Monument to Maria Konopnicka

Technique: bronze cast

Dimensions: 220 cm (height of the figure), 295 cm (total height)

Object: The monument commemorates the Polish writer Maria Konopnicka. The sculpture depicts a standing figure of a woman holding a book in her right hand, wearing a modest outfit typical of the early 20^th century. The sculpture is cast in bronze and stands on a cubic plinth made of light grey granite, with a plaque in the front part, reading “Maria Konopnicka 1842–1910” (installed in 2017 in place of brass letters that were often vandalised). The monument was funded from social contributions raised by “Artes” Artistic Workers’ Cooperative in Oliwa and other cooperatives associated in the Central Office of the Folk and Art Industry (Cepelia). The idea to commemorate Konopnicka appeared in 1975, during a convention of general secondary schools named after the writer. The monument’s unveiling  in 1977 was attended by the Mayor of Gdańsk, Jerzy Młynarczyk, representatives of party authorities and the Cepelia co-operative, the Maria Konopnicka Society, as well as students from the Pruszcz Gdański school named after the poet.

Maria Konopnicka was a Polish writer of the Positivist period, active in the field of literature (poetry, short stories, fictionalised reportage, children’s literature and translations) and journalism (e.g. raising the issue of women’s emancipation). She stayed in Gdańsk in the spring of 1906, living in a house at Targ Węglowy 11.

Place: The monument is situated on the edge of Skwer im. Polskich Harcerzy w Byłym Wolnym Mieście Gdańsku, on Wały Jagiellońskie Street, opposite Brama Wyżynna. Maria Konopnicka’s figure is facing Targ Węglowy, where she lived in 1906 (Kohlenmarkt 11).

Information about the author: Franciszek Duszeńko was born on 6 April 1925 in Gródek Jagielloński near Lviv and died on 11 April 2008 in Gdańsk. Between 1942 and 1944, he studied at the State Institute of Fine Arts in Lviv under Marian Wnuk. He was with the Home Army (code name “Gustaw”) from July 1943 to June 1944. From 3 July 1944 until 8 May 1945, he was a prisoner of the Gross-Rosen, Oranienburg and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. After the war, from 1947, he continued his studies at the State School of Artistic Industry in Łódź, then at the Gdańsk State School of Fine Arts, where he obtained his degree in 1952. He worked at his Gdańsk alma mater as junior lecturer (from 1950) and docent (from 1956). Between 1956 and 2000, he ran the Sculpture Studio, from 1973 as associate professor. In 1981–1987, he served as the first vice-chancellor of the Academy of Fine Arts elected in a free election. Since 1990, he was a full professor. He made his début in the Socialist Realism period and belonged to the team of artists working on the renovation of the Royal Route. His monumental statues usually combine abstract stone blocks with figurative sculpture: Monument to the Victims of the Treblinka Extermination Camp (1964, with Adam Haupt and Franciszek Strynkiewicz), Monument to the Defenders of Westerplatte in Gdańsk (1966, with Adam Haupt and Henryk Kitowski), Monument to the Polish Artillery Gunner in Toruń (1980). He is also the author of the immense figure of Christ in the church of St. Joseph in Gdynia-Leszczynki and the Redemptor sculpture in the Redemptorist church in Zamość. His Gdańsk studios were located at 101/103 Św. Ducha Street and 11/12 Chlebnicka Street.

Condition of the object: good

Owner/guardian: Gdańsk Road and Greenery Authority

Author of the entry: Kora Kowalska