Thirty years ago, if you looked up at the hills above Prague, you might have seen a giant Michael Jackson staring back down at the city.
On September 7, 1996, Michael opened his HIStory World Tour on the Letná plain in Prague, in front of about 120,000 people. The scale of it was almost hard to believe. His crew flew in around 1,200 tons of sound equipment all the way from Los Angeles just to fill that open field with music.
To get the whole city talking, his team put up a statue of Michael on the hill above the park. It stood about ten meters tall, roughly thirty-five feet, looming over everything. People could see it for miles.
Here’s the MTV report from that opening night, with the crowd and the spectacle.
The HIStory Tour opens in Prague, 1996
Now here’s the part most fans have never heard. That statue wasn’t standing on just any hill.
It sat on the huge stone pedestal that once held Prague’s old Stalin monument. For years a towering statue of the Soviet leader stood on that very spot, unveiled in 1955 as a symbol of a grim era. By 1962 the mood had changed, and the whole thing was torn down with explosives, leaving only the massive base behind.
So decades later, that same base held up a smiling King of Pop. A spot once meant to honor a feared leader was suddenly topped by the most beloved entertainer on earth. It’s a twist of history you really have to see to believe.
This wasn’t only about statues and stadiums, though. During the same visit, Michael went to Prague Castle to meet the country’s president, Václav Havel, a former playwright who had helped lead his nation toward freedom. Michael also spent time visiting children in the hospital, away from any cameras.
Here’s the Czech television coverage of that meeting at the castle.
Michael meets President Václav Havel
And for anyone who wants to relive the night the tour began, here’s more footage from that huge Prague show.
More from the Prague concert
It’s a lot to take in. A record-breaking crowd, tons of gear shipped across an ocean, a president, sick kids who got a quiet visit, and a giant statue standing where history had already seen so much.
Watch the clips above and picture that enormous Michael looking out over Prague, perched on a pedestal with a story almost nobody in the crowd knew.