---
title: "David Černý in Prague – Sculptures, Provocations, and a City Without Censorship | Satori Cities"
url: "https://satoricities.com/en/blog/david-cerny-prague-sculptures-provocations/"
language: "en"
type: "blog-post"
slug: "david-cerny-praga"
source_slug: "david-cerny-praga"
source_language: "pl"
category: "Art & Culture"
---

# David Černý in Prague – Sculptures, Provocations, and a City Without Censorship

> David Černý and his sculptures in Prague: The Kafka Head, The Hanging Freud, The Horse in Lucerna, The Pissing Men, Miminka, and Lilith. A guide to the unconventional side of Prague.

- Published: October 16, 2025
- Updated: August 14, 2026
- Reading time: 12 min read

Prague loves to pretend it is an old city. It does so brilliantly. It showcases Gothic towers, Baroque domes, saints standing motionless on stone pedestals, and facades that look as if no one has dared to touch them in centuries. And then you turn a corner. Sigmund Freud is hanging above the street. In the Lucerna Passage, Saint Wenceslas sits on a dead horse suspended upside down. In front of the Franz Kafka Museum, two naked men are urinating into a pool shaped like the Czech Republic. Climbing up the Žižkov Television Tower are enormous faceless children. A few streets away, the metallic Kafka Head unfolds into rotating layers and, moments later, reassembles into a familiar face. This is not a second Prague. It is still the same city. Just without the postcard filter. And behind much of this controlled chaos stands David Černý . So, if you are looking for something more in Prague than the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, and Hradčany, Černý’s sculptures are one of the best ways to dive into unconventional, alternative, and slightly cheeky Prague . Who is David Černý? David Černý is one of the most recognizable contemporary Czech artists. But calling him merely a "sculptor" says far too little about him. Černý uses sculpture, mechanics, architecture, provocation, and the Czech sense of absurdity. His works rarely function inside museums; instead, they operate directly in urban space. And that is the key to understanding them. Černý’s sculptures rarely exist simply to "look nice." They are meant to annoy. To surprise. To provoke. Sometimes to amuse. Other times to make a passerby unsure for a few seconds whether they are looking at art, a joke, political commentary, or pure madness. In Prague, this language works exceptionally well. Because Czechs have long harbored a special suspicion of pompousness. In the land of Hašek, Hrabal, and Kafka, a hero can easily turn into an anti hero, grandeur into grotesque, and a national monument into a joke. Černý exploits this perfectly. David Černý and Prague – Why are his sculptures everywhere? The largest gallery of David Černý is the city itself. His works are not viewed exclusively in an orderly exhibition hall. You encounter them while shopping. In passages between streets. Overhead. In courtyards. Next to shopping centers. On towers. Beside modern apartment blocks. Some have become tourist attractions. Others can still be easily missed. And that is exactly why walking in the footsteps of David Černý in Prague is more interesting than simply ticking sculptures off a map. In reality, it is a walk through the Czech mentality. Through the systemic transformation. Through national symbols. Through the Czech relationship with their own history. And through a specific humor where you often laugh first, and only later realize the joke was about you, too. The Kafka Head in Prague One of the most photographed contemporary sculptures in the center is David Černý’s Kafka Head , standing near the Quadrio complex. It is a monumental metal head built from moving layers. For a while, everything looks calm. You see a face. Then the individual levels begin to shift. The nose drifts one way. The forehead moves the other. The face ceases to exist. Moments later, it reassembles. Kafka returns. And then, shortly after, vanishes again. It is hard to imagine a more Kafkaesque monument. When does the Kafka Head rotate in Prague? This is one of the most common questions from tourists seeking this sculpture. The mechanism operates on programmed sequences, so before making a special trip just to see the sculpture move, it is worth checking the current schedule on site. However, the movement is only half the attraction. The most interesting moment is when the human face breaks apart into geometric fragments. Kafka is turned into a machine. A human into a mechanism. It is very Prague. And very Černý. The Hanging Freud in Prague