Gottwaldovy pomníky ve Středočeském kraji

This text explores the construction of monuments in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s, detailing the history of all four monuments to the first Czechoslovak communist president Klement Gottwald in the Central Bohemian Region. Based on archival research, this paper attempts to unveil the practices of post-1968 memory policy at regional level. In four main sections, the text traces, in succession, the construction of ideologically motivated works in the towns of Příbram, Pečky, Rakovník and Nymburk, bringing the decision-making processes of the communist party and state authorities at local and national level under scrutiny. Cumbersome bureaucracy combined with chronic supply difficulties and the excessive workload of approved artists caused several years of delays to projects endorsed by the regime. Owing to their close ties to the communist regime, all four sculptures were removed from public display shortly after November 1989, i.e. after the fall of communism, but they were not destroyed. Their different fates − from being a gallery exhibit to ending up in a technical services warehouse − open up questions about the meaningful use of similar artefacts.