Winged Lion Memorial

The Winged Lion Memorial at Klárov in Prague honors the Czechoslovak airmen who served with the Royal Air Force during World War II and distinguished themselves in the Battle of Britain in particular. The six-and-a-half-foot bronze statue by British sculptor Colin Spofforth was unveiled on June 17, 2014, by Sir Nicholas Soames, grandson of Winston Churchill. It was conceived as a gift from the British community in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the peoples living there, and it stands on a pedestal of Czech granite whose shape, seen from above, mimics the emblem of the Czech Air Force.

At the memorial, you can read the names of all Czechoslovak RAF personnel, which have been mounted on the side panels of the pedestal since 2018. These panels also imitate the fuselage surface of historic aircraft. The monument bears a bilingual inscription expressing thanks for the service of around 2,500 pilots and ground crew between 1940 and 1945, along with a quotation by the British poet William Kean Seymour. In 2019, the surrounding area was expanded with benches, information boards, and new paving, making the site a dignified place of remembrance.