Krakow gets Matejko monument

Mateko monument, Krakow: photo - PAP/Jacek Bednarczyk.

The statue is cast in bronze and presents the artist seating in an armchair placed in the picture frame and is located close to the Barbican next to the Fine Arts Academy, which is named after Matejko.

This year marks the 175th anniversary of Matejko’s birth and the 120th anniversary of his death.

Plans to erect the monument to Matejko, who was one Krakow’s most illustrious citizens, were first made soon after the artist’s death but failed to be realized due to financial problems.

Krakow mayor Jacek Majchrowski, said during the unveiling ceremony: After 120 years we are making up for lost time and honour a man who spread the fame of Krakow in the world".

He added that Matejko contributed not only to the development of Polish art but also to the education of successive generations of Poles.

"During the period of the partitions his canvasses showed that Poland was once a great and powerful nation and that it could regain independence, becoming again great and powerful, " he said.

Jan Matejko is known primarily for his monumental canvasses depicting various events in Polish history. The best known among them is ‘The Battle of Grunwald’, which is on permanent display at Warsaw’s National Museum.

The largest of Matejko's paintings, measuring almost ten by four meters, it is regarded as a masterpiece of battle scene painting.

Matejko’s output also includes a gallery of Polish kings. In 1865, his painting ‘Father Skarga’s Sermon’ was awarded a gold medal at the annual Paris salon.

Two years later, the work ‘Rejtan’ received a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. Most of his paintings are in the collection of the National Museum in Kraków. (mk/pg)