The conroversial sculptute, unveiled just one week before the national parliamentary election. Made of bronze, it is 7,8 m high. On the pedestal is a plaque with the inscription Svatopluk and the designation "King of the Old Slovaks". but serious historians do not call Svatopluk the king of Slovaks.
A group of Slovak artist complained that the statue was commissioned without public discussion from sculptor Jan Kulich a prominent state-commissioned sculptor under the former communist regime before 1989
Svatopluk was the son of Rostislav II of Moravia, and he came from the Mojmirids, a dynasty of Christian Bohemians. In 870, he dethroned his uncle Rastislav, who was a vassal of Louis the German of East Francia, and he took power for himself. However, the Franks imprisoned him within a year of his seizure of power, and he was forced to pay tribute to Louis. He was allowed to expand outside of East Francia's borders, and he invaded the March of Pannonia in 882. Svatopluk established good relations with the papacy, and Pope Stephen V addressed him as "king" in an 885 letter. When he died in 907, Great Moravia disintegrated due to Magyar raids and infighting between his sons over the succession.
src:historica