Pomnik Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego i Legionistów, Kraków

This Kraków memorial honours Marshal Józef Piłsudski and the Legionaries. Designed by Czesław Dźwigaj and unveiled in November two thousand eight, it combines Piłsudski’s six-metre statue, an eagle shedding chains, the Legionary Four, and a ceremonial flagpole recalling the Second Polish Republic.

At the junction of Piłsudskiego, Wenecja and Garncarska streets, this is the memorial to Marshal Józef Piłsudski and the Legionaries, created by Czesław Dźwigaj. The figure rises from a tall marble pedestal, where Piłsudski’s name and his years, eighteen sixty-seven to nineteen thirty-five, are carved. He appears in military uniform, coat and cap, leaning on a sabre; at the base, an eagle breaks free of chains.

The whole composition reaches about six metres. Beside the statue, the sculptural group known as the Legionary Four sets out on its march from Kraków’s Oleandry. Behind Piłsudski, an eight-and-a-half-metre flagpole carries a wreath of laurel and roses, crowned by a replica of the head of a marshal’s baton from the Second Polish Republic.

This memorial had a long road to completion. Kraków first considered a Piłsudski monument in nineteen twenty-two, then revived the idea in nineteen eighty-nine, but neither attempt succeeded. The city approved a new project in April two thousand eight, changed its intended site that September, and unveiled this one on the tenth of November two thousand eight, the day before the ninetieth anniversary of Polish independence.