Monument to Jan Kiepura in Sosnowiec

The Monument to Jan Kiepura stands on Stulecia Square in Sosnowiec. It was unveiled on 15 May 2002, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the singer’s birth.

The sculpture

It is a bronze cast almost three metres high (290 cm) on a granite plinth 1.4 m high. It weighs over 900 kg and consists of nine welded parts, cast in separate moulds. It shows the artist in his best-known pose: in a billowing coat and hat, singing with a raised hand. The design is by the Warsaw artists Tadeusz Markiewicz and Karwowski; their work was chosen in a competition that drew 38 entries, with Bogusław Kaczyński chairing the jury.

The road to the unveiling

The Social Committee for the Construction of the Monument was set up in December 1993. Because of the economic situation work was suspended for several years; it resumed when the Sejm declared 2002 the Year of Jan Kiepura. The casting was made by the Gliwice Technical Equipment Works. In 2004 a copy of this monument was unveiled in Krynica-Zdrój.

Practical information

• Place: Stulecia Square, centre of Sosnowiec.
• Nearby: the cathedral basilica and Dietl Park.