It was his first stop on his first official visit to the Czech Republic as head-of-state. Slovakia's new President Peter Pellegrini, who took office in mid-June, made his first official visit to the Czech Republic on Wednesday 26 June, starting with an important stop at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. At the newly installed memorial site on Jan Palach Square, he paid tribute to the victims of the December shooting at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, in which 14 people were killed and 25 injured.
The roughly three-metre-high unworked sandstone monolith, which comes from a quarry in the Trutnov region, is temporary before a final memorial is installed in front of the Faculty of Arts building on Palach Square. The memorial service held on Wednesday, was attended not only by the new Slovak President but also by the Rector of Charles University Milena Králíčková and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts Eva Lehečková.
Before heading to Prague Castle to meet with Czech President Petr Pavel and other tasks related to his first official visit to the Czech Republic, the Slovak statesman had a short discussion with those present. As the rector of the Charles University recalled, he was interested in the issue of security at universities. “I mentioned that the topic of security was recently discussed at a meeting of the Czech and Slovak Rectors' Conference,” Rector Králíčková emphasised.
Her words were followed by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, Eva Lehečková. “We also talked with the president about how we are coping with the impact of the December attack on the Faculty of Arts of Charles University on teachers and students. At the same time, in connection with the assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, we raised the issue of calming conflict in society, which the president would like to contribute to with his remarks,” the dean pointed out.
In paying his respects, Peter Pellegrini followed in the footsteps of his predecessor Zuzana Čaputová, who paid tribute to the victims of the December tragedy during one of her last trips to the Czech Republic as Slovak President.
The news of the December tragedy shocked the world. Many heads-of-state since have visited the building of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in the last six months - in addition to Peter Pellegrini and Zuzana Čaputová, they have also included French President Emmanuel Macron, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola. In April, Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Maria Varteressian also visited the site.
TEXT: Helena Zdráhalová
PHOTOS: Michal Novotný
Charles University
Ovocný trh 5
Prague 1
116 36
Czech Republic
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