This sculpture is very easy to miss. The reason is simple: most people look straight ahead. Here, you need to look up. A man is hanging above the street. He holds onto a metal structure with one hand. He looks as if he is about to fall. This is Sigmund Freud . The sculpture, known as The Hanging Freud in Prague , Man Hanging Out , or Viselec , is one of Černý’s most characteristic works. Freud does not stand on a pedestal. He does not sit majestically at a desk. He hangs. Literally. You can see uncertainty in the intellectual here. A crisis of the modern man. A question about the boundary between control and collapse. Or simply an excellent Czech joke placed a few meters above tourists' heads. Černý usually leaves the viewer enough room to choose their own version. Lucerna Palace and Saint Wenceslas on a Dead Horse If you enter Lucerna Palace Prague into your map, it is worth not ending your tour at the beautiful interior of the passage. Look up. You will find one of David Černý’s most famous sculptures. Saint Wenceslas sits on a horse. Only the horse is dead. It hangs upside down. Its tongue lolls out of its mouth. And Wenceslas still sits on its belly with the dignity of a man who apparently hasn’t received the news that the entire monumental scene has just collapsed. It is hard not to think of the famous statue of Saint Wenceslas standing on nearby Wenceslas Square. And that is precisely the power of Černý’s work. A few hundred meters away, we have a national symbol placed according to all rules of monumentality. Here, that same symbol is turned upside down. Literally. Lucerna Passage in Prague – Worth visiting even for one sculpture Lucerna Passage is itself an interesting fragment of central Prague. However, for those seeking the art of David Černý, the Horse – Kůň located there is a must see. It is a good example of how the most interesting contemporary attractions in Prague are sometimes just a few steps from places visited by thousands. You just need to know where to look. The Pissing Men in front of the Franz Kafka Museum In the Lesser Town, in the courtyard of the Franz Kafka Museum, stands another work by Černý. Two male figures stand facing each other. Between them is a tank shaped like the Czech Republic. And the figures are pissing into it. Yes. It is public art. And yes. We are only a few minutes' walk from the Charles Bridge. The work is known as Proudy , Piss , or simply The Pissing Men . This is Černý in pure form. The state is turned into a pool. A monument into a fountain. Grandeur into physiology. You can see political commentary in it. You can see a joke about national solemnity. You can also shrug your shoulders and take a photo. All three reactions are part of this work. Miminka – Babies on the Žižkov Television Tower If you have ever seen photographs of the Žižkov Television Tower , you probably noticed something strange. Gigantic babies are crawling along the structure. These are Miminka , or Babies, by David Černý. Their faces lack normal features. They have been replaced by a characteristic, non human indentation resembling a code or a mechanical seal. From a distance, they look almost funny. Up close, they begin to be unsettling. And it is precisely between these two feelings that Černý feels most at home. Žižkov – Prague beyond the postcard The trip to the tower has another advantage. It takes you beyond the most obvious center. Žižkov is a completely different Prague than the area around the Astronomical Clock. More everyday. Less polished. Full of pubs, steep streets, tenement houses, and places that don’t try to pose as tourist attractions. If you are interested in alternative Prague , these are exactly the districts worth adding to your plan. Lilith in Prague One of the newer and most monumental projects associated with Černý is Lilith in the Karlín district. The enormous female figure has been integrated directly into modern architecture. It does not stand in front of the building like a traditional monument. It enters into a physical relationship with it. It holds it. It embraces it. It dominates the facade. This is a completely different scale than The Hanging Freud or the small Embryo. Yet the principle remains similar: the viewer is meant to stop and ask: what exactly am I seeing here? Along the way, it is a good reason to visit Karlín – a district that shows a completely different face of contemporary Prague. Embryo – A sculpture easy to miss Not all of Černý’s works are enormous. Embryo , or Embrion, works exactly the opposite way. Embedded in a fragment of urban space, it can go unnoticed by someone