Jozef Poniatowski Monument

Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski (7 May 1763 - 19 October 1813) was a Polish and French military leader, the Minister of War for the Duchy of Warsaw, and the commander-in-chief of the Polish army. He was a Marshal of France and a nephew of the last monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Stanisław August Poniatowski.

Initially, he served in the Austrian army. From 1789, he was involved in organizing the Polish army, and during the Russo-Polish War of 1792, he commanded a corps of the Polish army operating in Ukraine. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Zieleńce, the first victorious battle of the Polish army since the time of Jan Sobieski.

After the defeat of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the war with Russia, Józef Poniatowski emigrated, then returned to his homeland and served under Tadeusz Kościuszko during the 1794 uprising. After the suppression of the uprising, he stayed in Warsaw for a while. His estates were confiscated. Refusing to take a position in the Russian army, he was ordered to leave the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and went to Vienna.

Tsar Paul I returned Poniatowski's estates and tried to attract him to Russian service. In 1798, Poniatowski visited Saint Petersburg for his uncle's funeral and stayed for several months to settle property and inheritance matters. From Petersburg, he went to Warsaw, by then occupied by Prussia.

In the autumn of 1806, when the Prussian troops were preparing to leave Warsaw, Poniatowski accepted King Frederick William III's offer to head the city's militia.

With the arrival of Murat's troops and after negotiations with him, Poniatowski entered Napoleon's service. In 1807, he participated in organizing a provisional government and became the Minister of War of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

In 1809, Józef Poniatowski defeated the invading Austrian troops in the Duchy of Warsaw.

He participated in Napoleon's Russian campaign in 1812, commanding the 5th Corps, mainly consisting of Poles.

In 1813, he distinguished himself in the Battle of Leipzig and was awarded the title of Marshal of France. However, three days later, covering the retreat of the French army from Leipzig, he was wounded and drowned in the White Elster River. His remains, originally buried in the Saint John's cemetery in Leipzig, were transferred to Warsaw in 1814, and in 1819, to Wawel.

On the island of Saint Helena, Napoleon said, "The true King of Poland was Poniatowski; he had all the titles and talents for it... He was a noble and brave man, a man of honor. Had I succeeded in the Russian campaign, I would have made him the King of the Poles".

In addition to a monument in the center of Warsaw, a memorial stone commemorates Józef Poniatowski at the site of his death in Leipzig. Among the sculptural images adorning the Louvre's façade is a statue of Poniatowski. Streets, bridges, parks in Łódź, Białystok, and more are named in his honor.

The fundraising for the monument began in early 1814, a few months after the death of the prince in the Battle of Leipzig. The monument was commissioned in 1818 from the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, who resided in Rome. The final agreement was signed in July 1820 during Thorvaldsen's visit to Warsaw.

Due to many other commissions, Thorvaldsen did not start working on the agreement until 1826 when he created a model of the sculpture of Poniatowski on horseback in Rome. Due to technical and logistical reasons it was presented to the public in June 1829. The model was exhibited in a special shed built next to the dressing rooms of the National Theater on Krasiński Square.

The project was not well-received by part of the public. It was criticized for, among other things, the lack of resemblance to Poniatowski, stiffness, and static nature. However, the greatest criticism was directed at the prince's costume. People expected to see a valiant soldier in Polish national attire, but Thorvaldsen used the classical pattern of the equestrian monument of Marcus Aurelius in Rome and presented him as a half-naked Roman leader.

However, Thorvaldsen's presented project was eventually realized. Based on the model, the casting of the monument began in August 1830 at the workshop of Claudius and Emil Gregoire on Długa Street in Warsaw. The work was completed in August 1832. By the decision of the Russian authorities, it was not allowed to erect the monument in Warsaw. In October 1834, Tsar Nicholas I ordered the transportation of the sculpture to Modlin Fortress. In 1840, Tsar Nicholas I, during his visit to Modlin Fortress, gifted the monument to Field Marshal Ivan Paskevich, the suppressor of the uprising. The monument was temporarily taken to Dęblin and then, in 1842, to the Paskevich Palace in Homel.

Attempts to recover Thorvaldsen's work from Homel in 1861, 1905, and 1917 were unsuccessful.

The Poniatowski monument returned to Poland in March 1922 as part of the repatriation of historical artifacts and works of art under the Treaty of Riga. The 4.5-meter sculpture was moved to Saski Square in 1923. It was placed in front of the Saxon Palace and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The pedestal was made from plates taken from the dismantled Paskevich monument.

In January 1941, the Germans ordered the acting mayor of Warsaw, Julian Kulski, to relocate the monument to another location in Warsaw. However, this order was not carried out until the end of the occupation period.

The monument was blown up by the Germans after the Warsaw Uprising on December 16, 1944.

In 1952, the monument experienced its second birth. It was recast from a model that had been preserved in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen and was gifted by the Danish government to the people of Poland. Initially, it was installed in the Łazienki Park. Then, in 1965, it took its current place in the Krakowskie Przedmieście, next to the Radziwiłł Palace, a location that had been designated for it already in 1817.

Remnants of the original sculpture are exhibited in the Park of Freedom near the Warsaw Uprising Museum.