Mrákotín monolith
The Mrákotín Monolith (Czech: Mrákotínský monolit ) on Prague Castle is in the third courtyard not far from St. Vitus Cathedral . It is one of the largest existing monolithic natural stone objects in the world and was made from a light gray two-mica granite from southern Bohemia. Its surface is polished.
planning
The Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik was commissioned from 1920 by the Czechoslovak President Masaryk to carry out renovations at Prague Castle. In this context, the intention was to create a memorial to those who died in the First World War . Plečnik suggested the shape of an obelisk for this. This idea was taken up and carried out.
Manufacturing and dimensions
The production of an obelisk in Mrákotín began in 1923. It broke after its completion on the way to Telč . The second obelisk made in the Mrákotín quarries broke while it was being worked. The completed third obelisk is made of the light gray granite from Mrákotín . The raw piece required for its production was extracted in the Pod Jasánky quarry in 1924 . The raw piece separated from the rock weighed about 115 tons. Its dimensions were 15.68 × 1.95 × 1.32 meters. At the end of 1925 this piece was transported from Mrákotín to the Telč train station . From here it reached Prague on a special transport at the beginning of 1926. The Prague stonemason company Jan Mrázek from Praha-Smíchov carried out the transport from the railway unloading point to the area of the Prague Castle, which carried out the finishing there according to Jože Plečnik's instructions. In the end, the job was completed on the third attempt.
The finished piece has a height of 15.5 meters. The edge measures 181 centimeters at its base and 123 centimeters at its upper end. Its volume amounts to 36.27 m³ and it therefore has a mass of 96 tons.
The obelisk was erected between October 29 and November 1, 1928 on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the First Republic. A cuboid made of Reichenberg granite ( liberecká žula ) with dimensions of 3 × 3 × 1.1 meters serves as the base . The obelisk was equipped with a gold-plated metal tip in 1996. This addition to a defect in the rock from the time it was built is seen today as a symbolic sign of the renewal of democracy.
literature
- Drahomíra Březinová, Marcela Bukovanská, Irena Dudková, Václav Rybařík: Praha kamenná . Prague (Národní muzeum) 1996
- Václav Rybařík: Ušlechtilé stavební a sochařské Kameny České republiky . Hořice v. Podkrkonoší 1994, ISBN 80-900041-5-6
Individual evidence
- ↑ Březinová et al: 1996, p. 25
Web links
- Description of the obelisk (Czech text)
- Mention on a community website
Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 24.9 ″ N , 14 ° 24 ′ 0.3 ″ E