Hero of the Skies

Anyone who goes from the airport to the centre of Warsaw passes en route the Monument to the Aviator that is located on the wide traffic circle from which the busy arteries of the city branch out like stars. The aviator, in a flying suit, faces the direction of the airport. He is leaning on the wings of a plane. He looks like a knight of old in armour or a winged angel or a figure from an altar. He is a symbol of incipient aviation and modernity, a symbol of the genius of man and progress.

  During the Second World War, the Monument to the Aviator was destroyed by the Germans. It was rebuilt only in the year 1967 and placed in the present site. Until the war broke out, the monument, unveiled in 1932, stood in Unii Lubelskiej Square that joins the Centre City with the district of Mokotów.

  The author of the Warsaw Monument to the Aviator was Edward Wittig (1879-1941) an artist well known in Poland for many works, the monuments of which are the best known. If the capital of Poland was enriched in mid century by a few monuments and sculptures, they were exactly the ones by Edward Wittig. The Monument to the Aviator, in a form visibly geometrical, rhythmic and severe, is considered to be one of the best works by this artist.

  In Ujazdowskie Park there is another work by this artist, entitled "Eve", that is the statue of a sleeping girl which Wittig presented in an Ancient Grecian style. There is no Adam next to her, or apple or serpent. The entire history of original sin disappears; there remains only She - an archetype of femininity; she is sensual and soft.

  In addition, in front of the edifice of the ZachŤta Gallery in Ma¸achowski Square, for a few years there has been the beautiful sculpture of a naked warrior, returned to its former splendour after the destruction of the war and communist suppression.

  This is the Monument to the Soldiers of Polish Military Organisations Who Died on the Battlefield, fighting for the freedom of Poland during the period of the First World War. The Germans considered this monument also as the "enemy" and destroyed it. The communists in turn did not want to underline the legend of the former Poland and did not want to keep it alive. Thus they did not agree to the reconstruction of this monument. But, after the fall of communism, the naked warrior again returned to his place (almost, as he is in the near neighbourhood). Formerly this sculpture aroused strong emotions. Those against the work by Wittig were offended by the nakedness of the hero and thought that the monument was obscene. Today only old women (some of them!) turn away from it.

  Soon Warsaw will have another monument by Edward Wittig. In front of the building of the Warsaw City Hall in Bankowy Square, a monumental sculpture of Juliusz Słowacki (1809- 1849) will stand. He was a great Polish poet whose works have become a fundamental part of our culture and tradition. It will be a tall statue with a naked torso, covered by the long cloak worn by a Romantic in the middle of the 19th century.

  Returning to the present monument of the month, that the Monument to the Aviator, I must add that its unveiling in 1932 was not accidental. It was dedicated to a great event and to two aviators who made Polish aviation famous all over the world. They were Stanisław Wigura and Franciszek Żwirko, who, exactly in 1932, achieved a great victory in the world aviation competition Challenge in the Polish planes RWD-6.(S)