You've seen it, the giant horse statue on the hill that stands guard in front of what appears to be half-battleship half-warehouse. It's no less gloomy up close after a trek up the hill, but its stark exterior belies a fascinating and varied interior, not to mention history.
The memorial was built in from 1928-1938 to honor Czechoslovak soldiers, but only recently reopened to the public in late October last year. While the exhibits inside are worth the entrance fee, if you're really broke, go up for at least a free and spectacular view of Žižkov, and see the "largest equestrian statue in the world" up close. I put that in quotations because that fact is purely anecdotal, although having stood right under all 27 feet of it, it's completely within the realm of possibility.
The man on the horse is Jan Žižka, a Czech general from the late 14th century, who lost one of his eyes in a childhood fight, hence the janky eyepatch. I do not mean this disrespectfully, but he reminds me of Vigo from Ghostbusters II, and that is awesome.
The building's history meanders into the macabre after 1948, when it became a centerpiece of the communist regime and a grim monument to its ideology. In a country where all religion had been drained and forgotten, Vítkov became a cathedral to communism, even housing the embalmed body of Klement Gottwald, a stalinist who was president of Czechoslovakia from 1948 until his death in 1953.
His body, as it turned out, was poorly embalmed and badly decomposed by 1962. But until then, he was on display in this creepy tiled room deep underneath the monument. To get into the room, first you walk through the old control room that monitored humidity and temperature, to keep him comfy and fresh. Now a video screen shows images of Gottwald (in life), which might be preferable to a corpse, depending on your tastes.
The newly installed exhibits leads you on a journey through the country's long list of occupiers and shifting boundaries, and is an unparalleled way for an outsider to get a real sense of all the bullshit this country's been through. And all for 110 Kc!
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