Obelisk
Monument · Czechia
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A 23-metre neoclassical obelisk (locals call it 'Facka') crowned with a six-pointed star symbolizing Enlightenment. It marks the northernmost minor structure of the Lednicko-valtický complex.
Prince Alois I Joseph of Liechtenstein raised this sandstone pyramid in 1798, a year after France and Austria signed the Peace of Campo Formio on 17 October 1797. Josef Hardtmuth designed it, the same architect behind most of the follies and monuments across the Lednice-Valtice estate. Locals call it Facka, meaning the slap, after a legend that a Liechtenstein prince was struck by his wife on this exact spot: one telling says he gambled away a whole village at cards, another says she caught him in an affair. The obelisk's own inscription tells a plainer story, and it has nothing to do with any slap. Hardtmuth left a stranger mark on the world than any of his buildings: he worked out how to bind powdered graphite into a wood-cased pencil lead, and founded the company that grew into Koh-i-Noor.
Practical
The private game reserve around the obelisk has restricted general access since about 2023, after the owner cited visitor damage to the land. The monument can no longer be reached freely on foot or by bike, and a visit now needs prior arrangement with the reserve.
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