The bronze figure of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk occupies a hardscaped triangle on Embassy Row. It honors the founding president of Czechoslovakia. Vincenc Makovský sculpted the work from life. The artist finished it just before Masaryk died in 1937.
Long housed in the National Gallery in Prague, it was only cast into bronze in 1968 during the Prague Spring but was not erected at the time. The statue now stands in a park designed by landscape architect Roger G. Courtenay.
The American Friends of the Czech Republic organized the memorial. The Czech Republic provided it as a gift. It opened on September 19, 2002. Václav Havel and Madeleine Albright joined the crowd.
Visitors read the Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence at the site. Masaryk ordered the drafting of that declaration in Washington. Philip Sheridan stands nearby on a horse. He helped Masaryk draft the document in 1918.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Leroy
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