Polish Independence Day & Veteran's Day 2024

 Salvete Omnes,

Today, on this typical November day, all Poles around the world celebrate the  Polish Independence Day - Vivat , more than a thousand years (966AD) and going through the history into the future. 

Also, all veterans of the US Armed forces celebrate Veteran's Day. Happy Veteran's Day 

Nota bene, 
 US Army Garrison Poland patch

Valete

Happy November 11th

 Salvete Omnes,

today is November 11 - Veterans Day in the US and National Independence  Day in Poland.. 

Happy Holiday to all - and let peace be restored across the globe 

Valete

Equestrian Monuments in Polish squares and Pilsudski

 Salvete Omnes,

Yesterday Polish Republic - Respublica Poloniae - and Poles from around the world celebrated the Independence Day - November 11.

I would like to corral some of equestrian monuments dedicated to a man who has become, since 1937AD, the embodiment of the restored Polish  Independence - no matte what political spectrum.
Hence, the equestrian monuments to Jozef Pilsudski and Polish Independence in Poland-
I think one of the most interesting monuments is the one from Katowice, capital of Upper Silesia voivodeship.

It was paid for by the Polish Silesian citizens and sculpted in America by a fellow Slav, Croatian artist Antun Augustincic, in 1930s- the sculpture w was never delivered to Poland as II World War erupted and after the 1945 the Polish Soviet puppet state (than a satellite-state after 1956 ) was active destroying monuments to Pilsudski - like the one in Komarow  near Ostrowia Mazowiecka. Augustincic's monument went into his museum in then Yugoslavia, and finally arrived in Poland in 1991.

There used to be a monument in Tarnopol, now Ukraine, in the then Sobieski Square, but it was destroyed by the Soviets.

In Komarow, near Ostrowia Mazowiecka, there was a monument sculpted by Antoni Pług-Mierzewski, survived the Nazi and Soviet invasion and destruction,  and the Polish Communists destroyed it in 1954; and it was rebuilt in 1999 and can be admired and celebrated.

 

Then the old royal city of Lublin (the famous site of many monumental and important events in Polish history) also has a monument - sculpted Krzysztof Skora and erected in the restored Republic in the Lublin's Lithuanian Square (the symbol of the Polish-Lithuanian Union) in 2001 .

 

Town of Nysa, Lower Silesia voivodeship, has a monument sculpted by  Marian Molenda.

Town of Nowy Sacz, Malopolskie voivodeship, has a monument too, erected  in 2018 - sculpted by Stanislaw Szwechowicz.

 

City of Rzeszow, Podkarpackie voivodeship, has had the monument erected recently, in 2018- sculpted by Wladyslaw Dudek.

and so yesterday in many Polish cities and towns marches were held to commemorated the Independence Day - the largest in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Interestingly or sadly  the current mayor of the Poland's capital city  was against the march, and went to a local court to prohibit it on some spurious grounds, and the Polish government stepped in and made the march of some 150,000 happy citizens possible. All the main stream media (MSM) from the US, UK, Canada were calling Polish citizens marching right-wing and nationalists. No MSM called these marches patriotic and the Polish marchers the patriots... Is patriotism or the warm and kind feeling towards one's country history, tradition,  national colors and emblems a crime in the light of those for-profit media agencies and outlets?

Long live Polish Independence.

 

I took a screen from the MN stream yesterday -

and yesterday there was the Veterans Day in the US - I hope all had a peaceful one.

Valete

Saint Martin Feast

Salvete Omnes,
 Today, on this Veterans Day and Polish Independence Day  we also have saint Martin of Tours Feast day.
In Poznań, one of the oldest cities of Poland  and also one of the early capitals of the Piast Kingdom of Poland, they celebrate the feast with the Saint Martin Feast Day Parade along the Swiety Marcin Street, eating cooked or baked goose and a very special pastry: Rogal świętomarciński (Saint Martin roll), and visiting museums and many churches, perhaps especially the Swiety Marcin Catholic Church in the center of Poznan.
 
Let us celebrate with some XV and early XVI century manuscript illuminations from Europe.
 

 
 from this Burgundian Breviary of Jean San Peur and Marguerite of Bavaria.
their  funerary effigies below

and from the Hours of Anne de Bretagne:

   The New York City-located Morgan Library has plenty of priceless manuscripts,   and in this XV century Hours of Catherine  de Cleves, showing beautifully painted illuminations painted  by an anonymous  scribe for the pious patron, you can see Saint Martin portrayed as a wealthy nobleman and knight of the times sharing his fabulous cloak with a beggar. You can study his horse tack by enlarging the page...

Valete

Polonia Restituta - 100 years

Salvete Omnes.
100 years ago a sovereign Polish state was reborn after having been partitioned and ruled by three European powers in 1795AD.

White Eagle - 1919-27

My family and I, like all Poles around the world. celebrate this 100th anniversary and salute all ancestors, men and women, who worked on restoring our Polish state to most desired sovereign status. I especially salute Polish peasants and Polish nobility, two social groups who fought for our reborn independence.
note that the 1918 or year zero of officially reborn Republic was amidst flames of war, and the war or more properly wars and conflicts were to be continued for another 3 years.
we have had more than 1000 years of history as a sovereign state:

from our first Christian ruler prince Mieszko I of Piast clan

 his fabulously successful son and king Boleslaw I

Jagiellon Poland - crica 1436

under the Jagiellon dynasty 1490

Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth

II Republic

present III Republic - under the EU Lisbon Treaty, rules and regulations are we still as in depended as they claim ?



