Bike to Heaven

On January 6, 2006, Jan Bouchal — an activist who worked to reduce car traffic and promote bicycling, walking, and public transportation — was struck by a car while riding his bike home from work. He died from his injuries six days later. He was 30 and the father of a young son.

One week later a white bicycle nicknamed the "Ghost Bike" was propped up and chained to a streetlamp near the scene of the accident, creating a makeshift memorial to Bouchal.

Ghost Bike (Photo source here.)

Bouchal had been the chairman of the Oživení, an NGO which focuses on transparent public administration and sustainable development, and a coordinator of the Auto*Mat project, a group that promotes public, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic.

Bouchal on the annual European Day Without Cars, 22-09-2005. (Photo source here.)

Motivated by Bouchal's death, a group of his friends, relatives, and fellow Auto*Mat activists campaigned to create a permanent memorial to Bouchal and all bicyclists killed in Prague city traffic.

Artists submitted various designs for the memorial. David Černý's design proposal was a bike and victim silhouette painted on the pavement of the road.

David Černý's memorial design: bike and victim silhouette on pavement. (Photo source here.)

Černý's proposal was declined, ironically, because it was feared that it might make traffic slow down. (Seriously?)

Ultimately Krištof Kintera's submission was accepted. "Bike To Heaven" was installed in 2013 at the corner of Dukelských hrdinů and nábřeží Kapitána Jaroše in Holešovice, a site for which Bouchal had vigorously argued for better traffic safety measures for bicycles. It was also the site of the accident that led to Bouchal's death.

This intersection is about 400 meters/one-quarter of a mile from our flat. We pass through it often, every time we take a tram from our neighborhood to Old Town.

The memorial itself is not static. Both the lights and the bicycle can rotate around the pole with the wind.

As much as I usually enjoy David Černý's pieces, I prefer Kintera's bike memorial. It's more visually interesting, and it literally and figuratively sheds light on an important problem.

Radio Prague's report from January 2013, announcing the plan to erect the monument.

Bike To Heaven, Krištof Kintera (2013)