HomeInteresting PlacesThe Monument to Esperanto with a Memorial Plaque to Ludwig Lejzer Zamenhof

The Monument to Esperanto with a Memorial Plaque to Ludwig Lejzer Zamenhof monuments and memorials

Description

In July of 1887, the first textbook of the new universal language for communication was published, the author of which was the Polish-Russian physician Ludwig Lejzer Zamenhof, who used the pseudonym of Dr Esperanto (esperanto - hopeful), which was also the name given to the language he constructed.

In 1914, the Pan-Austrian Congress of Esperantists was held in Františkovy Lázně, and to commemorate this, a monument was unveiled on 31 May. Sadly, in October 1939, the town was forced to hand over the bronze bas relief and bronze slab from the monument to be used for the German rearmament measures. The remaining monument was demolished.

On 19 October 1991, the Pardubice Esperanto Club installed a new memorial plaque on the site of the demolished monument to honour Dr Zamenhof; however, it was vandalised. In 1994, it was renewed with the help of British Esperantists, the Czech Esperanto Association, and the co-author of the database of Esperanto monuments, Raymond Boré.

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