Monument of Earl Aleksander Fredro. Concepts of location in Wrocław’s spatial structure

Abstract

Monument of Earl Aleksander Fredro. Concepts of location in Wrocław's spatial structureThe Monument to Aleksander Fredro was brought to Wrocław in 1956 and placed in the Wrocław Market Square to become a favourite meeting place of the city inhabitants after some years. The final location decision was preceded by a discussion, reported in detail in the press. Initially, it was thought that the small and rather cosy monument form precluded its placement in the large, open space of a central city square. After all, Leonardo Marconi's work was designed for the small Lviv Academic Square, located in the vicinity of the Fredro family's residence gardens. However, the writer's sculpture took a special meaning in postwar Wrocław. Firstly it was perceived as a symbol of Polishness, a metaphorical link between the Recovered Territories and the lost Eastern Borderlands, and secondly, it was the first "Polish" monument to be unveiled in the centre of former Breslau. This is why the monument was finally placed in the city's most important square, in place of the equestrian monument to Friedrich Wilhelm III, demolished after Word War II, thus symbolically "sacralising" the Wrocław market square.This paper aims to present a discussion, now forgotten, on the location of the Fredro monument, to which not only decisionmakers but also citizens of the city were invited. The paper presents previously unpublished concepts for the location of the monument in various, nowadays not obvious, spots in Wrocław.