| Over the course of my overseas travels from 2006 to 2019, I have visited and photographed about 300 of about 370 Thaddeus Kosciuszko memorials worldwide. Thanks to Professor Mieczeslaw Rokosz, President of the Kosciuszko Mound in Krakow, Poland, I was encouraged to write a book about the stories behind the memorials which, hopefully, will be published by the Kopiec in the near future. One of the most remarkable features I discovered while researching the stories is that honouring Kosciuszko to this day has proven to be eternally contemporary!
Thaddeus Kosciuszko died on the 15th October, 1817 at Solothurn, Switzerland. In the immediate period after his passing, over the next 72 years, beginning with the Memorial gravestone at Zuchwil, Switzerland, there were 18 monuments built to honour this ‘hero of liberty on two continents", during a time when Poland didn’t exist on the maps of the world following its third partition in 1795.
The character of the man and the timelessness of what Kosciuszko stood and fought for began to be understood by following generations as indicated in the time period table below listing the Kosciuszko memorials built worldwide. It includes only those Memorials where the unveiling date is known:
Even over the more narrow and recent time period between 1997 to 2019, there were 43 memorials unveiled to this great friend of humanity, and for 20 of these 23 years at least one was unveiled somewhere in the world. On 6th January, 1818, during the first session of the fifteenth American Congress at the US Capitol, the building where to this day the people who were elected to the US Senate and the House of Representatives meet to discuss, debate and deliberate, future American President William H Harrison spoke these prescient words, in his fifteen minute eulogy to Kosciuszko:
‘His fame will last as long as liberty remains upon the earth’.
Remarkable indeed, and unmatched by any other great mortal person through the ages!
Kosciuszko Monument at the Military Academy in Wrocław |
Kosciuszko Statue under the Kosciuszko Bridge,NY |
Ever since my manuscript was completed at the end of 2019, I have watched with great curiousty to see if Kosciuszko continues to be ‘eternally contemporary’. Well, two hundred and seventy six years after his birth, in the last five years, there have been 12 new Kosciuszko memorials unveiled in different parts of the world! Most recently, Kosciuszko memorials were unveiled in 2020 at the Military Academy at West Point, NY, USA and at the Military Academy in Wroclaw, Poland. A further two were unveiled in 2021, comprising Kosciuszko busts on pedestals at Primary School No 2, Otwock, Poland and at the newly formed Kosciuszko Park beneath the new Kosciuszko Bridge at Greenpoint, NY, USA.
The most recently built Kosciuszko Memorial was unveiled on 25th March 2022, at the Polish Embassy in Canberra, Australia. Tracy H Sugg’s sculpture depicts a scene from the American War of Independence that shows Agrippa Hull, Kosciuszko’s long time African-American Aide de Camp, handing Kosciuszko an important message from General George Washington at the Kosciuszko Garden at West Point. It is identical to the statue unveiled at West Point Military academy in 2020 by Betsey Blakeslee who, over 6 years of inspired work, restored the Garden, the longest continuously existing garden in the US, to pristine condition. The story of this statue can be viewed here:
Presenting the sculpture of Kosciuszko & Agrippa
And a PDF about it was given to visitors at the unveiling ceremony in Canberra:
Ulotka- PDF - available here
West Point Military Academy - unveiling of the Kosciuszko & Agrippa sculpture |
Tracy H. Sugg's sculpture of Kosciuszko and Agrippa |
Kosciuszko Hall featuring Sugg's sculpture, in Polish Embassy, Canberra |
West Point is also featured in the new Kosciuszko monument opened in March 2020 at Akademia Wojsk Lądowych at Wroclaw. It replaced the previous version built in 1958. The wall holding a medalion with Kosciuszko’s image above a plaque had deteriorated and was beginning to crumble. The new Piotr Kudelski designed monument consists of a pedestal on which a bronze statue of Tadeusz Kościuszko is placed centrally in front of two 6.6 metre pylons. It is similar in appearance to the statue of Kosciuszko atop of a column and pedestal located at West Point. The pylon to the right of the statue portrays an image of the Kosciuszko statue at West Point showing a portion of the column it rests on. He is seen to be in deep thought peering across the Hudson River, towards the fort he built at Constitution Island where, at an S bend of the river, a great chain impeding British sailing ships was anchored. The pylon to the left depicts a Wojciech Kossak painting of Panorama Racławicka.
