Obelisk, War memorial obelisk in Prague Castle, Czech Republic
The Obelisk is a war memorial made of granite stone that rises in the Third Castle Courtyard at Prague Castle to a height of about 16 meters. This structure marks the center of the castle with its substantial stone form.
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk first proposed a memorial plaque in May 1921; Jože Plečnik instead designed a granite monolith, quarried at Mrákotín in 1923. The first 20-metre block broke during transport near Telč, so a second monolith was cut and erected in the Third Castle Courtyard in November 1928, ten years after the republic's founding. Its top was only added in 1996 at Václav Havel's request.
The obelisk carries no inscription: plans for verses and lists of WWI battlefields were dropped, and a sculpted finial was abandoned after disputes over a Czech lion above a Slovak cross. Its gold-coloured metal cap was added only in 1996 at the request of President Václav Havel.
The obelisk is located in the Third Castle Courtyard and is accessible during Prague Castle's opening hours. The monument sits centrally, making it easy to find while exploring the castle grounds.
The original granite stone broke into two pieces during its 1928 transport, which is why the monument stands about half as tall as originally planned. This accident shaped the final appearance of the memorial and reveals an unexpected part of its creation story.
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