Czesław Dźwigaj (born 18 June 1950 in Nowy Wiśnicz) is a Polish artist, sculptor, and professor. Creator of numerous

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

s, he is most often associated with monuments of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

, almost 50 of which have left his workshop.

Artistic career

A student of Antoni Hajdecki, Dźwigaj completed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in the years 1972-1977, where he now directs the studio of Ceramic Sculpture in addition to lecturing on sacred art at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. He began his artistic career working with the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. In the 1980s he completed a series of bronze casts for the cathedral in

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...

, Poland. This work established his reputation, and he became known and popular as an artist of sacred art in other areas of Poland. He has also designed numerous church interiors along with monumental

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

doors. Professor Dźwigaj is also the laureate of many prestigious awards from exhibitions and art competitions such as the Gold medal at the

Biennale In the art world, a biennale ( , ; ), is a large-scale international contemporary art exhibition. The term was popularised by the Venice Biennale, which was first held in 1895, but the concept of such a large scale, and intentionally internationa ...

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

Notable works

*The Monument to the Victims of December 1970 in

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

. Unveiled on 28 August 2005 on plac Solidarności on the 25th anniversary of the founding of

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

, this 11-metre-tall and nearly 9-and-a-half-ton bronze monument commemorates the tragic events of December 1970, when, following workers’ demonstrations on the streets of Szczecin, 16 people were killed. The monument is of an angel standing on a ship which is breaking through the concrete slabs of the ground to rise above the earth. Commemorative plaques bear the names of the victims. *A landmark sculpture of Christ the King in front of St. Mary of Częstochowa in Cicero, a Neogothic church built in the so-called 'Polish Cathedral' style along with the monumental

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

doors at St. Hyacinth's Basilica in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, as well as monuments of Pope John Paul II in both Wyandotte, Michigan and Chicago. *The Tolerance Monument unveiled in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

in 2008, in collaboration with sculptor Michal Kubiak. It is situated on a hill marking the divide between

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Armon HaNetziv and

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

Jabel Mukaber, standing opposite the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

headquarters in Jerusalem in a park near Goldman Promenade. *A monumental

of the Tree of Jesse incorporated into the

Church of the Nativity The Church of the Nativity, or Basilica of the Nativity, is a basilica located in Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine. The grotto holds a prominent religious significance to Christianity, Christians of various denominations as the Nativity of Jesus, ...

brought by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

during his trip to the Holy Land offered as a gift to the people of

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

. Measuring in at 3 and a quarter meters wide and 4 meters in height, its corpus represents an olive tree figuring as the Tree of Jesse displaying Christ's lineage from

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

through

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

along with other biblical motifs. Situated along the passage used by pilgrims making their way to the Grotto of the Nativity, the bas relief also incorporates symbolism from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

. The upper portion is dominated by a crowned figure of Christ the King in an open-armed pose blessing the Earth."The sculpture as a gift"
Dziennik Polski 13 May 2009 Retrieved 26 January 2011 Google Translate version

Sites outside Poland with monuments to Pope John Paul II by Professor Dźwigaj (partial list)

(2) * Wyandotte, Michigan *

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

* Hanover, Germany * Šiluva, Lithuania * Fátima, Portugal * Posadas, Argentina * San Cristóbal de La Laguna, España

References

Further reading: * (kar), Papież na placu Sapera, "Gazeta Współczesna" 2000, nr 61. + * Annusiewicz Małgorzata, Trzy pytania do prof. Czesława Dźwigaja, "Głos Szczeciński" 2005, nr 12. * Bogacz Jerzy, Rozmowa o pomniku z jego twórcą prof. Czesławem Dźwigajem, "Echo Limanowskie" 1998, nr 54. * Czesław Dźwigaj, red. Krzysztof Kozłowski, Kraków 2004. * Dańko Ireneusz, Pamięć, która dzieli, "Gazeta Wyborcza Kraków" 2005, nr 59. * Jankowski Stanisław M., W soli jeszcze nie pracowałem... - rozm. z Czesławem Dźwigajem, "AWS" 1999, nr 26. * Ochwat Renata, O pomnikach profesora Czesława Dźwigaja, "Gazeta Zachodnia" 2002, nr 146. * Ożóg Kazimierz S., Rzeźba jest trudna. O najciekawszych pomnikach Jana Pawła II, "

Ethos ''Ethos'' is a Greek word meaning 'character' that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology; and the balance between caution and passion. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the ...

" 2004, nr 3, s. 299-314, fot. * Ożóg Kazimierz S., Pomniki Jana Pawła II – kilka problemów zjawiska, :Prolegomena. Materiały Spotkania Doktorantów Historyków Sztuki, Kraków 13-15 X 2003, Kraków 2005, s. 183-192, fot. * Ożóg Kazimierz S., Opowieści rzeźby, "Nawias" 2006, s. 98-107. * Ożóg Kazimierz S., Jan Paweł II jak krasnal. Pomniki na rozdrożu, "Orońsko" 2005, nr 4, s. 52-55, fot. * Satała Marian, Papieski rzeźbiarz, "Gazeta Krakowska" 2005, nr 83. * Starzak Grażyna, Papież wśród królów - rozm. z Czesławem Dźwigajem, "Dziennik Polski" 2000, nr 63. * Trybowski Ignacy, Czesław Dźwigaj, "Krak" 1985, nr 25. * Wątróbski Leszek, Pomnik Papieża Jana Pawła II w Policach, rozm. z Czesławem Dźwigajem, "Kurier Szczeciński" 1999, nr 100. * Wątróbski Leszek, Siedem rzeźb i pomników, "Nasz Dziennik" 1999, nr 83. * Wątróbski Leszek, Ten, który rzeźbi papieża, rozm. z. Czesławem Dźwigajem, "Nowy Dziennik" 1999, nr z dnia 1 VI.

Artistic career

Notable works

Sites outside Poland with monuments to Pope John Paul II by Professor Dźwigaj (partial list)

References

See also