On 5 December 2022, the official protocollary site of the Slovak Republic (SR), the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, was ceremoniously unveiled on Vajanský Embankment. Not since the establishment of the Slovak Republic had the country erected this type of memorial. Although monuments, memorial plaques, and graves of unknown soldiers are found in various locations throughout Slovakia, not all have the status of a protocollary site. In the former Czechoslovakia, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was established in 1922 in the Old Town Hall in Prague, where the remains were laid to rest of an unknown Czechoslovak legionnaire who fell during the First World War at the Battle of Zborov (July 1917). During the Second World War, this solemn place was destroyed, being re-established after the war as part of the National Memorial on Vítkov Hill, built between 1929 and 1933 to a design by Jan Zázvorka. This protocollary site comprises a separate room where, in 1949, the remains were laid to rest of a soldier who fell during the Carpathian–Dukla Operation (autumn 1944). Based upon an order from the Soviet Union, the remains of a legionnaire who died during the First World War were not permitted to be placed there at the time. This did not happen until 2010. De facto, the memorial site in Prague's Vítkov district remains Czech–Slovak to this day, as it is not possible to determine the nationality of those who fell at Zborov and Dukla. Following the establishment of an independent Slovak Republic, it was natural to continue the tradition and to establish such a protocollary place in Bratislava, the capital city. This was finally realised after almost three decades. One reason for the delay was lack of consensus over a suitable location. Experts, local authorities, and the public largely favoured a site in the park below Leškova Street, an area near the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic with sufficient space and good accessibility. This would simultaneously have resolved a long-standing issue around the monument to the communist official Marek Čulen, a work that no longer belonged in a public space, but rather in a gallery or museum repository. Somewhat perplexingly, the Old Town district ultimately offered a space between the Rázus and Vajanský embankments, an area already housing numerous statues and monuments, and where access to the memorial site would be complicated by traffic congestion. 

In March 2022, the Old Town district announced an anonymous public art competition for designs for the protocollary site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 24 proposals were submitted to the international competition. The panel awarded first place to a design by the Slovak artist Marek Kvetán, and the work was implemented in 2022. Its minimalist concept is based on the circle as a basic geometric shape. According to the artist, the circle symbolises a shield falling to, or leaning on, the ground. The circular shape also represents time and eternity, reflecting the solemnity of the site. Interestingly, a circular mound had several years earlier been created at the same location as a reminder of the former Coronation Hill. Later, it was redesigned into a circular flower bed. Kvetán deliberately used corroding metal with a rough surface for the circle, a material that gradually darkens. Solid metal references other military monuments, but also its historical use by armies. Along the circle’s outer rim is the engraved text: THEY ARE LIKE BROTHERS HERE, WHO FELL WITHOUT A NAME, AND THEREFORE THEY ALL HAVE ONE NAME: THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER. The inscription was created in collaboration with the graphic designer J. Blaško and reflects the typography used to label military combat equipment. An important element of the work is lighting on the underside of the shield that illuminates the entire memorial site. The metal ring has a concrete counterpart embedded into the pavement. A universal feature of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is the motif of eternal fire, whether real or, as in this case, symbolic in the form of a vertical beam of light. The tall, bright beam is also a representation of a sword stuck into the ground. Beneath the pavement within the circle, the artist created a space in which an urn with the remains of the unknown soldier was ceremoniously placed. Flagpoles have been erected at the memorial site, and brass cubes bearing the names of battlefields where Slovak (Czechoslovak) soldiers fell are embedded into the stone-paved walkway between the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the park. 

The memorial site with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a dignified and artistically valuable work. Unfortunately, concerns about its unsuitable location have been confirmed, particularly as the central object faces a busy road. However, the form and method of execution of the work do allow for its potential installation in another, more suitable, location – if the will for doing so can be found. 

ZD 

Research status as of 30. 06. 2023.