A Curious Monument to Kosciuszko

The Catholic Press

11 November 1915

Cracow, which the Kaiser visited recently, has a monument to Kosciuszko, which is unique.

It you look down one of the long streets of the city you will see in the distance a hill shaped like an inverted pudding basin.

Grass grows thickly upon it, and a winding footpath takes you to the top, where there is a large rough boulder dragged thither from the mountains of Zakopane.

Upon it, in the plainest of letters, is the one word - Kosciuszko.

The hill, in spite of its appearance, is entirely artificial.

For when the hero died, and a memorial was suggested, the whole Polish nation wanted to take a hand in the building, so marble and bronze were put aside.

Instead, people from every part of the old empire brought each a handful of earth.

And so the hill was reared, a unique mark of affection of a people for a patriot.