that in one moment jumps on the shoulders of his dominant companion and rides him like a horse across the country that he works out during the ride and sometimes even makes some changes). Because significant part of a novelette takes part on the river Vltava bank, Róna takes the advantage of terrain shift near the area of location of the sculpture to place a copy of a bank railing and cyclopean wall to evoke the atmosphere of the text (with cooperation of architect's David Vávra studio). The sculptor's aim was to provoke the terrifying but also absurdly humorous poetics of Kafka's works. There can be a lot of explanations of this work that could be moving continuously together with the times. (At least as for the author's wish)

The memorial is made of bronze, is 3,75 m high and weighs 800 kilos. It took two years and eight months to cast and place the whole project.

The sculpture is financed by Franz Kafka society mainly from the sources of TV Nova endowment fund and Magistrate of Prague. The whole project, that means competition, rewards, expenditure, casting, architectural project, construction work and royalty cost four million crowns.

Speech made at Franz Kafka's memorial dedication, on Dec 4th 2003, at 4:30 pm.

Dear friends!

While I was working on this sculpture I often asked myself how it happened that it was I who was so unbelievably honored to create a monument to this amazing, genius. In his work there is a connection of unnamed existential horror, bizarre absurd humor as well as the ability to foretell terrifying future. It was a long era after his death when the atmosphere in this country or better to say in this area did not favor a writer of his type and origin. Those artists who really spent a part of their lives in retributive camps or trials and who would surely be able to make a strong and evidential work dedicated to Kafka's memory were prevented to do so paradoxically from the same reasons. My generation is not that of the retributive camps. I would rather say it is a generation of the gray suburb. We were not light headed by the dream about better world nor we were doomed to fight for anything. We did not know the right past and we did not believe in future. We lived on a cruel, self-ironic jibing at the present! Perhaps this is the reason of having Kafka somewhere deep inside us, sometimes even without realizing it.

This can be a dim idea of the answer to my initial question. Nevertheless I am not naive and I do not think that it is us who understand Kafka best. I suspect that the writer's prophetic image of the world is like a huge iceberg with the biggest part hidden under the water and we can only observe it from one point of view. Every movement of the iceberg or ours can cause a development of another form of terrifying reality that is temporarily hidden from our view. We often cannot defend against it; it just comes out of the depth and congests our entire horizon until it works as the only visible invincible dark power. However, we must believe that somewhere deep under this power there is somebody who can slightly help, by naming it, to its fall (which is unfortunately almost every time only temporal). And Kafka definitely was this man! Perhaps this monument will become the barometer whose existence will determine the character of the society. We must not forget the fact that other than democratic society would never approve its raising.

Jaroslav Róna, Prague Nov. 19th 2003