In the context of Prague astronomical clock, explore the 2022 reconstruction controversy of the History.
The artwork on the Orloj became the center of controversy after a local heritage group noticed the reproduction had "radically changed the appearance, ages, skin tone, dress and even genders of the figures" illustrated by Mánes in 1866. A member of the Club for Old Prague, Milan Patka, registered a complaint with the Ministry of Culture, alleging that in the restoration, painter Stanislav Jirčík had deviated from the "spirit and detail" of the original. The National Heritage Inspectorate began investigations into the allegations.
The Guardian reported that the artist may have put the likenesses of his friends and acquaintances into the work, "possibly as a joke." Upon this discovery, the Prague city council's deputy mayor for transport and heritage criticized the botched restoration as "banal and done by an amateur" and suggested the city might need to commission a replacement. It is not yet known how the restoration's discrepancy with the original had escaped detection when the work was installed in 2018.
Prague lust