A plaque with the names of the victims of the 2023 shooting at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague was unveiled yesterday at the memorial outside the faculty on Jan Palach Square by representatives of the Spojeni nadějí (‘United by Hope’) association, the faculty and university, and the survivors.
Fourteen students and teachers were killed in the shooting at the faculty on 21 December 2023. The perpetrator, a student at the faculty, committed suicide after the act.
The plaque is a memorial and a symbol of shared memory, pain, but also strength and hope, university spokesman Jan Bumba said at the commemorative ceremony yesterday afternoon.
It began with a performance of a choir conducted by Monika Vaclova on the steps of the nearby Rudolfinum concert hall, seat of the Czech Philharmonic. According to Spojeni nadějí, the choir brings together members of many Prague musical ensembles who wanted to express their solidarity with the families of the victims and share their own memories of them.
The shooting victims are commemorated by a three-metre high natural sculpture opposite the faculty’s headquarters on Jan Palach Square. School officials unveiled the temporary memorial in June 2024, six months after the tragedy. A plaque with the carved names of the victims has now been added to the memorial.
People brought flowers and candles to the memorial after it was unveiled, and also paid tribute to the victims with silent remembrance. Bumba said the addition of the names to the memorial had been discussed since last year, responding to a need expressed by the survivors.
Academic architect Vaclav Kralicek, sculptor Vojtech Adamec Jr, stonemason Ales John, who carved all the names of the victims, and monument supplier Tomas Hrdina were involved in the design and implementation of the idea. All four spoke briefly yesterday and described it as an honour to have been able to contribute to the memorial.
The main organiser of the commemorative event was Spojeni nadějí with the support of the Faculty of Arts and Charles University. The unveiling was attended by Faculty Dean Eva Leheckova.
Spojeni nadějí chair Lukas Kristek thanked the creators of the plaque in his speech.
“We survivors, we who have been most affected by the murders and deaths, have fallen ill and want to recover. Pessimism has never cured anyone. We have come together to heal, so we are united in hope,” he said. There is a need to remember all the survivors as well, he added.
“This tragic event has suddenly and forever changed our and your lives in ways that may not always be easy for everyone to comprehend. Yet we try and do our utmost to respect and support each other,” he noted.
The shooting at Prague’s Faculty of Arts in December 2023 was the most lethal mass shooting in the history of the Czech Republic. The shooter killed 13 people on the spot, and a 14th victim died later in hospital, while another 25 people were injured, some seriously. The perpetrator, a 24-year-old student at the faculty from outside Prague, also died at the scene. He killed his father before committing the mass murder, and a few days earlier, he had shot a man and his two-month-old daughter dead in the Klanovice forest on the outskirts of Prague.
