Stalin on Letná

Originally, the largest group statue in Europe stood here, depicting Joseph Stalin leading a procession of workers. Today, it is an outdoor cultural center. The history of this iconic site is intertwined with the monument to the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, marking the culmination of long-standing plans for a monumental ending to the axis leading from Old Town Square through Pařížská Street and Čechův Bridge up to the steep slope of Letná. The so-called “Front for Meat,” as the people of Prague fondly called the 15.5-meter-high granite statue by Otakar Švec, lasted only seven years in its place. It was then “secretly” demolished. The stark public space with monumental staircases, designed by the Štursova couple, remained empty until 1991 when the Metronome by Vratislav K. Novák was installed. Today, skateboarders race across the ashes of communism, and from spring to fall, the site is used for regular music productions and outdoor cinema screenings.