Monument to the blessed priest Marian Górecki

Technique: figure – cast bronze, plinth – red granite, forged inscription

Dimensions:  79 cm × 125.5 cm × 81 cm (plinth), max. 245 cm × 150 cm × 80 cm (figure), 324 cm (height of the entire statue)

Object: Monument commemorating the blessed priest Marian Górecki. The statue depicts the standing figure of Górecki wearing a biretta, cassock, cope and stole. On the underside of the cope is a relief image of a guardhouse and concentration camp fences, the sign of Polish prisoners (a triangle with the letter P), shipyard cranes and a church tower. On the stole is a relief decoration depicting a lily, Marian initials and an image of Our Lady of Częstochowa. On the back of the statue is a concave inscription reading “W. Samp” and a representation of the Pomian coat of arms with a ribbon at the bottom with the inscription “Rev. R. Preuss”. The figure is placed on a plinth with a forged concave inscription reading “Blessed Marian Górecki, priest – martyr, 1903–1940”.

The blessed Marian Górecki (b. 21 May 1903, d. 22 March 1940) was the chaplain of the Polish community in the Free City of Gdańsk, the rector of the Polish Chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Nowy Port and a charismatic teacher of youth, as well as the prefect of the Polish Grammar School in Gdańsk. Arrested on 1 September 1939, he was murdered in the Stutthof concentration camp on Good Friday, 22 March 1940. He was beatified by John Paul II on 13 June 1999, in a group of 108 blessed martyrs of World War II.

Place: The junction of Marynarki Polskiej, Wolności and Ks. Mariana Góreckiego streets. Wolności Square is a square connecting Marynarki Polskiej Avenue with the Nowy Port street grid.  Its interior has precisely formed walls; it is a kind of square that surrounds the transport hub located in its centre. The monument to Rev. Marian Górecki is located on the south-eastern side of the square, at the point where the square is joined by a street also dedicated to the martyr – stretching between the cemetery of Saint Jadwiga of Silesia at its southern end and the church of the same name at its northern end.

Information about the author: Wawrzyniec Samp (b. 25 June 1939) is a sculptor. He studied at the Faculty of Sculpture at the State School of Visual Arts (PWSSP) in Gdańsk, graduating in 1964 from Prof. Stanisław Horno-Popławski’s studio. Samp also majored in architectural and sculptural design and ceramics. His portfolio includes sculpture, medal-making, artistic blacksmithing, heraldry and design of sacral spaces. He is the author of many monuments, e.g. To Those Who for the Polish Identity of Gdańsk…, statue of John Paul II at Saint Bridget’s Church in Gdańsk, statue of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in the Gniezno cathedral, and the coat of arms of the Pomeranian voivodship.

Condition of the object: good

Owner/guardian: Gdańsk Road and Greenery Authority

Author of the entry: inventory made by the Gdańsk University of Technology team, description of the place: Jacek Dominiczak, additional information: Małgorzata Paszylka-Glaza