In December 1956, amid a European political climate fraught with tensions and upheavals for the Communist bloc, the state-run publishing house Orbis in Prague published a fascinating and monumental pictorial map, commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Czechoslovak Republic. Designed by the artist Jaroslav Beza, the work represents not only a fine example of thematic and celebratory cartography from the post-World War II era, but a true visual ideological manifesto, aimed at glorifying the country’s economic and industrial transformations.
In the upper right corner, enclosed in an elegant frame, is the title “VELKÉ STAVBY DRUHÉ PĚTILETKY” (The Great Constructions of the Second Five-Year Plan).
The purpose of the publication, intended primarily for schools and public offices for educational and propaganda purposes, was to celebrate the achievements and projects of the Second Czechoslovak Five-Year Plan (1956–1960).
The map is distinguished by its vibrant color scheme, where the outline of Czechoslovakia emerges in a dominant brick red, interrupted by river valleys and mountain ranges stylized in green and ochre. The major place names (Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Ostrava, Plzeň, Nitra, Žilina) serve as anchors for a dense network of pictorial vignettes illustrating the “miracles” of socialist production:
- Major Dams and Hydroelectric Power Plants: Along the Vltava and Váh rivers in Slovakia, Beza includes detailed vignettes of water barriers and state-of-the-art power plants (such as the Váh cascade projects or the Slapy Dam), symbols of the country’s electrification.
- Steel and Mining Complexes: Near Ostrava and in eastern Slovakia (Kosice), smoking chimneys, stylized blast furnaces, and mining towers stand out, evoking the beating heart of heavy industry.
- Historical Monuments and Modernity: Alongside the Gothic and Baroque silhouettes of castles and city towers (such as Prague Castle or Brno Cathedral), the artist juxtaposes ultra-modern elements: reinforced concrete bridges, high-voltage pylons, airliners crisscrossing the skies, and modern freight trains connecting the regions.
The elaborate decorative scheme is completed by a border studded with small red geometric floral motifs. At the bottom and along the left margin, this frame expands into 24 illustrated medallions that function as an encyclopedic pictogram of state activities: we find agricultural mechanization, livestock farming, forestry, the chemical industry, maritime and air transport, public housing, and scientific research.
In the lower left corner, a twelve-pointed compass rose with an anthropomorphic sun featuring a serene face, radiating optimism toward the future.
The Upper Cartouche: Political Symbolism and Tradition
The title cartouche, located at the top right, is surmounted by a decorative motif of great symbolic significance: two stylized birds of folk-inspired design arranged symmetrically, bound by tricolor ribbons (red, blue, and white, the national colors of Czechoslovakia). This reference to peasant folk art serves to root communist ideology in the deepest cultural identity of the people.
Immediately below the title, a large industrial gear emerges, enclosing the number “5,” surrounded by linden leaves (the Slavic national tree) and celebratory ribbons. Inside the number 5, the attentive observer can discern the universal symbol of Soviet labor: the hammer and sickle. This visual core brings together in a single knot industry (the gear), the connection to the land (the linden tree), the economic plan (the “5” of the “Pětiletka”), and ideological loyalty to the Soviet Union.
Historical Context (1956)
1956 was a pivotal year for the Eastern Bloc. In February, the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) featured Nikita Khrushchev’s famous “secret speech” and marked the beginning of “de-Stalinization.” In the fall, the uprisings in Poland and the dramatic and bloody Hungarian Revolution shook Soviet hegemony. In Czechoslovakia, Antonín Zápotocký’s regime adopted a line of cautious conservatism, containing dissent and strongly emphasizing economic planning and the improvement of citizens’ material standard of living to ensure social stability.
This map, published in December of that turbulent year, serves as a powerful tool of visual normalization: while neighboring Hungary is in chaos, Czechoslovakia portrays itself as an oasis of industrious peace, a stable industrial engine, geometrically ordered and projected toward the prosperity of real socialism.
Jaroslav Beza (1918–2008) was a Czechoslovak graphic artist and illustrator who specialized in pictorial cartography, editorial graphics, and poster design for state institutions. His distinctive style is characterized by his ability to strike a balance between the formal rigor demanded by regime propaganda and the vibrant tradition of Czech children’s illustration and Bohemian-Moravian folklore. Working on a regular basis with the Orbis publishing house (the state-run publishing giant tasked with promoting Czechoslovak culture both abroad and at home), Beza created numerous thematic and tourist maps, distinguishing himself through his expressive use of color and his extraordinary ability to condense complex landscapes into immediate, legible, and highly evocative vignettes.
