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All Czechia Prague Statue of King Wenceslas Riding an Upside-Down Dead Horse

Statue of King Wenceslas Riding an Upside-Down Dead Horse

A mocking tribute to the past and modern leadership of Prague.

Prague, Czechia

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  thelittleowl / Atlas Obscura User
Still dead!   DaytonDUI / Atlas Obscura User
King Wenceslas Riding a Dead Horse at Palace Lucerna   gorimbaud / Atlas Obscura User
King Wenceslas riding a dead horse   ŠJů
Statue of St. Wenceslas riding an inverted horse   Unknown
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Wenzeslaus, probably by Peter Parler, in St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague   Unknown
Kun   katielou106 / Atlas Obscura User
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Upside-down statue of King Václav (Wenceslas) and 3D-Mouchodlak (my traveling figurica)   Sebastian Wortys / Atlas Obscura User
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Peekaboo   mocchiatto / Atlas Obscura User
Upsidown horse.   rojC / Atlas Obscura User
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Hanging from the ceiling of the Art Nouveau Lucerna Palace in Prague, an ancient king rides triumphantly astride... an upside-down, apparently dead horse.

Created by Prague-born artist David Černý, whose claim to fame was the painting a Soviet tank pink as a memorial to the Velvet Revolution, he's also known for his unsettling large scale installation piece of babies crawling their way up the Prague television tower, among other works of modern surrealism.

The sculpture is a mocking reference to the more famous equestrian statue of King (and later, Saint) Wenceslas that sits in Wenceslas Square, and possibly a mocking nod to Czech president Vaclav Klaus, although the artist will not say what his intentions were.

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Art Statues David Cerny

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Added By

3148delCT

Edited By

Annetta Black, Rachel, Molly McBride Jacobson, Sebastian Wortys...

  • Annetta Black
  • Rachel
  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • Sebastian Wortys
  • fujnik
  • Fred Cherrygarden
  • Jaszmina Szendrey
  • gorimbaud
  • thelittleowl
  • SEANETTA
  • DaytonDUI
  • rbenn250
  • Michael Busch
  • katielou106
  • mocchiatto
  • Snowdrop68
  • jyackabonis
  • Edian
  • rojC

Published

May 7, 2013

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Sources
  • http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/escape-the-chill-in-pragues-passages/
  • http://linneawest.com/david-cernys-upside-down-horse-prague/praguep1040934/
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_%C4%8Cern%C3%BD
  • http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/aug/10/david-cerny-sculpture-walk-prague-city-break
  • http://www.davidcerny.cz/EN/vaclav.html
Statue of King Wenceslas Riding an Upside-Down Dead Horse
Lucerna Palace
36 Vodičkova
Prague
Czechia
50.08137, 14.425403
Visit Website
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