Self-immolation

Erupting out of the courtyard in front of the National Museum is a post Velvet Revolution memorial celebrating Jan Palach and Jan Zajic, two young students who set themselves on fire to protest the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia.

On the 20th anniversary of Palach's death, protests in memory of Palach (but intended as criticism of the regime) escalated into what would be called "Palach Week". The series of anticommunist demonstrations in Prague in January 1989 were suppressed by the police, who beat demonstrators and used water cannons, often catching passers-by in the fray. Palach Week is considered one of the catalyst demonstrations which preceded the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia 11 months later.