Statue No. 5 in Máslojedy

Statue No. 5 in Máslojedy is one of the stone monuments scattered across the battlefield of the Battle of Königgrätz (Hradec Králové/Sadowa) fought on 3 July 1866. It stands on a field path leading from Máslojedy toward Benátky, at the north-eastern edge of the Svíb forest, and commemorates soldiers of the Austrian Imperial-Royal 12th Infantry Regiment who fell during the fighting for Svíb — one of the bloodiest episodes of the whole battle.

What does the monument look like?

It is a figurative sandstone monument: a sarcophagus-shaped base topped by a broken column, against which a wounded Roman soldier leans. This classicizing imagery — an allegory of death and interrupted life borrowed from antiquity — was a common visual language for war memorials erected across Central Europe in the second half of the 19th century. The design is attributed to Schuttermayer, with the stonework carried out by mason M. Ježek of Hradec Králové. The regiment itself paid for the monument to honor its fallen comrades.

When was it built?

The monument was unveiled in 1867, one year after the battle — in line with more than twenty durable monuments and crosses raised across the battlefield around that time, funded by regiments, families, and fellow soldiers of the men who died there. It is today registered as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

Why is it located exactly here?

Monuments across the 1866 battlefield were placed where a soldier's death or serious wound had been documented, not necessarily where he was later buried — the fallen were usually interred collectively, often some distance from where they died. Statue No. 5 therefore marks the spot where the 12th Infantry Regiment suffered losses during the assault on Svíb forest, one of the key defensive positions on this stretch of the front.

How do you get there?

The monument stands beside the field path connecting Máslojedy and Benátky, at the edge of Svíb forest, in the middle of the wide battlefield stretching between Hradec Králové and Chlum. It sits along the informal "1866 monuments trail" that can be followed on foot or by bicycle, taking in the nearby military cemetery in Máslojedy and other marked memorial sites scattered through the surrounding woods and fields.

What else is worth knowing about the battlefield around Máslojedy?

Svíb forest is sometimes called the "avenue of the dead" — some of the fiercest close fighting of the entire battle took place here in 1866, and the concentration of monuments and memorial plaques inside and around the wood is among the highest anywhere on the former battlefield. Statue No. 5 is one of many such markers, each numbered individually and tied to its own documented unit or soldier.

Frequently asked questions

What does Statue No. 5 in Máslojedy commemorate? Soldiers of the Austrian 12th Infantry Regiment who died in 1866 during the fighting for Svíb forest in the Battle of Königgrätz.

When was the monument erected? In 1867, one year after the battle, funded by the regiment itself.

What is it made of and what does it depict? Sandstone, carved as a sarcophagus with a broken column against which a wounded Roman soldier leans — classicizing symbolism typical of 19th-century war memorials.

Where exactly does it stand? On the field path between Máslojedy and Benátky, at the north-eastern edge of Svíb forest.

Is it the only monument of its kind nearby? No — it is one of more than twenty similar monuments and crosses spread across the 1866 battlefield, with a particularly dense cluster around Svíb forest and the village of Máslojedy.