Pátek 29. března 2024, svátek má Taťána
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Lidovky.cz

Czech spa town cool on statue of former guest Peter the Great

  13:42

Plans to honor former Karlovy Vary spa guest, the Russian ruler Peter the Great, have run into problems with the local town hall

Supporters would like to see the Peter the Great statue sited at the end of Karlovy Vary's Mlýnská colonnade foto: © ČESKÁ POZICEČeská pozice

A Russian businessman is leading efforts to erect a bronze statue to Peter the Great in his countrymen’s favorite Czech spa town, Karlovy Vary. But the moves to honor the Russian tsar and keen taker of Karlovy Vary’s curative waters has been given a cool reception at the local town hall, according to the Czech news server novinky.cz.

The plans to honor Peter the Great by unveiling a statue to him on the 300th anniversary of his second visit to Karlovy Vary in 1712 are being championed by Russian businessman Igor Oberemko.

Oberemko’s Karlovy Vary-based company, Tinowa Group, has already been involved in lavish celebrations this year on the anniversary of Peter the Great’s first visit to the west Bohemian spa town in 1711 and would, according to the company website, like to hold an annual celebration honouring the czar on the last week of September in the Czech spa town.

The Russian told novinky.cz that the costs of the bronze statue could come from contributions from some of the, often wealthy, Russian and other spa visitors from the former Soviet Union to Karlovy Vary as well as fund raising events. But even if that ambition is achieved he would still need permission from the town council for the statue.

Karlovy Vary city leaders are, however, not keen on a return of the Russian ruler who made Russia a European power even if it is only in bronze form. “We would refuse it [the application] because from many perspectives it is not appropriate,” mayor Petr Kulhánek (Karlovy Vary Citizens’ Alternative, KOA) told the web site.

Deputy mayor Jiří Klsák (KOA) shares the negative stance and poured cold water on the argument put forward by Peter the Great’s bronze backers that the Russian contributed to the construction of one of the spa town’s historic colonnades.

“I told them quite plainly that there is no reason to have a statue of Peter the Great in the center of Karlovy Vary,” said Klsák, who previously worked in the spa town’s museum as an archeologist. “I would permit it on the condition that a statue of T.G. Masaryk was allowed first on Red Square in Moscow,” Klsák added, referring to the first president of Czechoslovakia.

‘I would permit it on the condition that a statue of T.G. Masaryk was allowed first on Red Square in Moscow.’

The deputy mayor added that he would have no quarrel with a statue of Peter the great being placed at some location in the forests surrounding the spa town, where Peter the Great is believed to have taken curative walks during his consecutive stays in Karlovy Vary.

Oberemko argues on his side that statues of historic spa guests are common in the center of spa towns worldwide. “Making a national issue of this thing would be a mistake,” he told the web site, adding that the Czech Republic’s biggest spa town would collapse if it were not for its Russian visitors and those from former states of the Soviet Union.

Oberemko’s company is, according to its website, is involved in real estate activities and spa cures in Karlovy Vary and nearby Germany.

‘Making a national issue of this thing would be a mistake.’

Tinowa Group’s website records that Peter the Great’s health was so restored during his second spa visit to Karlovy Vary that he did not have to come back again for several years. His plans to return in 1716 were thwarted by the political situation at the time, it adds.

The Russian ruler could have probably benefited from more trips to spa as he is believed to have suffered from urinary tract and bladder problems later in his life as well as the suspicion that he might have suffered from epilepsy. He died in 1725 at the age of 52 having already handed over his modernized and expanded kingdom to his second wife, Catharine.

War on words

Karlovy Vary local town hall leaders have recently taken a lead in trying to curb solely Russian-language adverts and publicity aimed at the substantial number of Russian ex-pats and visitors. They are backing a proposed bill in the lower house of the Czech parliament that would make a Czech version of all foreign language publicity obligatory with stiff fines envisaged to enforce the law.

Town hall leaders in the past also called for help from the Czech domestic secret service to look into the widely held belief that Karlovy Vary has become a favorite hideout for the Russian mafia.

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