Woodrow Wilson Monument Project summary

The project to rebuild the Woodrow Wilson Monument in Prague is underway. The original monument, built in 1928, was torn down by the Nazis in 1941. AFoCR’s key partners on the project are the City of Prague, the Metropolitan District of Prague 1, and the Albin Polasek Foundation.

In April 2008 AFoCR formed a team of professional consultants in Prague to carry out the project. The services of architects Mikuláš Hulec and Daniel Špička for Wilson encompass the design of the base and pedestal of the monument, oversight of the processes of sculpting the statue and having it cast into bronze, and coordination of the project with the Prague agencies. The law firm, Vyroubal Krajhanzl Školout, is responsible for ensuring that all activities and contracts for the monument conform to Czech and EU law. The firm Czech P.R. is responsible for interacting with the Czech media and informing the public about the project.

In June 2008 AFoCR requested proposals from Czech sculptors to recreate the Wilson statue and by the deadline on July 31 received 13. A selection committee comprised of representatives of the stakeholders in the project evaluated the proposals and invited five of the individual and team applicants for interviews in Prague in late September 2008. The committee then invited three of the five to prepare plaster models in a 1:3 scale for a final selection. The three finalists were: Jiří Kašpar (individual), Zdeněk Hošek and Kryštof Hošek (team), and Václav Frýdecký, Michal Blažek and Daniel Talavera (team).

Also in 2008 the Czech Technical University in Prague developed a virtual model of the statue by digitally imaging photos of the original. CTU used the virtual model to derive basic dimensions of the statue to guide the three finalists as they make their models.

To launch fund raising for the monument AFoCR held a gala dinner in Houston, Texas, in November 2008. Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush and current Czech President Václav Klaus co-hosted the event, which was attended by nearly 300 people from across the country and the Czech Republic. Former astronauts Eugene Cernan and James Lovell, American patriots of Czech and Slovak heritage, received AFoCR’s Civil Society Vision Award. Also, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Czech Ambassador to the United States Petr Kolář both spoke of the strength of the Prague-Washington relationship.

Prague 1 Mayor Petr Hejma in December 2008 approved AFoCR’s preferred site for the monument in Vrchličky Gardens, facing the center of the train station.

The Woodrow Wilson Monument project reached a major milestone in February 2009 with the selection of a team of three Czech sculptors to recreate the statue of Wilson - the centerpiece of the monument. After reviewing the 1:3 scale models of the statue submitted by the three finalists and interviewing the artists, the Selection Committee chose the team of Michal Blažek, Václav Frýdecký, and Daniel Talavera to receive the commission for the statue. The Selection Committee members were American architect Paul W. Beckmann for the Albin Polášek Foundation, architect Mikuláš Hulec for AFoCR, Karel Holub for the Capital City of Prague, architekt. Jaromíra Eismannová for the Metropolitan District of Prague 1, Czech sculptor Ivan Kalvoda, and Dr. Jan Koblasa, a Czech-born sculptor who lives in Germany. Czech sculptor Milan Vácha substituted for Dr. Koblasa at the February meeting. The Committee’s deliberations were moderated by Robert Doubek, who is leading the Wilson project for AFoCR.

In summarizing the deliberations leading to its choice of the Blažek team, the Committee stated: “….the overall composition and figure frame was the most successful. It was clear to the Committee that the artist team took great care in not only understanding the shape of the originál statue but also exploring Albin Polášek’s original ideas to work with the same set of ideas while re-creating his work. This personal commitment and passion for the ideas which informed the original statue was an item of particular encouragement for the Committee.”

The multi-generational team possesses extensive academic training and experience in sculpture. Václav Frýdecký, age 77, has created monumental statues in bronze since the 1960’s. Michal Blažek, born 1955, has done monumental sculpture for over 30 years. He reconstructed the statue group on the exterior balcony of the Czech National Theater as well as monumental statues at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Daniel Talavera, born 1969, has created numerous monumental sculptures which adorn public parks and other settings. The sculptor team, in a studio in Prague 6, is underway with creating the full size clay model of the statue. The creation of the statue, including the process of bronze casting, will take 18 months.

Concurrently, the designs for the monument’s base, pedestal, and Walk of Freedom are being developed by architects Hulec and Špička. An essential factor is the height at which the statue will stand above ground level. To determine this AFoCR commissioned the Barrandov Film Studios to make a full-size three-dimensional model of the statue out of extruded polystyrene foam. This model will be brought to Vrchličky Gardens and raised up and down on an industrial scissor-lift vehicle to determine the optimum height of the pedestal. This work is planned for September 2009.

A major fund raising event for the monument will occur in Chicago on November 10, 2009. AFoCR will host a special celebration at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Chicago to mark the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, which delivered the Czech people from 40 years of communism. In appreciation for his many accomplishments and effective leadership in reaching out to Prague and the Czech people, AFoCR will present its Civil Society Vision Award to Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley. Chicago is an especially fitting venue for this event, as the great Czech-born sculptor of the Wilson statue, Albin Polasek, contributed many remarkable works of art to this city.

Dedication of the monument is projected for July 2012.