Prague's Jan Zizka Statue: A Shifting Historical Monument

This article recounts the singular history of the gigantic statue of Jan Žižka by Bohumil Kafka that since 1950 has overlooked Prague from the top of Vítkov Hill. This was the site of the one-eyed general’s first great victory in 1420 over Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund and an army of some 80,000 foreign crusaders bent upon burning Prague to the ground and slaughtering every man, woman and child in the city. The history of this monumental artwork is a story-within-a-story that could easily support a book in its own right. (5,000 words with 16 illustrations)