INFORMATION PORTAL OF THE MARSHAL'S OFFICE OF THE KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE Region IN TORUŃ

“This is a beautiful initiative to honor and commemorate a man who is a symbol of universal values that are very dear to us—truth, independence, sovereignty, and integrity,” said Marek Wojtkowski, a member of the regional board, during today’s (March 24) unveiling ceremony of the Zbigniew Herbert bust at the square at the intersection of Tujakowskiego and Mickiewicza streets in Toruń. The event was attended by the President of the regional parliament, Elżbieta Piniewska.

“Thank you to everyone who so wonderfully restored Herbert to this space. Let us remember that when art enters public spaces, it sparks a dialogue. If someone passes by here and stops to reflect, it will be a victory for all those who worked to ensure Herbert stands in this place,” emphasized Elżbieta Piniewska.

At the head of the Toruń Committee for Commemorating Zbigniew Herbert, who studied, worked, and lived in Toruń in the late 1940s and 1950s, is Jan Wyrowiński, a pre-Solidarity opposition activist and former Deputy Marshal of the Polish Senate (8th term).

“Among those gathered today is a significant group of people who, like me, did not know a free Poland. We grew up and formed ourselves in a reality dominated by the Polish United Workers’ Party, for whom Herbert’s poetry was extremely important. Strengthened by it, we tried to walk upright and be brave. It helped us struggle against a system that constricted Poland, suppressed opportunities and energy, and took away hope. But thanks to this poetry, we all carried that hope forward and achieved victory. Herbert lived to see that victory, and it was largely thanks to him as well,” said Jan Wyrowiński during the ceremony.

The unveiled sculpture is a bronze bust of Zbigniew Herbert with a patina, mounted on a block of green mylonite created by Maciej Jagodziński-Jagenmeer. It is located near the roundabout named after the poet.

In the second part of the ceremony, held at the Marshal’s Książnica Kopernikańska, Professor Radosław Sioma gave a lecture titled “The Poet and the City.”

Beata Krzemińska
Press Spokesperson, Marshal’s Office

March 24, 2026