The Monument to Soviet Tank Crews (Czech: Památník sovětských tankistů) was a World War II memorial located in Prague. It is also known as the Pink Tank because it was controversially painted pink in 1991, first by installation artist David Černý and a second time by members of parliament in protest at his arrest. The original location of the monument was . The monument The monument was erected in Kinsky Square (Náměstí Kinských) in the Smíchov district of Prague, and was dedicated on 29 July 1945, by Soviet General Ivan Konev and municipal representatives. The tank rested on a massive five-metre stone pedestal, its barrel pointing westwards. It was built to commemorate the arrival of Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front, namely the Fourth Tank Army led by Lelyushenko, on 9 May 1945, ending the German occupation of Prague. It was originally intended to represent Lt I. G. Goncharenko's T-34-85 medium tank of the 63rd Tank Brigade, the first tank to enter Prague in May 1945 and subsequently knocked out in the street fighting. However, the monument was an IS-2m heavy tank instead of a T-34, and its turret was labelled 23 whereas Goncharenko's tank had borne the tactical marking I-24. Following the communist coup of 1948, the monument was elevated to the status of Cultural Monument, commemorating the liberation of Prague by the Red Army, and the square was renamed Soviet Tank Square. Controversy and removal After the 1989 Velvet Revolution and the end of communist censorship, the legacy of the tank was openly discussed. For many citizens, the tank symbolised the Soviet occupation that ended the Prague Spring in 1968 and the subsequent permanent installation of Soviet military units, rather than the events of World War II. Popular local lore noted that the number 23 painted on the tank's turret was indicative of the year of the Soviet invasion (1945 + 23 = 1968). In February 1991, historian Pavel Bělina argued that there were "neither moral nor historical grounds" for preserving the monument. On the night of 27/28 April 1991, art student David Černý and friends painted the tank pink and erected a large finger suggesting an obscene gesture on its turret, signing the work "David Černý and the Neostunners". Černý was arrested under an often-abused law concerning "hooliganism", and after an official protest by the Soviet government, the tank was re-painted green in time for the anniversary. However, fifteen