Switcher, Sandstone sculpture in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
The Switcher (Výhybkář) is a sandstone sculpture in front of the Railway Administration building on třída Svobody in Olomouc, showing a railway employee throwing a track switch. Rudolf Doležal Jr. designed it and Josef Stárek carved it in stone; it was installed in 1950. The figure stands on a two-part pedestal, the lower part wedge-shaped and larger, the upper a rectangular block.
The sculpture was created in 1950 by sculptors Rudolf Doležal and Josef Stárek. It emerged during a period when post-war Czechoslovakia was rebuilding its industrial infrastructure.
The sculpture stands in front of the Railway Administration building on třída Svobody, together with a memorial plaque on the facade; both honoured railway workers who died in the Second World War. Its subject, a switchman throwing a track switch, draws on interwar civilism within the socialist-realist form of 1950.
The statue is located near central Olomouc and can be reached easily on foot. You can visit it while taking a walk through the city to see other monuments as well.
The sculpture stands on a two-part pedestal: a larger wedge-shaped lower block beneath a cuboid upper block. A memorial plaque on the building's facade links the work to railwaymen killed in World War II. A June 2022 assessment noted neglected maintenance and visible damage.
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