Z dziejów krakowskich Plant – pomnik Tadeusza Rejtana

Abstract

FROM THE HISTORY OF PLANTY PARK IN KRAKOW – MONUMENT TO TADEUSZ REJTAN

One of the more significant events connected with the celebrations of the 750th anniversary of the establishment of Kraków under Magdeburg Law was the reconstruction of the monument to Tadeusz Rejtan (1746–1780) which had been demolished 60 years before. Rejtan was a member of the Polish Sejm for the Nowogródek (today Navahrudak, Belarus) constituency and participated in the Partition Sejm in 1773. He became a symbol of Poland’s tragic history, but also of the uncompromising attitude towards the policy which eventually resulted in the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The free-standing monument is 11 metres high and adorned with elaborate neo-Gothic decoration. It is an exact replica of the original 19th-cent. monument. In terms of architectural form, it is a soaring, octagonal spire topped with a tall apex under which the bronze, realistically rendered bust of Rejtan in Polish costume (kontusz) with shaven head and twirled moustache has been installed. The monument stands in its original location, on a small square at the junction of four streets (Basztowa, Garbarska, Asnyka and Podwale), opposite the neo-Renaissance palace of the Tyszkiewicz family and near the site where the Upper Baths (Łazienki Górne) used to stand. The monument, produced according to unknown designs at the Evans, Lilpop and Rau Company in Warsaw, was funded by the Rejtan family in the 1850s. Originally, it was to be erected in Rejtans’ family estate in Hruszówka which was under Russian rule at that time. Russian authorities did not permit for the monument to be erected and the family feared political persecution and confiscation of the monument, so it remained hidden in the estate for many years. Finally, in the mid-1880s, the owners presented it as a gift to the City of Kraków. The monument to Tadeusz Rejtan was finally installed in 1890. An extensive collection of letters and documents has been preserved in the Kraków archives – it is thanks to these historic sources that it was possible to meticulously reconstruct the history of the monument and the fascinating public debate it ignited concerning the critical responses to its artistic form and the choice of its localization. The monument survived until 1946, which is when, during a violent snowstorm, the corroded cast-iron structure which supported it was heavily damaged. Thus, a decision was made to dismantle the monument and to deposit fragments of it – the bust of Rejtan and the commemorative plaque – at the National Museum in Kraków. After several dozen years, the story of the monument and its donors was recounted in the local press, which inspired the municipal government of Kraków to pass the resolution instituting the reinstallation of the monument in its original location. Th e faithful reconstruction of the monument based on the surviving photographs and the parallels with the Lilpop family tomb in Warsaw was created by Czesław Dźwigaj. The monument was unveiled by the Mayor of the City of Kraków, Jacek Majchrowski on June 9, 2007 as part of the jubilee celebrations of the 750th anniversary of the city’s establishment under Magdeburg Law. The reconstruction of the monument which impresses with its extraordinary history and artistic form became an important point on the jubilee agenda, but most of all, it was in a way the crowning achievement of the works carried out in Kraków since the late 1980s with the objective to restore the original character to Planty Park. After all these years, the commemorative monument presented by the Rejtan family was re-erected among the numerous other statues and monuments which have been installed in Planty Park since the 19th cent. in celebration of eminent personages who have rendered great service to Polish history and culture