USA Capitol |
A fascinating 18 minute video about the design and assembly of the new Kosciuszko monument at Wroclaw Military Academy can be viewed at the link below. Although the commentary is only in Polish, the spectacular camera work and compelling sound track is well worth the time spent watching for non Polish speakers:
www.facebook.com/watch/?v=961252368084705
Digressing for a moment, it may be of interest to know that the pedestal and column of the Kosciuszko monument unveiled in 1828 at West Point was designed by cadet, John Latrobe. His father, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an architect, was the designer of the US Capitol, the place where in 1818 Benjamin H Harrison extolled the virtues of Kosciuszko in his eulogy to the ‘friend of humanity’ and the ‘hero of liberty on two continents’. The bronze statue of Kosciuszko, designed by D Borgia, was added to the column in 1913.
The 2008 decision made by New York authorities to build a modern multi lane bridge to replace the old heavily congested and deteriorating Kosciuszko Bridge erected in 1939 to connect Brooklyn to the Queens district of New York, was the impetus behind the 2020 opening of a new Kosciuszko Park located at Greenpoint, beneath the new Kosciuszko Bridge. It was also the impetus that led to the 2021 installation there of a bust of Kosciuszko designed by Marian Szajder, atop a pedestal with an inscribed plaque. The idea for this new Kosciuszko Memorial was sparked in the mind of Dariusz Knapik. It came to him when he was refurbishing the old Kosciuszko Bridge name plaque and the inscribed plaque with information about the 1939 unveiling of the original bridge. Only the name plaque was installed on the new bridge, the other was donated to the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York.
The famous Kosciuszko Monument at West Point |
When Knapik shared his idea with Foundation President, Marek Skulimowski, and also with Artur Dybanowski, President of the Pulaski Business Association, both were in support, as was the large Polish community of Brooklyn, NY. Action was taken and the new Kosciuszko Memorial was unveiled on Saturday, 6th November, at the new Kosciuszko Park. The inscription on the plaque, authored by Marek Skulimowski, states:
Tadeusz Kosciuszko 1746-1817
Tadeusz Kosciuszko was a Polish military strategist whose plan won the Battle of Saratoga – the turning point of the American Revolution. He also built Fortress West Point, which Benedict Arnold tried to sell to the British. Kosciuszko gave his salary as a general in the Continental Army to Thomas Jefferson and instructed him to use it buy American slaves – and free them. Kosciuszko also fought for the rights of European serfs, Jews, Native Americans and women. Jefferson called him, “as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known and of that liberty which is to go to all, and not to the few and rich alone.”
The unveiling of the new Kosciuszko Memorial at Greenpoint can be viewed here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYAgjneJOOQ
The spectacular 1st October, 2017, implosion of the old Kosciuszko Bridge after the completion of stage one of the new bridge can be viewed here:
Spectacular implosion, video
Otwock, Pre-War Monument |
Kosciuszko Monument at the Otwock School |
The Kosciuszko pedestal and bust unveiled on 15th October, 2021, at Public School 2 in Otwock reinstates the Memorial that previously stood there since 15th October, 1967. Around 1990, thieves stole the bronze Kosciuszko bust to sell it for scrap. They were caught and the recovered bust was stored in the school’s warehouse. Only a remnant of the original pedestal remained. It was rebuilt and now once again the Kosciuszko Memorial stands complete at the school.
The 1967 Monument at the school was actually the second honouring Kosciuszko in Otwock. The first had been unveiled on 15th October, 1917 on the centenary of Kosciuszko’s passing. It was located within the town, on Kosciuszko street near Lesna street. In April 1941 that Memorial was blown up by the National Socialist Germans. Perhaps, some time in the near future, it, and the Kosciuszko Memorial unveiled at Modlin Twierdza in 1928, which was also destroyed by the National Socialist Germans during WW2, may both be reinstated.
Kosciuszko Memorial in Modlin - in the past |
Kosciuszko Memorial in Modlin - presently |
These are two of the few that were not rebuilt from about 90 Kosciuszko Memorials that were destroyed by the enemies of Liberty such as the German National Socialists and the Soviet Socialists. These and other arrogant, ignorant, meglomaniacal scoundrels tried time and time again to eradicate Thaddeus Kosciuszko, the great champion of Liberty, from living memory. They failed. May future generations build many more!
Yes indeed, honouring Kosciuszko to this day has proven to be eternally contemporary!
FELIX MOLSKI
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