Prague to commission exact replica of collapsed “Equilibrium” sculpture at Barrandov Bridge
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Prague authorities have decided to have an exact replica made of the concrete sculpture “Equilibrium” (Rovnováha), which collapsed on Friday morning around nine o’clock near Barrandov Bridge. According to Prague councillor Tomáš Slabihoudek (TOP 09), the city council has already approved the creation of a replica — the collapse occurred literally on the eve of a planned discussion about the monument’s controlled demolition.
“A controlled demolition was supposed to take place in a few weeks, but physics and the sculpture’s condition beat us to it,” Slabihoudek said. He noted that although the original has been destroyed, the city has a precise 3D scan made by the Klokner Institute, so the new sculpture will fully replicate the appearance of the old one. It will be made from a stronger material — the same one recently used in the repair of Barrandov Bridge itself.
After the collapse, reinforcing steel bars were left protruding from the concrete at the site. According to Tomáš Hájek, director of the Technical Road Administration, two fragments of the structure — each weighing around 200 tonnes — were removed over the weekend. The further fate of the debris will be decided jointly with the Prague City Gallery, the sculptor’s family, and likely the Klokner Institute as well.
Chunks of concrete also fell onto the neighboring pavement and bike path on Barrandov Bridge, but no one was hurt — the area beneath the sculpture had long been temporarily fenced off with shrubbery along the path. Police confirmed they see no signs of endangering public safety in the incident. “We’re not investigating anything there,” said police spokesman Richard Gdina.
Online debate quickly erupted over who was to blame for the monument’s dilapidated state. Culture Minister Otto Klempíř (Motorists party) criticized Pirate Party leader and MP Zdeněk Hřib, who previously served as Prague’s mayor and later as deputy mayor for transport. According to the minister, back in 2024 city leadership had already acknowledged that the sculpture had been “somewhat forgotten” during the bridge’s reconstruction.
The current deputy mayor for transport and Hřib’s fellow party member, Jaromír Beránek, disagrees. “Restoring the sculpture was not part of the Barrandov Bridge reconstruction plan,” he said. Beránek did acknowledge, however, that a council discussion on the demolition should indeed have taken place several months earlier but never did. “Weather conditions accelerated the erosion and deterioration of the concrete. The sculpture weighed hundreds of tonnes, so even static reinforcement would have been a difficult task,” he added.
Jiří Sulženko, director of the city hall’s culture and tourism department, confirmed that the city will announce a tender for creating the replica, which will be installed in the original spot. “This is a very personal matter for me — for nearly two years we carefully prepared to create an exact copy of this sculpture, which, according to two structural expert assessments, had defects so severe that preserving and repairing the original proved impossible,” he wrote on social media over the weekend, ahead of the council vote.
Prague 4 district has no objection to installing a copy. “We approved the sculpture’s placement back when it was created, since the work was designed in 1990 as an integral part of Barrandov Bridge,” explained district spokeswoman Edita Řeháková.
The original sculpture was created in 1989. Academic sculptor Josef Klimeš worked at the invitation of architect Karel Filsak, who was responsible for the artistic design of Barrandov Bridge. The replica will be made using the same method as the original — a massive reinforced concrete structure built using classic formwork.
Online creativity wasn’t long in coming: among other things, one suggestion was to leave the current debris as a memento and rename the monument “Lost Equilibrium.”
Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz
