Statue of Franz Kafka, Bronze statue in Old Town, Czech Republic
The statue of Franz Kafka is a bronze sculpture by Jaroslav Róna installed in December 2003 on Vězeňská street in Prague's Jewish Quarter, near the Spanish Synagogue. It shows a suited figure riding on the shoulders of a headless, hollow-coated body, the chest and neck forming an open oval cavity; the tubular arms end in open cuffs with no visible hands. Polished gold-brown highlights mark the lapels, edges and knees of the dark bronze.
Jaroslav Róna's bronze was installed on Vězeňská street in Prague's Jewish Quarter in December 2003, near the Spanish Synagogue. It refers to Kafka's 1912 story "Description of a Struggle"; the Italian source also reads the empty coat as Kafka astride his father, the subject of his Letter to His Father.
The empty coat recalls Kafka's 1912 story "Description of a Struggle", and the Italian sources also read it as Kafka astride his father's huge, austere figure, the fear addressed in his "Letter to the Father". The missing body inside the coat points to "The Metamorphosis" and to the term "Kafkaesque".
The bronze stands on Vězeňská street in Josefov, a short walk from the Spanish Synagogue, so it is passed on foot rather than sought out. The figure is mounted on a rectangular plinth at ground level, with foliage and a fence behind it, so it can be circled and viewed from more than one side.
The empty coat recalls Kafka's 1912 story "Description of a Struggle", but it also evokes his novella The Metamorphosis and the abandonment of the body: looking at the hollow garment, visitors ask what became of the figure who filled it.
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