The House of the Suicide, Memorial sculpture at Jan Palach Square, Prague, Czech Republic.
The House of the Suicide is an art installation at Jan Palach Square consisting of two steel structures standing side by side, each measuring about 9 feet across. One is made of shiny silver metal and completely sealed, while the other is rust-colored steel with a single window cut into it.
This work commemorates a young man who set himself on fire in 1969 as protest against Soviet occupation of the country. His act became a symbol of resistance that inspired others to take similar action in the following weeks.
The two houses represent a personal relationship frozen in time, with one sealed off and the other open for viewing. Visitors passing through experience the emotional separation the design expresses between two people connected by loss.
The installation sits in Prague's New Town district near the Faculty of Arts and is freely accessible at any time. You can step inside the rust-colored structure and look through its window at the sealed silver one, which works best when lit by daylight.
This marks the first permanent installation of structures designed by a renowned American architect in public space anywhere in the world. The work was completed in 2015, following earlier temporary versions that had appeared in other locations.
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