The American architect's Jan Palach Memorial has officially opened last week, was realized again twenty-five years later, and located at Jan Palach Square (formerly Red Army Square), this is the first time a John Hejduk structure will be located permanently in a public space anywhere in the world. A plaque at the base of the monument displays the poem The Funeral of Jan Palach, by David Shapiro, a former professor at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture.
The structures were first built in Atlanta by Georgia Tech students and alumni under the supervision of Professor James Williamson in 1990. They were also built as a temporary installation on the grounds of Prague Castle Gardens in 1991, in conjunction with a major exhibition of Hejduk’s work.
The exhibition opening was attended by President Vaclav Havel and Shirley Temple Black, then U.S. Ambassador to the newly formed democracy of Czechoslovakia. By 2000, they deteriorated and the Castle administration had them removed. The current structures are made from steel and their life should be much longer – The House of the Suicide, The House of the Mother of the Suicide and the plaque at the base of the monument displaying a poem were installed as permanent monuments.
The structures were manufactured by KRUNTORÁD, a Czech company, using designs provided by MCA architects, who were in charge of their construction and technical documentation. “It took us six month – from signing the contract with the Prague City Gallery to the delivery. Manufacturing, details, surface, connecting material – it was all very complex,” says Jan Kruntorád, the owner of KRUNTORÁD.
The opening ceremony on January 16 included presentations by representatives of the City of Prague, poet David Shapiro; James Williamson of Cornell University, who collaborated with Czech fabricators to realize House of the Suicide and House of the Mother of the Suicide; and Hejduk's daughter, Dr. Renata Hejduk.
Venue.- Jan Palach Square. Prague. Czech Republic.