who doesn’t know of its existence. And that is one of the pleasures of touring Prague in the footsteps of contemporary art. Suddenly, you discover that the city has layers. One is for everyone. The second is for those who know the history. The third is for those who look more closely. Černý, Kafka, and Czech Absurdity Linking David Černý with Kafka might seem like an easy move. But both share a similar problem with Prague. They don’t let it be comfortable. Kafka could turn an office into a nightmare, a trial into a labyrinth, and ordinary life into a situation whose rules no one explained to the human. Černý does something similar with public space. Everything looks familiar. A monument. A horse. A head. A man. A child. A car. It is only after a moment that we notice something is wrong. The horse is dead. The head is falling apart. The man is hanging over the street. The child has no face. The car has legs. It is reality shifted by a few centimeters. Enough to recognize it. And enough to feel uneasy. Unconventional Prague – The City of David Černý The greatest advantage of walking in Černý’s footsteps is that it leads through very different parts of the city. From the tourist center. Through the Lesser Town. Lucerna. New Town. Žižkov. Karlín. All the way to places where most people don’t even arrive during their first weekend in Prague. That is why David Černý’s sculptures in Prague are something more than a list of strange objects. They create an alternative map of the city. A map based not on kings, churches, and wars, but on provocation, irony, and contemporary art. If you like this kind of Prague, also check out our tour Brutalism – Letná . It is another way to discover the city beyond the classic postcard center. For a first contact with Prague, Prague in a Nutshell is better, and if you prefer darker stories and urban tales – Prague in the Shadow of Legends . All current tours can be found on – Polish Guide to Prague . FAQ – David Černý and his sculptures in Prague Where is the Kafka Head in Prague located? David Černý’s Kafka Head is located at the Quadrio complex in central Prague. When does the Kafka Head rotate? The sculpture is kinetic and performs programmed movement sequences. Since the operation method may change due to technical or organizational reasons, it is worth checking current information on site before visiting. Where is The Hanging Freud in Prague? The Hanging Freud must be sought high above the street in the historic center. Many people walk under it without noticing it at all. Where is David Černý’s horse? The sculpture Kůň , depicting Saint Wenceslas sitting on a dead horse, can be seen in Lucerna Passage in Prague . Where are David Černý’s children? The most characteristic Miminka are located on the Žižkov Television Tower . Is it worth touring Prague in the footsteps of David Černý? Yes, especially if you already know the most important landmarks and are interested in unconventional Prague , contemporary art, Czech humor, and places off the standard tourist route. Prague Doesn’t Always Want to Be Beautiful And perhaps that is exactly why it is interesting. You can come here for the Charles Bridge. You can come for Hradčany. You can come for the beer. But after a few days, you begin to discover another city. A city that can place a national hero on a dead horse. Hang Freud above the street. Unfold Kafka into metal slices. Place enormous children on a television tower. And do all of this without explaining to the passerby what they are supposed to think. David Černý did not create this feature of Prague. He simply understood it brilliantly. Because beneath all the towers, palaces, and facades lies another Prague. An ironic Prague. Rebellious. Absurd. One that doesn’t like monuments standing too straight. And once you have seen it, it is very hard to return to the postcard.

## Keep reading

- [Following David Černý’s Trail – A Journey to Prague’s Darker Side](https://satoricities.com/en/blog/following-david-cerny-trail-prague/) | Markdown: https://satoricities.com/en/blog/following-david-cerny-trail-prague.md
- [David Černý's Sculptures in Prague – Lilith, Miminka, Freud, Lucerna, and More](https://satoricities.com/en/blog/david-cerny-sculptures-prague-lilith-freud/) | Markdown: https://satoricities.com/en/blog/david-cerny-sculptures-prague-lilith-freud.md
- [Following David Černý – A Walk Through Unconventional Prague](https://satoricities.com/en/blog/david-cerny-prague-walking-tour/) | Markdown: https://satoricities.com/en/blog/david-cerny-prague-walking-tour.md

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