President Lech Kaczynski Monument

Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was a Polish politician who held several important positions in his career. He served as the mayor of Warsaw from 2002 to 2005 and as the President of Poland from 2005 until his untimely death in 2010. Prior to his presidency, he worked as the President of the Supreme Audit Office from 1992 to 1995 and later as the Minister of Justice and Public Prosecutor General in Jerzy Buzek's cabinet from 2000 until his dismissal in July 2001.

Lech Kaczyński was born in Warsaw on June 18, 1949, into the family of an engineer, a veteran of World War II and the Home Army, Raimund Kaczyński, and a philologist, Jadwiga Kaczyńska. In 1962, Lech and his twin brother Jarosław played the main roles in a popular Polish children's fairy tale movie "Those Who Stole the Moon". He obtained a law and administration degree from Warsaw University and earned his Ph.D. from Gdańsk University in 1980. Additionally, he completed his habilitation in labor and employment law in 1990. Kaczyński went on to hold professorial positions at Gdańsk University and Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw.

He began his political career in the Workers' Defense Committee in 1977, which was seen as an underground activity of the anti-communist opposition. In 1980, he was appointed as the legal advisor to the strike committee in Gdańsk. After the introduction of martial law in the country, he was imprisoned for eleven months. After his release, he led one of the commissions of the 'Solidarity' trade union. Later, he became a member of both the Sejm and the Senate.

He headed the Bureau of National Security in the office of the President of Poland, and then the Supreme Audit Office (Polish: Najwyższa Izba Kontroli, NIK). He also served as the Minister of Justice.

Together with his brother Jarosław, in 2001 he created the 'Law and Justice' political party. A year later, he won the Warsaw mayoral election. As the Mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kaczyński twice banned the holding of gay parades.

Kaczyński ran as the party's presidential candidate in the 2005 Polish presidential election. He won 33.1% of the valid votes in the first round and secured a victory in the second round with 54.04% of the vote, defeating his opponent Donald Tusk. Kaczyński took office as president on 23 December 2005.

On 10 July 2006, Kaczyński appointed his brother as the Prime Minister of Poland after the resignation of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz. This made them the first pair of brothers in the world to simultaneously hold the positions of president and prime minister of a country. However, their tenure ended in 2007 when his brother's party lost the parliamentary election to the conservative-liberal party Civic Platform. Donald Tusk succeeded his brother as the prime minister.

Tragically, on April 10, 2010, a plane carrying Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and Polish delegation crashed near Smolensk Air Base in Russia. There were no survivors among the 96 people on board, including top military and civilian leaders of Poland.

In April 2017, a model of the monument chosen by the jury under the leadership of Tomasz Żukowski was presented in the building of the Służewiec Horse Racing Track.

In October 2017, the Minister of Infrastructure and Construction, Andrzej Adamczyk, issued a decision to remove the Józef Piłsudski Square and the two plots adjacent to it, in front of the Europejski Hotel and the Headquarters of the Warsaw Garrison, from the city's supervision and transfer them to the disposal of the Mazovian Voivode, Zdzisław Sipiera. In January 2018, Jacek Sasin, the head of the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers, announced plans for the construction of the Lech Kaczyński monument on the Józef Piłsudski Square.

The monument consists of a 3.5-meter figure of President Lech Kaczyński placed on a 3.5-meter pedestal. The authors of the monument project are Stanisław Szwechowicz and Jan Raniszewski, who initially designed the monument for its location on Gen. Michał Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz Street but were forced to modify the project. The monument is also planned to be connected by a red granite pavement to the Monument to the Victims of the Smolensk Tragedy of 2010 on the Józef Piłsudski Square. Marek Suski, a member of the Law and Justice Party, interpreted the red pavement, stating that it would be a suggestion that as the president walks on this red carpet, he ascends the stairs, which can be interpreted as the stairs to the plane on one side and as the stairs to heaven on the other. It symbolizes the aspiration towards the stars, towards heaven, somewhere in the afterlife.

In March 2018, the Mazovian Voivode, Zdzisław Sipiera, gave permission for the construction of the monument, and on April 10, 2018, the 8th anniversary of the Polish Tu-154M plane crash in Smolensk, a ceremonial laying of the cornerstone for the monument. The monument was erected in its designated location on November 7, 2018. The inscription on the monument reads: "LECH KACZYŃSKI PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND, PRESIDENT OF WARSAW".

The official unveiling of the monument took place on the evening of November 10, 2018, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of Independence Regained. The ceremony was performed by President Andrzej Duda, Jarosław Kaczyński - brother and Marta Kaczyńska, his daughter. The monument was consecrated by Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz. Commemorative speeches were given by Jarosław Kaczyński, the brother of the late President Lech Kaczyński, and President Andrzej Duda.