Chodov Fortress and the Art around It

It's about 30 years ago. I was at a friend's wedding. The ceremony took place in the Chodov Fortress. At the time, I thought I'd go there again. This week I finally did.

It was originally a moat-protected fortress built around 1300. It has been conquered and destroyed many times, repaired and rebuilt many times. The current form of the building was given between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Archaeologists and art historians have studied the building development here. Today there is a cultural centre and a restaurant. I was just here on January 1, 2024, and everywhere was closed.

About 50 years ago, a prefabricated housing estate was built around the fortress, actually a castle. Today there is a park around the castle itself. In our country, the law for public buildings is that a certain part of the budget must be spent on art. So there are several sculptures or statues.

The metro goes almost all the way to the castle. This is a statue called The Subway Builder. In the 1980s, when the statue was created, socialist realism was mandatory in our art.

In dictatorships, you'd build a statue of the dictator who ruled at the time. There might also have been some kind of monument to the architect or whoever paid for the building. But why not to the worker?

Understanding more abstract art is more difficult. The 1998 work is called Metamorphosis of the Year. Well, then... They're... How do you interpret the work? Four stylized characters. That would be the four seasons. I guess. The character closest to me is asleep. Winter sleep? That would be winter.

The figure on the left is waking up, turning his face to the sun. Spring. The figure farthest away is sunbathing. Summer. The figure on the right is falling asleep. Autumn. Or is everything different? Do you have another opinion?

This work is called the Sun Chariot. It was created in 1998 by the brother of the she-sculptor who created the previous sculpture. Are the two installations related? The four seasons and the sun.

But why is it the Sun Wagon? What if the author had named his work Waterwheel? I confess I haven't studied art, so I don't know how to interpret it properly.

I am not alone in feeling that art today is not for ordinary people.

It's shortly after Christmas. The Nativity scene is still standing in the courtyard of the castle. I can understand that. And I wish all readers a good year in 2024.