The History of the Creation of the Georges Kars Memorial in Kralupy nad Vltavou

The History of the Creation of the Georges Kars Memorial in Kralupy nad Vltavou

The first idea for erecting a memorial to the painter Georges Kars, a native of Kralupy nad Vltavou, emerged in connection with the planned Georges Kars Museum in 2016. The open green space in front of the newly built Technopark of the University of Chemical Technology, adjacent to the planned museum, provided an ideal location for the memorial. This was the site where, in the previous century, the office building of the steam mill once stood. It was in this building that the painter Georges Kars was born in 1880 into the family of the mill’s owners. Unfortunately, the original residential and office building was demolished during the reconstruction of the mill in the previous century, leaving behind an open, undeveloped space. The mill's operations were eventually discontinued after the revolution in 1990s, and from its two remaining buildings, Technopark of the University of Chemical Technology and a residential building were established. The open space was then transformed into a parking lot for Technopark, with a part of the vacant land remaining in front, offering an ideal location for the memorial. After constructive discussions with the owner of Technopark, the city of Kralupy nad Vltavou obtained approval to build the memorial, allowing work on its construction to begin. At the beginning of 2018, the city announced a competition for the design of the future memorial, which was participated in by three prominent sculptors: Mr. Stefan Milkov, Mr. Michal Gabriel, and Mr. Jaroslav Róna. From the submitted proposals, the expert committee selected Stefan Milkov's design, which depicted the head of the painter in a larger-than-life-size, with a muse on his head in the form of a part of a naked female body. In May 2019, a contract was signed for the creation of the bronze statue of the Georges Kars memorial, valued at CZK 4,924,700. Apart from the bronze statue itself and a pedestal for the sculpture, a concrete wall was also required to separate the statue from the adjacent parking lot. All work was successfully completed in 2020, and on September 22, 2020, the Georges Kars memorial was officially unveiled in Kralupy nad Vltavou. All the work was organized and financed by Mr. Petr Závodský, the owner of the Kralupy-based construction company Montako s.r.o.