Bust of Piotr Wysocki

The bust of Piotr Wysocki,^[a] also known as the Piotr Wysocki Monument,^[b] is a monument in Warsaw, Poland, located in the Royal Baths Park, within the Downtown district. The bust depicts Piotr Wysocki, a 19th-century military officer, a colonel in the Army of Congress Poland, and one of the organisers and commanders of the November Uprising of 1830.

Bust of Piotr Wysocki

The monument in 2017.
Location	Royal Baths Park, Downtown, Warsaw, Poland
Coordinates	52°12′55.487″N 21°02′15.014″E
Designer	Aleksander Żurakowski
Type	Bust
Material	Bronze (sculpture) Granite (pedestal)
Completion date	1926
Opening date	1930 (original location) 29 November 1980 (current location)
Dedicated to	Piotr Wysocki

It was made in 1926 by Aleksander Żurakowski, and unveiled in 1930 in the town of Ostrów Mazowiecka. It remained there until the outbreak of the Second World War, when it disappeared. The sculpture was rediscovered in 1978, and placed in the Na Książęcem Park. It was relocated to its current location in 1980.

History

The bust was sculpted in 1926 by Aleksander Żurakowski to commemorate Piotr Wysocki, a 19th-century military officer, a colonel in the Army of Congress Poland, and one of the organisers and commanders of the November Uprising of 1830.^[1][2] It was unvailed in 1930, and placed outside the barracks of the Infantry Officer Candidate School in Ostrów Mazowiecka.^[3]

The sculpture disappeared during the Second World War. It was searched after by the military and its author Aleksander Żurakowski, then a head conservator-restorer of Warsaw. The sculpture was found in 1978, bricked up in one of grottoes in the Na Książęcem Park in Warsaw, near the back of the National Museum in Warsaw. It was discovered by Marek Kwiatkowski, the curator of the Royal Baths Park, whom explored the grotto together with a television crew. The sculpture was given to the museum, and placed in the southern portion of the Na Książęcem Park.^[1][4] It was moved again, and on 29 November 1980, the 150th anniversary of the begging of the uprising, it was unveiled in the Royal Baths Park. It was placed next to the building of the Warsaw Officer Candidate School, where Wysocki used to teach in, and where he began the uprising with his students.^[1][5]

Characteristics

The monument is placed in the Royal Baths Park, near the building of the Warsaw Officer Candidate School. It consists of a bronze bust of Piotr Wysocki, wearing a military uniform of the Army of Congress Poland, with a tall rogatywka hat, featuring a large emblem of a military eagle. Its placed on a granite pedestal, that features the inscription which reads: "PIOTR WYSOCKI 1830 1930".^[1][2]

Notes

1. Polish: Popiersie Piotra Wysockiego
2. Polish: Pomnik Piotra Wysockiego