Ctirad and Šárka, Bronze sculpture in Vyšehrad, Czech Republic.
Ctirad and Šárka is a bronze sculpture in the gardens of Vyšehrad depicting two figures from Slavic mythology with a detailed composition. The artwork stands above the Vltava River near the ancient fortification.
The sculpture was created in 1897 by Josef Václav Myslbek and depicts characters from the Maidens' War legend. This war was a confrontation that arose after Libuše's death between women led by Vlasta and men.
The pair comes from the Bohemian tale of the Maidens' War: after Libuše's death the women built Děvín castle on the hill facing Vyšehrad. Šárka tied Ctirad with a rope and blew a horn to summon the women, a scene Czech readers know from myth and from Smetana's opera Šárka.
The sculpture sits in the garden of Vyšehrad, a fortified complex overlooking Prague and the Vltava River. You can reach it easily on foot and get a good view of the surrounding area from this spot.
The sculpture group was made for the 1897 opening of the Petřín Lookout Tower and later moved to Vyšehradské sady. Myslbek paired Ctirad and Šárka with three other legendary couples, so the park holds a set of four sculptural groups rather than a single isolated work.
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