Italian Military Cemetery in Warsaw

We have a number of cemeteries in Warsaw, which make great tourist attractions. They are witness to the local history. They show the variety of religous variety of Warsaw inhabitants. They are open-air sculture galleries. They hold tombs of Polish artists, politicians and heroes. They make great parks too. Most of them are located in the Wola district, dating back to the end of 18^th century (for now you can check some of them on my Polish blog, here, here or here).



Due to our troubled history, the cemeteries are often populated with soldiers and civil victims of wars and struggles. There are some military cemetaries, including burial grounds specifically for foreign soldiers. A German or a Russian cemetary is not a surprise here. But Italian?
And yet. There’s an Italian military cemetary in Warsaw. 

 
It was founded at the initative of the Italian government to bury all the soldiers, whose war-time fate led them to these regions and who died in battles or as prisoners of war. This place which lay in the outskirts of the city back then, was turned into a cemetery. Materials like tombstones and metalwork elements of the fence were brought from Italy. A monumental gate in a form of a triumphal arch led to the premises. It was ofiicialy opened in 1926. 868 Italians found their final rest here. An old pre-war photo shows it here. 
In the twenties and thirties while the reltions between Poland and Italy were still favourable, the cemetery was a destination of official Italian visits. And so Dino Grandi (a member of Mussolini's government), or Galeazzo Ciano (Italian foreign affairs minister) were one of the „high-level” visitors of that period.

The cemetery didn’t suffer from the destruction that touched Warsaw, being located so far from the theatre of struggle. After the second World War its area was expanded in order to hold more recent burials. In 1957-67, 1415 Italian citizens who died in concentration camps or in prisoner of war camps were buried here.

 By 1970 the original gate had eroded so during renovation works it changed its shape: the triumph arch was replaced with a metalwork gate.

This is what the cemetary looks now (I took the pictures in June 2019). It’s open to public, but it doesn’t seem to be very much frequented. Even though it is now included whithin the city borders, you need to get almost to the northern edge of the city (easily accessible by tram, “Cmentarz Włoski” stop).
Most of its tombstones are uniform soldier’s graves. There are also a few individual tombstones.

 At its end of the main lane, there's a wall with the engraved writing:

"Italy for its fallen soldiers who rest in the Polish soil"

„Remember and consider our sarifice”

Beside there’s an altar with a cross with a monument saying „Pro Patria defuncti in terra fideli requiescunt" (Latin „Those who died for the Fatherland lie steadfast in this soil”) - not visble in the pictures here. There are also names of places where bodies were retrieved from.

 The cemetery continues to be taken care of by the Italian Embassy.

Monument to the Ghetto Heroes

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out on April 19^th 1943, when mass deportations to death camps had been taking place for months and the Jewish population was decimated. The rise lasted for a month and ended in either death or deportation of the remaining people and a total destruction of the ghetto area. Only a handful of Jews survived.

The main Warsaw commemoration of the event stands in the Muranów district, where majority of the ghetto was located. Some of the material used was basalt which originally was supposed to serve for a monument of the German victory... On the front, which now faces the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the fighters are depicted in heroic dramatic poses. 

There's also the other side, though. It shows a silent march towards death.

This monument was erected in 1948 and officialy unveiled on the 5^th anniversary of the uprising. 

But it wasn't the first one. When you walk around the Museum you will find a red sandstone plaque in the pavement.

 It was the first commemoration, built already in 1946. 

Warsaw mermaid

Let's visualise a mermaid. What probably comes to your mind is Disney's Ariel. No? ;-) You're not a child of pop-culture like me, then. At least some other version of Andersen's little mermaid character?  frail, sweet, dreamy...

If you're reading this blog, though, you might already know about connection between Warsaw and a mermaid. A maiden of the sea appears on the city's coat of arms. By no means a girly cute figure! Warsaw's mermaid is a belligerent type. She doesn't pine for a prince, hell, no. Instead she holds a sword and a shield. Sure, she can be pretty and curvy, but at the same time she's strong and she takes no bull**it. She's protective of the town – and she's succeseful in the feat, as the many centruries have shown.

If you walk around the city you will find a multitude of representations of the mermaid. One of the most iconic figures is located in the Old Town. Dating back to 1850s, her shape bears some premonitions of the secession movement to my eye, when you look at her tail and waves around her.

Another emblematic figure is to be found by the river, of course! Where else, this is where she came from ;-) 

This statue was erected in 1939, not long before the war. Somehow she managed to survive the troubled times. You can tell from her face and Mona Lisa's smile that there's confidence and stability in this representation. Interesting to know that a model for this figure was a young girl-scout and a poetess, whose poems supported the young in their fight for freedom; she herself died in the Warsaw uprising.

One of my favourites is this one, fabulously Art Nouveau in style, from the beginning of the 20^th century.

An interesting historic collection of Warsaw's mermaids are to be seen on the gate to the Old Town Cathedral. 

 You can see here that the mermaid did not always look the same. Initially she reminded more of a woman-bird creature that Ulysses met on his journey. Gradually she turned into the beautiful figure we know now.

Then... many many other mermaids all around the city. All art styles, all periods represented.

 I'm on a quest for new ones – I present them in a collection onFacebook page.

a mermaid and Picasso

I've never been a particular admirer of Picasso's works (although I can see this changing slowly). If anybody asked me, I wouldn't have allowed him to touch the sacred topic of the Warsaw mermaid. Nobody asked me, though and we ended up with... this:

 OK, I admit it could have been worse. You can still tell it's a mermaid. You can even recognize the attributes of the Warsaw's mermaid: a shield and a hammer - - wait, what?? a hammer? Shouldn't it be a sword?

Yes, it should, but modern times call for modern attributes. Picasso drew this mermaid in 1948, when he was visiting Poland for the World Congress of Intelectuals in Defense of Peace. He visited Wrocław and Warszawa. He was immensly impressed with the rebuild and reconstrution effort that was taking place here at the time. While visiting a brand new flat in a new residential area in the Koło district, he grabbed a piece of coal and drew this modern mermaid on a wall. A determined, communist mermaid, who not only protects – she also participates in building of the new better world.

The mural didn't last long. The young couple who came to be residents of the said flat grew tired of pilgrimages of Picasso's fans and art lovers. Eventually they managed to obtain a permission to renovate the room, and painted over the mural.

The one which I'm presenting here is a reproduction on another Warsaw house which was honoured with Picasso's visit. At the time, this villa in Saska Kępa housed the main office of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers. Here the members met Picasso and had lunch together.

More Warsaw mermaids to be found on my Facebook Warsaw page.

pigeons in Piwna street

While strolling along streets in the Old Town, pay attention to such lovely details.

This poetic sculpture commemorates a woman who lived here before, during and after the war. She was known for taking care of pigeons, feeding them, always surrounded by them. She died in 1947.
This is how the reconstructed town paid her hommage.