Vivat Polonia Resituta
during the XX century we Poles were first to fight, in World War I more than 1 million Poles died, world War II saw loss - death, migration, refugees -  of many millions, country population reduced from close to 35 million in 1939 to some 23 million in 1945

I like this poster by painter and graphic artist Marek Zulawski  

valete!
ps
maps from Wiki Commons
ps

I salute tsar Nicolas I Romanov, who crowned himself a King of Polish Congress Kingdom in 1829 and the same year concluded a war with the Ottoman empire, and ordered that the Ottoman cannons captured should be sent to Warsaw with  the words that he, the King of Polish Kingdom, avenged the death of our king Wladyslaw III -
 
 Vladislaus by God's grace king of Crown of Kingdom of Poland, Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Rascia (Serbian Grand Principality), Supreme Prince of Duchy of Lithuania, lord of Pomerania and Ruthenia.
 
(at Varna in 1444, here Matejko painting).

****
last but not least - Happy Veterans Day! -

Andrzej Pitynski - cavalier of the Order of the White Eagle

Salvete omnes,
Today is yet another celebration of Polonia Restiuta- celebration of 1918 rebirth of Poland  -  vivat Respublica Poloniae.
I believe that  one of the most important architects of this rebirth was Wincenty Witos (my grandpa was named after this peasant leader) - a giant of the Polish pre-1939 politics and one of the most famous and important Polish peasants ever. With the leaders like Ignacy Paderewski, Jozef Pilsudski, Jozef Haller, Roman Dmowski, Wincenty Witos, Ignacy Daszynski, Wojciech Korfanty, Jozef Rymer et al and hundreds of thousands or rather millions of Polish women and men they made this possible.
But it was a Polish peasant-farmer who made up the army and won the Independence in those great years of 1918-20.

 ... many winters ago I flew over the Atlantic and discovered to my utter amazement that I had next to me one of the most extraordinary artists and Polish-American patriots - pan Andrzej Pityński.
So I spent some 7 hours listening to a lecture on art, sculpting, history, politics of art making and selling, and horses and horseback riding.
Thus far it was for me the most memorable flight I have had over the Atlantic.

 For me his most important work in the US and perhaps in the world is this monument in Jersey City - Katyn Forest Massacre

While living in NYC I saw pan Andrzej a few times at various Polonia functions, called and talked to him on the phone but we had never met for a little chat  in person again.
Today, on November 11, Polish Republic recognized pan Andrzej Pitynski merits, importance and achievements   and this this morning in Warsaw the President of Respublica Poloniae pan Andrzej Duda awarded pan Pitynski the Order of the White Eagle.
Congrats, panie Andrzeju!
 Few works by pan Pitynski:

Partisans - I myself saw them in the summer of 2005 before the were moved from Boston Commons

a little article about the new permanent place for the Partisans

Polish war of Independence - 1918-20 celebrated in this monument to the general Jozef Haller's Blue Army in Warsaw - which is really the monument to the Polish-Americans sacrifice in the cause of Poland's independence 

Too bad nobody commissioned pan Pitynski to create a monument to the Polish winged hussars - he loves and understands and knows the subject.
Another Katyn Massacre monument - in Baltimore

Pan Andrzej is the author of the Monument to the Book - in Lesko, unveiled in 2008.  A photo with some text here [in Polish] .
And countless other monuments and sculptures, in stone  and metals, and also he is a noted sculptor of medals and other forms of sculptural expression.
                                                          ***

all the best wishes to my fellow Poles from all over the world (we are some 70 million strong and counting) on our Independence Day. Also hail to our brothers and sisters from Belorus...
Some of Polish more famous military songs - the first one was sung during the Battle of Grunwald, 1410
Bogurodzica -
Duma Czlowieka Rycerskiego
 Idzie Żołnierz
 Pieśń konfederatów
Mazurek Dabrowskiego
Warszawianka
 Bywaj Dziewczę Zdrowe
W Krwawym Polu
Jeszcze Jeden Mazur Dzisiaj
Hej Strzelcy Wraz
Marsz Zuawow
 Przybyli ułani pod okienko
My, Pierwsza Brygada
O moj rozmarynie - my favorite
Hej Hej Ulani, malowane dzieci
Wojenko Wojenko
 Rozszumialy sie wierzby placzace
Ta szara piechota, Maszeruja strzelcy, maszeruja
Rozkwitaja paki bialych roz
Serce w plecaku 
Hej Chlopcy, bagnet na bron
Dziś do ciebie przyjść nie mogę
Czerwone Maki na Monte Cassino - unusual performance by Alexandrov Choir - Pacem Aeternam to all you soldiers-artists

Marsz, Marsz Polonia - wiki

Lwow/Lviv - monument to the American pilots of Pulaski Squadron who died for Polish independence, part of the Defenders of Lwow Monument within the Lyczakowski Cemetery

                                                         *
... do not forget - today is also the Veterans Day in the USA - hail to all veterans
ps
 there is a book on Andrzej Pitynski's art - from Bosz -  Andrzej Pityński. Rzeźba (introduction by  Ireny Grzesiuk-Olszewskiej & Andrzeja K. Olszewskiego)