The Monument to Revolutionary Struggles is located in the centre of Rzeszów. The Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments has announced that it has entered it in the register of monuments of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. However, the protection did not include the four inscription plaques that are embedded at the base of the monument and the plaques with the city’s coat of arms on top.
The Office has published the content of the justification for its decision. The conservator of monuments points out that the monument is located in a historical place, in the vicinity of the monumental edifice of the current seat of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship Office (entered in the register of monuments in 2017), the complex of the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Monastery of the Bernardine Fathers (entered in the register in 1949), and the entire urban layout was entered in the register of monuments in 1969. The monument has been integrated into this fragment of the urban structure of the city and constitutes a strong plastic dominant of the surrounding space.
The Monument to the Revolutionary Struggle was built between 1971 and 1974 and its design was made by Marian Konieczny, later professor and rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow.
The idea to build the monument was born in 1966 and it was to commemorate the Millennium of the Polish State. In 1967, the initiative gained the approval of the authorities of the time, and a social committee for the construction of the monument was established, but it was decided to change the title and meaning of the monument. The design of the monument was selected through a competition attended by artists associated with the Rzeszów community. The design by Marian Konieczny was selected. As a result of consultations with the City Urban Planning Studio, the appearance of the demonstration square, which was to be located between the monument and the WRN building, was also worked out, informs the Voivodship Office forthe Protection of Monuments in Przemyśl.
The monument was built on a plinth. Its warp is 38 m and was made of reinforced concrete rings in the shape of two stylised laurel leaves. The monument features a relief depicting the goddess Nike in a dynamic pose against the background of a banner unfurled. This last element is made of copper sheet. On the other, south-eastern side, there is a sculptural group consisting of the figures of a peasant, a worker and a soldier, the silhouettes also shown against the background of a unfurled banner. At the top of the monument, laurel leaves are fastened with plaques bearing Rzeszów’s coat of arms, which were placed in the early 2000s.
The Voivodeship Office for Monument Protection in Przemyśl reminds us that ‘in accordance with art. 3. pt. 1 of the Act on the protection and care of historical monuments, an entry in the register of monuments is subject, among others, to an immovable property that is a work of man or related to his activity and is a testimony of a bygone era or event, the preservation of which is in the public interest due to its historical, artistic or scientific value’.
The WUOZ justifies its decision to enter the monument on the grounds that it recognised its artistic value as an example of the outstanding achievements of post-war Polish sculpture.
(…) it should be stated that the object in question presents outstanding artistic values. In formal and stylistic terms, the monument was erected in the style of socialist realism, which is a distinct phenomenon in European art, characteristic of the former Eastern Bloc countries. It reflects the characteristics of this style as well as the era in which it was created. Analysing the assumptions of the field of monumental art, it is concluded that the object implements a simple, unambiguous, communicative and realistic formal language, on a monumental scale, integrally connected and inscribed into the surrounding space,” reads the justification.
The Office also recalls the artistic achievements of its creator, Professor Marian Konieczny, and points out that, in its view, the monument represents a creative achievement of the sculptor, pointing to the individualism and innovation of the form. Marian Konieczny created many famous monuments. He was the creator of, among others, the Monument to the Heroes of Warsaw, the so-called ‘Warsaw Nike’ (1964), the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Monument in Lublin (1964), the Tadeusz Kościuszko Monument in Philadelphia (1979), the Jan Matejko Monument in Warsaw (1995), the John Paul II Monument in Leżajsk (2002), the Apollo Fountain in Poznań (2002). In the Authority’s opinion, the object, with its monumental scale and style, fits in with the historical development of the city centre and has historical values.
In its announcement, the Voivodeship Office for the Protection of Monuments in Przemyśl also reminds of the controversies that the monument arouses:
‘Analysing public attitudes towards the object over the last twenty years, it has to be said that it arouses great emotions and causes a lot of controversy. Different local, as well as supra-local communities have presented different and extreme positions. In recent years, many nationwide professional and expert bodies have voiced their opinions, including the Association of Art Historians, the Association of Polish Artists and Designers, and representatives of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. Master’s theses and articles published in the academic press are being written on the subject of socialist realist art. The Rzeszów Foundation, in justifying its application to enter the object in the register, also submitted a list of support expressed by architects, visual artists, museum workers, art historians, art conservators, urban planners. The vast majority of representatives of this broadly defined artistic world commented favourably on the artistic values of the Monument and favoured the idea of its preservation. On the contrary, the voices of the professional and artistic community reflected in the case file are in favour of the Monument in question being protected because of its artistic, historical and scientific values,” reads a communiqué on the Authority’s website.
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Loading ...source: Voivodeship Office for Monument Protection z/s in Przemyśl(https://wuozprzemysl.pl)
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