Juliusz Słowacki Monument

Juliusz Słowacki Monument

The monument in 2022.
Location	3 and 5 Bank Square, Downtown, Warsaw, Poland
Coordinates	52°14′34.25″N 21°00′08.32″E
Type	Statue
Material	Bronze (statue) granite (pedestal)
Height	12 m
Opening date	29 September 2001
Dedicated to	Edward Wittig

The Juliusz Słowacki Monument (Polish: Pomnik Juliusza Słowackiego is a bronze statue in Warsaw, Poland, placed in front of the Palace of the Ministry of Revenues and Treasury at 3 and 5 Bank Square, within the North Downtown neighbourhood. It is dedicated to Juliusz Słowacki, a 19th-century poet and writer, and a major figure in the Polish Romantic period. The statue was originally designed by Edward Wittig in 1932, with monument being unvailed on 29 September 2001.

History

The first proposals to commemorate writer Juliusz Słowacki with a monument in Warsaw, were rased in the 19th century, following his death in 1849. However, due to pro-Polish independence messages in his works, especially in Kordian, the Russian authorities have always rejected them.

The idea surfaced again in 1927, after an urn with Słowacki's ashes was brought from Kraków to Warsaw. As such, the city council decided to erect him a monument. Sculptor Wacław Szymanowski was commitioned to design it, however, the project was soon halted due to lack of funding ammudts the Great Depression. It was again proposed in the 1960s and 70s, however, it never came to fruition.

In 1995, members of thr Association of Heritage Monuments Protection discovered a gypsum model of a sculpture of Słowacki, originally made in 1932 by Edward Wittig, as a proposed project for a memorial in Lviv, placed in a warehouse in the Royal Baths complex. A committee was form with a goal of erecting bronze cast of the sculpture in Warsaw, and collecting funds for it.

In 1999, a cornerstone was sent to Vatican City were it was blessed by Pope John Paul II. He also signed monument's founding document, which was later signed by the President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski on 28 March 2001.

The bronze statue was unveiled on 29 September 2001 at the Bank Square, several meters to the south from the location of the former monument of Felix Dzerzhinsky, which was removed in 1989. The location was chosen as Słowacki used to work in the nearby Palace of the Ministry of Revenues and Treasury. Inside the granite pedestal of the monument was placed an 80-killagrame bronze urn, containing dirt from Juliusz Słowacki's grave in Paris, and graves of his parents, Salomea's in Kremenets, Ukraine, and Euzebiusz's in Vilnius, Lithuania, as well as the founding document.

Design

The monument consists of a large bronze state of Juliusz Słowacki, placed on a granite pedestal. He is depicted nude, wrapped up with a large cloth, with his cheast and head uncovered. The monument is 12-metre-tall.