Skwer Księdza Jana Twardowskiego, Warsaw

Here, the Twardowski Square bench holds a life-sized bronze figure of Father Jan Twardowski, the Catholic priest and poet it honours. Notice the book in his hands, the crossed legs, spectacles, and cane: the sculpture presents him in old age, absorbed in reading. Wojciech Gryniewicz created this memorial, unveiled on the tenth of October twenty thirteen near the Visitationist Church on Kraków Przedmieście.

The work took seven months and weighs three hundred eighty kilograms. Its makers built listening into the bench: press its button and you hear Twardowski himself reciting poems. A line from his poem is inscribed here: it speaks of departing forever yet remaining close. That makes this a quiet meeting of a writer’s voice, a familiar seated presence, and the city street.