In 1930, soldiers of the 12th Infantry Regiment, which bore the name of General M. R. Štefánik, had a statue erected along the road leading to the fortress, funded by money they had themselves collected for this purpose. The statue, unveiled on 3 May 1930, is the work of the well-known Czech sculptor Otakar Španiel. In 1938 it was moved to Banská Bystrica, where it was placed on Urpín Hill. It remained there until the end of the Second World War.
After the war, the statue of M. R. Štefánik was transported back to Komárno and exhibited on the town hall square on 9 May 1948. In the 1950s it was removed from there, and in 1968 it was erected in the park of the rose alley. Unfortunately, six years later the statue again met with an unfavourable fate and was placed in the premises of the Russian barracks in the underground of the Komárno fortress.
Only in 1990 did members of Matica slovenská’s local branch agree to try to place the statue of M. R. Štefánik in a more dignified, publicly accessible place. On 28 October 1990, the statue of M. R. Štefánik was ceremonially unveiled in front of the House of Matica slovenská.
Milan Rastislav Štefánik was a politician, diplomat and astronomer, an important figure in Slovak history. The Czechoslovak National Council was established in Paris in February 1916, of which he became vice-chairman.
