Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Warszawa

A memorial in Ujazdów Park honours Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the pianist, composer, statesman, and advocate for Polish independence. Designed by Michał Kamieński, the seated figure survived wartime destruction after metalworkers hid it in pieces. Its long path through Warsaw ended here in nineteen eighty-five.

Here in Ujazdów Park is Michał Kamieński’s memorial to Ignacy Jan Paderewski. The figure shows Paderewski seated on a chair in a suit, set on a compact cubical base. Paderewski was a pianist, composer, and statesman who championed Poland’s return to independence.

This sculpture has an extraordinary wartime escape. It was made in Warsaw in nineteen thirty-nine after Polish communities abroad proposed the tribute. Occupying German officers marked it for destruction in a melting furnace, but workers at Czesław Chojnowski’s metalworks dismantled the statue and buried its pieces.

In nineteen forty-two, the hidden pieces were transferred to Bródno Cemetery. After Warsaw’s liberation, the monument was excavated, reconstructed, and displayed outside the workshop. Its route through the city continued for decades: it entered the National Museum’s courtyard, then was unveiled near the Ostrogski Palace, before reaching this park in nineteen eighty-five. Notice the composed, seated figure: it honours an artist and public leader, while its own survival embodies the determination to preserve Polish memory.