A communist-era monument in the southeastern Polish city of Rzeszów has been included on a list of the province’s protected architecture.
Built to commemorate the region’s various fights for freedom, in particular during World War II, the social realism structure in the city center has become a symbol of Rzeszów, though a divisive one.
To some it is iconic and the city’s pride, while for others it is a communist carbuncle that should be torn down.
The monument was the brainchild of a former first secretary of the local branch of the Polish United Workers Party. Work on the eight-meter construction started in 1971, took four years, and required dozens of reinforced concrete pilings to be driven into the ground for its foundations.
It features two cooper plate sculptures, one representing Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, and the other on the opposite side of two massive ‘laurel leaf’ structures, symbolizing a soldier, a peasant and a worker.
Four marble plaques bearing inscriptions were placed at the monument’s base, though they, along with a crest at its peak, have not been listed by Podkarpackie’s Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments.
The office said in a justification of its decision to list the landmark that it is sited in a historical location, the entire vicinity of which was listed in 1969.
The Rzeszów Podkarpackie website reported that the monument cost over 10 million złoty (€2.34 million) to build and required the use of 180 kilos of nails.
In 2018, tens of thousands of local residents signed a petition to have it removed.
To some it is iconic and the city’s pride, while for others it is a communist carbuncle that should be torn down.
The monument was the brainchild of a former first secretary of the local branch of the Polish United Workers Party. Work on the eight-meter construction started in 1971, took four years, and required dozens of reinforced concrete pilings to be driven into the ground for its foundations.
It features two cooper plate sculptures, one representing Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, and the other on the opposite side of two massive ‘laurel leaf’ structures, symbolizing a soldier, a peasant and a worker.
Four marble plaques bearing inscriptions were placed at the monument’s base, though they, along with a crest at its peak, have not been listed by Podkarpackie’s Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments.
The office said in a justification of its decision to list the landmark that it is sited in a historical location, the entire vicinity of which was listed in 1969.
The Rzeszów Podkarpackie website reported that the monument cost over 10 million złoty (€2.34 million) to build and required the use of 180 kilos of nails.
In 2018, tens of thousands of local residents signed a petition to have it removed.
More In Society MORE...
