Adam Mickiewicz Monument, Warsaw
Encyclopedia
Adam Mickiewicz Monument is a monument dedicated to Adam Mickiewicz
at the Krakowskie Przedmieście
in the Śródmieście district of Warsaw
, Poland
. The Neo-Classicist monument was constructed in 1897-1898 by sculptor Cyprian Godebski
.
magazine published an article promoting the idea of building the monument. Other newspapers soon followed the idea. Writer Henryk Sienkiewicz
helped to rise the awareness among the Warsaw intelligentsia, and by his effort, the Russian authorities permitted the construction of the monument. A public committee was founded by Sienkiewicz, Count Michał Radziwiłł
and Zygmunt Wasilewski. The committee asked people for their financial contributions to help build the monument. The needed financial support was quickly raised and the work has been assigned to sculptor Cyprian Godebski
.
The monument was built on a place where several buildings demolished in 1865 were located. Since 1897 it has been sculpted by Godebski in Italy. The 4.2 m tall bronze statue was casted in Pistoia
, Italy
. Red granite column and foundations were produced by Italian company in Baveno
near Milano. The statue shows Mickiewicz standing tall, with the head slightly raised and the right hand laid on his heart. The monument was ceremonially unveiled on 24 December 1898 on the 100th anniversary of poet's birth. The ceremony was planned to be much larger, however the Tsarist authorities feared it could turn into patriotic manifestation and banned all marches and speeches. The monument was thus unveiled in silence, in front of 12,000 people.
After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising
in 1944 it was deliberately destroyed by Nazi Germans
. Remaining parts of the demolished monument were eventually transported to Germany. After the war, Polish soldiers found the head and several parts of the statue in Hamburg
. Sculptor Jan Szczepkowski produced the copy of the original statue. Environs of the monument were also restored. It was unveiled again on 28 January 1950. Last parts of the monument returned to Poland as late as in the 1980s.
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
at the Krakowskie Przedmieście
Krakowskie Przedmiescie
Krakowskie Przedmieście is one of the most impressive and prestigious streets of Poland's capital.Several other Polish cities also have streets named Krakowskie Przedmieście. In Lublin, it is the main and most elegant street...
in the Śródmieście district of Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The Neo-Classicist monument was constructed in 1897-1898 by sculptor Cyprian Godebski
Cyprian Godebski (sculptor)
Cyprian Godebski was a Polish sculptor and from 1870 a professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg...
.
History
On 13 February 1897 the GłosGłos (1886–1905)
Głos was a Polish language social, literary and political weekly review published in Warsaw between 1886 and 1905. It was one of the leading journals of the Polish positivist movement. Many of the most renowned Polish writers published their novels in Głos, which also became a tribune of the...
magazine published an article promoting the idea of building the monument. Other newspapers soon followed the idea. Writer Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. A Polish szlachcic of the Oszyk coat of arms, he was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his...
helped to rise the awareness among the Warsaw intelligentsia, and by his effort, the Russian authorities permitted the construction of the monument. A public committee was founded by Sienkiewicz, Count Michał Radziwiłł
Michał Radziwiłł Rudy
Michał Radziwiłł Rudy was a nobleman and diplomat.He attained degrees in law and philosophy and worked as a diplomat in the embassy of the Russian Empire in Paris. He also served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the German and as a Major in the British armies...
and Zygmunt Wasilewski. The committee asked people for their financial contributions to help build the monument. The needed financial support was quickly raised and the work has been assigned to sculptor Cyprian Godebski
Cyprian Godebski (sculptor)
Cyprian Godebski was a Polish sculptor and from 1870 a professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg...
.
The monument was built on a place where several buildings demolished in 1865 were located. Since 1897 it has been sculpted by Godebski in Italy. The 4.2 m tall bronze statue was casted in Pistoia
Pistoia
Pistoia is a city and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno.-History:...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Red granite column and foundations were produced by Italian company in Baveno
Baveno
Baveno is a town and comune in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, part of Piedmont, northern Italy. It is located on the west shore of Lago Maggiore, 13 miles North West of Arona by rail....
near Milano. The statue shows Mickiewicz standing tall, with the head slightly raised and the right hand laid on his heart. The monument was ceremonially unveiled on 24 December 1898 on the 100th anniversary of poet's birth. The ceremony was planned to be much larger, however the Tsarist authorities feared it could turn into patriotic manifestation and banned all marches and speeches. The monument was thus unveiled in silence, in front of 12,000 people.
After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
in 1944 it was deliberately destroyed by Nazi Germans
Planned destruction of Warsaw
The planned destruction of Warsaw refers to the largely realised plans by Nazi Germany to completely raze the city. The plan was put into full motion after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944...
. Remaining parts of the demolished monument were eventually transported to Germany. After the war, Polish soldiers found the head and several parts of the statue in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. Sculptor Jan Szczepkowski produced the copy of the original statue. Environs of the monument were also restored. It was unveiled again on 28 January 1950. Last parts of the monument returned to Poland as late as in the 1980s.