"Pink tank" returns to Prague, floating on river

The originally Soviet tank, which was first painted pink by artist David Cerny in 1991, was transported in a specially adjusted lorry from the Military Technical Museum in Lesany, central Bohemia, to Prague. The whole installation weighs 46 tonnes.

The tank was loaded on a pontoon by a crane in the Prague-Smichov harbour from which it was floating to its temporary station on the river between the 14th-century Charles Bridge, the oldest bridge in Prague, and the Legions bridge.

It will be displayed on the river until July 1 within the Week of Freedom festival commemorating the departure of Soviet troops from the country.

Artist Cerny along with Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra (Civic Democrats, ODS) and a lot of journalists watched the floating tank today.

Vondra said the pink tank was a double symbol of freedom.

First Red Army soldiers liberating the Czech Lands from Nazi occupation arrived in it in May 1945 and after the collapse of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in November 1989 the tank changed its colour into pink.

"It received a new pink finish for the current installation," said one of its organisers, Marek Vocel, from the Opona (Curtain) association.

The costs of the tank´s transport are put at some 250,000 crowns.

The tank was first displayed in the square of Soviet tank troopers (now Kinskych) in Prague-Smichov in 1945-1991 in memory of the liberation by the Red Army.

Nevertheless, this tank was actually not used during the liberation and the number 23 of the first tank to allegedly enter Prague in May 1945 was placed on it only additionally, according to historians.

Cerny painted the tank pink in April 1991 for which he was shortly prosecuted since the tank then enjoyed the status of national culture heritage. It was repainted green but a group of deputies, using their immunity, painted it pink again shortly afterwards.

The tank was deleted from the list of national culture heritage sights and removed from the Smichov square in June 1991. It became a part of the Military History Institute´s collections.

The Week of Freedom festival is held on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the departure of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia and the Warsaw Pact´s dissolution, by the defence and foreign affairs ministries and the Military History Institute.

The programme also includes international conferences on the Warsaw Pact´s end and on the 100th birth anniversary of U.S. president Ronald Reagan as well as exhibitions and concerts.

($1=16.908 crowns)

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz