Paul Bouda
reporter Pilsenský deník
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Crystal sculptures by Czech artists have found their place in the unique environment of old cars and motorcycles. They are led by Venus, the largest statue in the world made from a single piece of polished crystal. However, there are other extraordinary artifacts on display in the Depo Moto Art Museum of Historic Vehicles.
An exhibition of Czech crystal began in the Depo Moto Art museum in Pilsen
| Video: Pavel Bouda
“In addition to the crystal collection, you can also see presidential drink sets from the Moser company, unique watches from the Czech brand Prim or a subfossil forest made from the trunks of 6,500-year-old oak trees,” Kristýna Nachtman Švédová, director of the Pilsen Foundation, describes the exhibition.
In addition to the polished old cars, the visitors are immediately attracted by the multicolored crystal sculptures with the mentioned blue-tinted Venus in the middle.
Dozens of motoring gems in Pilsen. Moto Art Depot has opened
“It is made of one piece of polished crystal and weighs 243 kilograms. Its author, the academic sculptor Vlastimil Beránek, worked on it for almost two years. The sculpture was exhibited for half a year at the world exhibition Expo Dubai 2020 and is being presented for the first time in the Czech Republic. Venus also has a smaller and lighter sister. It is in the collections of one of the biggest art collectors in the world, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia,” says Marek Landa, who represents the exhibiting authors Vlastimil Beránek and Jaroslav Prošek.
It is with Jaroslav Prošek that other exhibited unique items are connected. 6,500-year-old tree trunks that were accidentally found at a depth of six meters during excavation work in northern Moravia.
“There were huge pieces of mud on the excavated wood, it smelled unattractive, and only later did we find out what was actually found. Some trees measured up to thirty meters, so we had to cut them into smaller pieces, even if we didn’t like it. It is not a classic material, it behaves differently than wood, at the same time it is not stone, because it is constantly working. First, the trunks were examined in a laboratory in Ostrava and then in Miami, USA, where they determined their age to be 6,500 years old using the radiocarbon method,” explains Tomáš Rothschein from the Ostrava company Subfossil Oak. Two large trunks and one slightly smaller one can be seen here.
An interesting addition to the unique exhibition of rare exhibits are the limited edition watches of the Czech company Prim. Among others, for example, a series of 75 watches for the anniversary of Operation Anthropoid or a rare edition of Jan Kašpar watches, which were produced in 100 pieces.
The exhibition in the Depo Moto Art museum in Pilsen is limited in time, it will last only until June 2 and it is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
