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Technique: sandstone sculpture, metalwork
Dimensions: approx. 5 m (total)
Object: The construction of the monument commemorating the outstanding Gdańsk researcher, Johannes Hevelius, was initiated by the Gdańsk club of the “Neptun” Society of Friends of Children. It was designed by the sculptor Michał Gąsienica-Szostak. The monument is a column supported on a rectangular base, with a cube-shaped capital on which sits the astronomer with his head raised towards the sky and a book in his lap. The figure is placed inside a stylised armillary sphere (an astronomical device used since antiquity as a celestial sphere model to determine equatorial and ecliptic coordinates), symbolising the sky surrounding an Earth-bound observer. The armillary sphere was made of copper sheet. The column’s capital features an inscription of capital cast bronze letters (?): “To Johannes Hevelius, the youth of Gdańsk, 1973”.
Place: The monument was originally located on the square on Korzenna Street opposite the Old Town Hall. Due to the square’s redevelopment, the monument was moved to a green area next to Wodopój Street, with Hotel Mercury Hevelius Gdańsk funding the location and restoration work. Following completion of the restoration, the monument was unveiled on 08 December 2004.
Information about the author: Michał Wojciech Gąsienica-Szostak (born 24 August 1936 in Zakopane) is a sculptor and educator. In 1956, he graduated from the State Secondary School of Fine Arts in Zakopane. He studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts (PWSSP) in Gdańsk (as of 1996 :Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk) and received his diploma at the Faculty of Sculpture in 1961. Between 1961 and 1969 he worked as an assistant in the Sculpture and Architectural Design Studio at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. In the 1973–1981 period, he was the director and deputy director of the Antoni Kenar State Secondary School of Fine Arts in Zakopane. Father of Karol Gąsienica-Szostak (1963), Zakopane sculptor and professor at the State Higher Vocational School in Nowy Sącz. He authored numerous sculptures in wood and sandstone, as well as monumental and outdoor sculptures around Poland.
Condition of the object: good, renovated
Owner/guardian: Gdańsk Road and Greenery Authority
Author of the entry: Kora Kowalska
The Heweliusz Monument came to be thanks to a genuine initiative of young people participating in the Neptun youth club, known for its extraordinary youth educators, such as the social activist Ryszard Kozłowski. The club’s unusual organisation, with “local groups” like Argonauts, Capsheafs, Penguins, Lynxes and others, combined with the idea of friendly relationships and interest in the surrounding reality, have resulted in numerous activities considered unconventional at the time. The following were organised: “Odds and ends under a root” (flea market), “Battles with the Trash King” (joint cleaning), guessing games, historical trips, film screenings in yards, treasure hunts and exhibitions of curiosities, as well as historical “discovery” trips, amateur plays, tournaments or drawing contests using chalk on asphalt. All these activities also encouraged young people to explore the history of Gdańsk. Such a perspective on the world and experience gave rise to the idea of erecting a monument to Jan Heweliusz from funds collected independently. Money was collected in dozens of clubs formed by supporters of the monument’s construction, and copper scrap (which was difficult to obtain at the time) collections for the monument’s structure were held. The initiative leading to the monument’s creation is typical of the spontaneous resistance to the futile and drab life under the heel of political propaganda during the People’s Republic of Poland period. Creating areas where thought could be free and initiatives centred around unconventional people, often under the formal banner of a state institution operating in the fields of tourism, or promoting art, science and sport, was an important phenomenon in those times, as it protected society from the degradation of personal independence and initiative.
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