Monument to Polish politician and musician received mixed assessments

The works on installing the monument to Polish politician and musician Ignacy Jan Paderewski are underway in Zhytomyr, in front of the Church of St John from Dukla.

This initiative was promoted back in 2013 byConsulate General of Poland in Vinnytsia. Last week the works began at last.

According to CREDO, most of Zhytomyr residents came up against the monument. Although the monument will not be installed in the site of the church, but in front of the sanctuary, it will be still associated with the Catholic Church, the parishioners believe.

The monument has not been agreed with the parish.

Spokesman for the Province of St. Michael the Archangel brother Patrick Olih OFM believes that it is not necessary to install a monument to Ignacy Jan Paderewski in front of the Catholic Church. “The Polish community wants to install in front of the church a monument to a person who is perceived ambiguously by Ukrainian society and is beyond the spiritual bounds of the Catholic Church,”brother Patrick commentson the situation for CREDO. The priest is convinced that the monument should be removed to another location. In Kyiv, there was a similar situation with the monument to Dante Alighieri, which was proposed to install bythe Italian Embassy. It was planned to place the monument near the Cathedral of St. Alexander, but eventually it was decided to move it to the park.

The monument to Polish musician Ignacy Paderewski in Zhytomyr will be 5.5 meters high, 2.5 meters of which accounts for the sculptures and 3 meters – for the pedestal. Seven steps will lead to a heptahedral pedestal with a diameter of 1.1 meters.

"Ignacy Paderewski is no church leader but a public one,” Zhytomyr activists believe.

The decision to set in a regional center a nearly six-meter monument of Ignacy Jan Paderewski was adoptedby Zhytomyr city council’s committee.

“Having considered the request of the Consulate General of Poland in Vinnytsia to sanction the monument of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a Polish prominent public figure and musician, on the corner of Kyivska and Teatralna streets, given the findings of the city commission on place names, according to Articles 10, 21 of the Law of Ukraine “On the improvement of human settlements”, p. 31 of the Law of Ukraine “On Local Government in Ukraine”, the Executive Committee of the City Council decided to give endorsement to the Consulate General of Poland in the city of Vinnytsia toperform land improvement at the intersection of Kyivska and Teatralna streets by installing the monument of Ignacy Jan Paderewski,” goes the decision of Zhytomyr City Executive Committee as of 15 October 2013.

In Zhytomyr, a memorial plaque to Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a Polish composer, pianist and public figure, was installed and opened in 2011.