Syrenka resurfaces
Ground is being prepared for the homecoming later this month of the best-known, and perhaps most tortured, figure in Warsaw's history Warszawska Syrenka. The homecoming, sheduled for later this month, follows a more than a 70-year absence from Old Town Square.
The five-foot-tall statue of a mermaid brandishing a sword and shield is the original symbol of the capital on the Wisla and denotes the city's legendary origins. Konstanty Hegel sculpted the zinc figure in 1855, which took its place that year in an octagonal fountain, center stage in Old Town Square. The event commemorated the city's fabled origins and a new water treatment system of the partition era. When full independence returned to the city, elders deemed the fountain no longer fit for the baroque environs of the square, and carted Syrenka away.
At least one Warsaw resident appeared a little non-plused last week at the preparations for Syrenka's return.
"What came to my mind when I saw the construction site? New damage to the gas pipes or the water system," said passerby Marek Was. "The Syrenka here will be a nice surprise for residents as well as tourists," he added.
Syrenka's road back to the square has been circuitous and tortuous. Bounced from the Old Town site for inappropriateness in 1928, Syrenka landed in a warehouse. Within three years, the mermaid warrior was picked up by water sports enthusiasts as a mascot for the Warsaw Rowing Club Syrena, which resided nearby in the Powisle neighborhood on the west bank of the Wisla. During the Warsaw Uprising, Syrenka suffered minor damage, was rebuilt after the war and first resurfaced in the post-war era in Powisle's Central Park of Culture. In that location the figurine became the target of vandalism, was again sent to the repair shop and later returned to public view, mounted atop the Old Town's rampart in the northeast corner with a commanding view of the river below.
Although resistant to the whims of rain and storm, the zinc goddess again fell victim to violence, and last year was removed to the sanctity of the guarded courtyard in the Royal Castle at the southern entrance to the Old Town.
As part of Syrenka's planned return to the Old Town Square, city officials held a public competition in 1997 to select the best schematic design for the figurine's new home. The first competition was called off, however, for lack of acceptable ideas to create a blend of legend and the square's existing architectural content. Last year, a jury of artists and architects selected a submission by Jan Mazur, Krystian Jarnuszkiewicz, Maria Dabrowska-Mazur and Anna Jarnuszkiewicz. Their blueprint calls for Syrenka atop a pedestal and amid granite waves, with water circulating in the surrounding pool, said Teresa Mierzejewska, engineering and construction manager with the Public Land Management Office in the Srodmiescie district.
The price tag for the new construction is zl. 686,000. One question, however, remains. Considering Syrenka's tortured past, who's been assigned to ensure the well-being of this famous Warsaw figure from her greatest nemesis?
