✦
3D Model In Progress
✦ 3D Model In Progress
Polonia’s gift to the Polish Armed Forces for defending our homeland
Fundraiser for the Building of the Great Statue of Victory in the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920
Kindly asking all Poles around the world to support the project of building a great, awe-inspiring monument.
The Monument that Szukalski envisioned was not meant to appeal as placid, comforting cenotaph of battles whose gore is long gone and now we can expect to see a very pleasing aesthetic presentation. Our sovereignty was not won in polite company. The Polish Centaur expresses the Renaissance spirit of “terribilitas,” which joins gravity with horror, necessary for Victory.
Vision by Stanisław Szukalski POLITWARUS, Chicago 1921
(digital edition created by Wojtek Wojdyński)
“The overall strength of the Red Army at the start of 1920 was five and a half million, which compared favorably with the Polish peak of just under a million.”
— Adam Zamoyski
Source: Warsaw 1920, Lenin’s Failed Conquest of Europe (London 2008)
We have an unpaid debt toward those who defended Poland.
The project will bow over the souls of our victorious ancestors but also will tell clearly and forcefully to young generations that our history had tragedies but also triumphs from which they can draw strength.
Eternal “Polishness”, perfectly incarnated by Szukalski’s Polish Centaur.
Szukalski’s project of homage to the victory in 1920 is not pointing to a specific historical moment of the victorious end of war but rather showing an astounding, surprising bold vision of a Polish Warrior in mid-jump into the future.
Read about the history of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 and how Poles defended Poland.
The chronology of the total war of Poland against Russian aggression is well described in popular publications. The war was aimed against Poland, an old Republic just reemerging into existence after 123 years of partitions and non-existence as a state.
Heartfelt poem by Bronisława Ostrowska reminds us of those who defended our homeland.
“Siejba Grobów”
(1921)
Wśród wszystkich świata tułaczych dróg,
Jakoby gwiazdy bezliczne,
Polskie mogiły rozsiał Bóg –
Ofiarne stołbce graniczne.
Wielka grobami pisana pieśń
Śpi w pustkach morza i lądu,
Aż z niej posępną wieków pleśń
Odmiecie wicher sądu.
A wtedy Pan odczyta sam
Tę wielką pieśń tęsknoty,
I każda głoska z mogilnych bram
Wzleci jak anioł złoty.
Wyskrzydli się przelana krew
Ofiarnym duchem żywa –
– Bo nie ma śmierci – jest tylko siew
Na święte jutra żniwa.
Lecz teraz śpi, lecz teraz śpi
Pod palm i sosen cieniem,
Pod niepamięcią długich dni,
Pod wielkim grobów milczeniem.
Więc gdy w zaduszny krwawy świt
Z drzew cieką liście jesienne,
A siejba późnych ozimych żyt
W ugory wsiewa się senne –
Pomnijmy, że to pomników zew
Pociechą wielką nas wzywa:
– Bo nie ma śmierci – jest tylko siew
Na święte przyszłości żniwa.
Listen to the poem recited by Ryszard Jabłoński:
“This monument will be built in Warsaw on a monumental scale to project the highest artistic achievement and its historical meaning. It will create a public space for national gatherings, ceremonial occasions, military oath giving and rituals. This image will live among our essential symbols, unmistakably understood by every Pole.”
— Henryk Fantazos