T.G.M.

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk visited Boskovice on the 16th June 1929. He was accompanied by his daughter Alice, prime minister Udržal, minister Černý and female secretary Udržalová. Masaryk was welcomed by Pavel Šlahúnek, the mayor of Boskovice, and regional council president.

There is a part of the local chronicle which describes Masaryk´s arrival in Boskovice, especially the mayor´s speech about the problem with the quality of water in connection with epidemics of typhoid. The president promised to support building of a local water supply.

Houses were decorated during the visit of the president.

Many people wanted to welcome Masaryk in Boskovice and so some of them had to find a place for them on the roofs. We can see them in the upper right-hand corner of this photo.

Fanfares sounded during Masaryk´s arrival from the town hall tower. According to several sources of information, we know gifts were given to the president.

Masaryk´s visit was an impulse for creating his statue. This initiative arose in a group of local legionaries, for example, Jan Jelínek founded committee which systematically work on creating the statue. The implementation was entrusted to Leopold Schmidt, who had already portraited the president, and Josef Otoupal, a sculptor.

In September 1934, the foundation stone of the sculpture was placed and during October a culture event took place and the monument was unveiled.

During Nazi occupation the sculpture was secretly removed and hidden so that it did not have to be destroyed. Thanks to this, it was possible to place back at the same place.

The second totalitarianism, the communist one, the monument, unfortunately, did not survive. The statue was destroyed by a group of local communists during one night in April 1959. This event was written also into the chronicle. The act of removal of the statue was not the official one but the activity of several private individuals. Yet we are not sure if it was not secretly organized from high levels.

Although it would seem everything was lost, happy-end happened. A new statue was created from the same material and was unveiled on 28thOctober 1991.

The statue in Boskovice was not the only monument of Masaryk in our region. Another one was in Rudka near Kunštát and you can see it only in historic photos because it was destroyed during WWII.

Masaryk´s visit to Boskovice was an inspiration for Pavel Bačovský, who painted this event.