Politicians from the the conservative Law and Justice party as well as other nationalist groups want to comemmorate the 1920 Battle of Warsaw with the construction of a triumphal arch in the capital.

Johann Samuel Mock's 18th century painting depicting King August III's entry to Warsaw in 1734. Photo: cc/public domain

The Battle of Warsaw was a decisive victory for the Poles, who, after regaining independence after World War I, found themselves fighting the Soviets soon afterwards. The arch would be constructed in time for the 100th anniversary of the battle.

The arch is the brainchild of Jan Pietrzak, an artist and head of the ‘Pod Egidą’ cabaret whose ‘Patriot Association’ is leading the call for the arch’s construction.

So far, 35 people have signed up for membership in the arch committee, including the former head of the Solidarity trade union Janusz Sniadek, Law and Justice MEP Zdzislaw Krasnodebski, as well as journalists connected to the right-wing milieu, Rafal Ziemkiewicz and Tomasz Sakiewicz.

“Let it be a symbol of a nation reborn,” states the triumphal arch committee, which wants the structure to be placed in the heart of Warsaw and for it “to be larger than Stalin’s gift of the Palace of Culture and Science”.

According to the project’s creators, the arch should be sponsored by the government and paid for by the taxpayer. According to one member of the arch committee, Professor Piotr Glinski, the only thing which is now needed is the political will to build it.

However, the arch does not appeal to everyone. Michal Borowski, a former chief architect of the Warsaw municipal council under then-mayor Lech Kaczynski, has said that “instead of triumphal arches we should be taking care of humanitarian aid for the needy”. (jb)

Source: Gazeta Wyborcza