Prague unveils powerful new mural on anniversary of the Russian invasion

A mural depicting a Ukrainian girl standing among the rubble of war was unveiled Friday morning from the balcony of the Smiřicky Palace in Prague's Malostranské náměstí. The work commemorates exactly one year since Russia’s widescale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. It will be on display for several weeks.

The Czech street artist known as ChemiS took part in the artwork's unveiling earlier this morning alongside Chamber of Deputies Speaker Markéta Pekarová Adamová and Ukrainian ambassador to Czechia Vitalij Usatyj.

The model for the artwork is Amelia, a young girl who became known throughout the world last year after footage of her singing from a bomb shelter in Ukraine went viral.

Adamová tweeted that Amelia “gave hope with her voice” and that hope “is the meaning of life.”

This is the second ChemiS mural focused on the Ukraine war. In March last year, the artist unveiled a street mural in Prague 4 featuring a young girl taking shelter under a Ukrainian flag.

ChemiS is one of the most provocative street artists in Czechia – known for his augmented reality portrait of former President Václav Havel in 2011 and a large image of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk weeping, created to mark the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s founding.

Citywide art installations and exhibits will pay homage to the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine today. Prague's Interior Ministry will display a video mapping of the damage caused by the conflict on Friday and Saturday night and other landmark buildings (such as the National Theatre) will light up in the blue-and-yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag.

Art exhibitions, featuring a virtual reality display, photographs of damage from the war, and film exhibitions will also be held in various cultural centers in the capital, including the Langhans Center and the Světozor cinema. Demonstrations are also slated to take place throughout the Czech Republic.