Radetzky Memorial in Prague, Bronze military monument in Malostranské náměstí, Prague, Czech Republic.
The Radetzky Memorial in Prague is a bronze statue featuring Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky holding the Austrian flag, surrounded by soldiers from different nations of the empire. The figures stand together to represent the diversity of armies under Austrian rule.
The bronze group was unveiled on 13 November 1858 on the lower Malostranské náměstí in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth. It was covered with cloth in early November 1918 and dismantled in May 1919, the marshal's statue being removed on 16 May; the granite pedestal followed in 1921. The figures are now in the Lapidarium of the National Museum at the Prague Exhibition Grounds.
The round shield under Radetzky's feet carries eight figures of the monarchy's troops and peoples: infantryman, huntsman, artilleryman (identified with the Czechs), Tyrolean volunteer, hussar, sailor, uhlan and a South Slav sergeant. Since 2005 a commemorative ceremony has been held at the statue in the Lapidarium every 13 November, the anniversary of the unveiling, and from 2009 it has run jointly with the Austrian Cultural Forum as a Czech-Austrian event.
The bronze group, 6.76 m tall and over 10 tonnes, is displayed in the Lapidarium of the National Museum at the Prague Exhibition Grounds in Holešovice, together with a wooden and papier-mâché model. The stone pedestal was removed in 1921 and no longer exists. A commemorative ceremony is held there every 13 November, the anniversary of the 1858 unveiling.
The bronze was cast from guns taken from the Sardinian army, not from the Italian wars in general. The founders Jakob Daniel Burgschmiet and Christoph Lenz did the work in Nuremberg. The four bronze tablets on the granite base named Verona, Vicenza, Custozza and Novara.
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