Monument to Karel Kopal in Znojmo, Military memorial in Znojmo, Czech Republic

The Karel Kopal monument is a late Empire-style memorial unveiled on 16 October 1853 on today's Komenského náměstí. A slender obelisk of granite from the Studená quarry, about 56 tonnes hauled to Znojmo over three days, rises from a four-sided stepped base and is crowned by a bronze Victoria cast from captured Piedmontese cannon metal. Architect Paul Sprenger designed it; Anton Dominik Fernkorn made the figure.

The monument was erected in 1853 to honor a colonel who fought in the Napoleonic Wars with the 10th Battalion of Field Rangers. Over the decades, it reflected the political changes that Znojmo experienced, from Austrian rule through the modern Czech Republic.

The square around the monument was renamed Komenského náměstí in 1920, and the monument itself became the "Monument to the Victory of 28 October" in 1923, when bronze emblems of the four Czechoslovak lands and a legionary helmet were added. The statue of Victoria survived that change on the intervention of museum curator Anton Vrbka and mayor Josef Mareš.

The monument is located near other sights in the center and is easy to reach on foot. It is worth pausing to read the bronze plaques carefully to fully understand the inscriptions.

The monument's 56 tonnes of granite were hauled from the Studená quarry to Znojmo over three days. The Victoria figure and military emblems were cast by the princely Salm ironworks from metal of captured Piedmontese cannons, the same guns Kopal faced in 1848.