The “President from SGH” mural by Tytus Brzozowski, an architect and painter with ties to Warsaw, was unveiled on 22 December 2022 in front of Building M of the SGH Warsaw School of Economics at 6/8 Madalińskiego Street. The mural commemorates Polish President Stanisław Wojciechowski, who taught at the Higher School of Commerce (later the SGH Warsaw School of Economics) from 1919 to 1939. The work was created on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Stanisław Wojciechowski’s assumption of the highest office in the state.
This is the first mural by Tytus Brzozowski in Mokotów.
The artist about his work:
The mural depicts the story of Stanisław Wojciechowski. On the “life path” of the president, I depict 14 places and events important in his life and public service.
Researching the fate of Stanisław Wojciechowski reassured me that we are dealing with an extraordinary person with a very beautiful story. He is a figure of great strength of will, of indomitable character; a conspirator and super-agent smuggling weapons and printing presses into Poland, a strong leader defending the rule of law, and finally a committed lecturer.Murals attract attention and can attract interest in important topics. I very much welcome the chance to tell the story of the president in the graphic form of a wall painting. I wanted the mural to become an invitation to learn about the fate of President Wojciechowski.
A number of buildings from different cities and countries appear in the project. The president’s story begins in Kalisz and at the Warsaw University. Symbols of emigration here are the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben or the Grossmünster Church in Zurich. A section of the mural showing the election to the highest office in the country is depicted by the Royal Castle in Warsaw in its 1920s appearance with different colours and body than today. The assassination attempt on the president carried out in Lwów in 1924 is also depicted. The May Coup, his famous confrontation with Józef Piłsudski on the Poniatowski Bridge and his resignation from office in Wilanów in 1926 undoubtedly became the key memento of Wojciechowski’s public service. The last stages of the president’s life are described in the mural by the buildings of the SGH and SGGW, used as symbols of his academic work, the house in Warsaw’s Kolonia Staszica, where Wojciechowski spent the autumn of his life, and the house in Gołąbki, where he died.
The completion of the mural was handled by IDEAMO.pl. The person responsible for implementing the project was Łukasz Bieniek.
Łukasz Bieniek of IDEAMO:
Nitrogen oxide is the main component of smog.
Our mural is partly made with anti-smog paints that break down nitrogen oxide, which is harmful to health. This happens under the influence of UV radiation and the special composition of the paint.
The mural has air-purifying properties, but not only that; it prevents the growth of bacteria and mold.
The painting also has self-cleaning properties. After each rain, when the mural dries, it regains its full saturated colours.
„(...) Today we conclude the celebration (of the 100th anniversary of Stanisław Wojciechowski’s assumption of the office of President of the Republic of Poland) with the unveiling of this mural,” said SGH Rector Piotr Wachowiak, and thanked the author Tytus Brzozowski, for its execution.
The Rector also thanked Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, great-granddaughter of President Wojciechowski, for attending the celebrations, which began at SGH with the inauguration of the 2022/2023 academic year. He mentioned that SGH still has plans to issue a coin and stamp commemorating Stanisław Wojciechowski.
“We are proud, by the way, it was written on the top (of the mural) – Stanisław Wojciechowski President from SGH. I don’t think the SGH could have dreamed up a better hero – both a hero of that period and a hero to us. This is because Professor Wojciechowski acted in accordance with those values that we have adopted, namely truth, honesty, respect for others, cooperation and professionalism. Also (…) he knew how to behave in every situation like a true Pole (…) according to certain rules, and this was not always favourable to the President, of course,” noted Rector Wachowiak.
As he stressed, Stanisław Wojciechowski was “a person who fought for an independent Poland, who worked on the Basic Law, who was steadfast in his actions, who always acted in accordance with the Constitution and always in accordance with the law.” “And for this we are grateful to Mr. Professor,” added the SGH Rector, and pointed out to his academic achievements, including as a pioneer of cooperatives in Poland.
For her part, Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska thanked the SGH authorities and the SGH staff for commemorating Stanisław Wojciechowski, “for what he did (…), to remember his character and, most importantly, the kind of person he was (…).”
“It has been said here that he acted in difficult times (…) For these difficult and interesting times, there is precisely a need for a strong backbone and guarding the principles. It is necessary to be faithful to these principles,” stressed the Deputy Marshal of the Sejm. “Thank you so much for making me feel as a member of your community. This is a great honour for me. And I would like to thank you for this mural. I really enjoy murals. They bring in such a new quality of life for the city. This is something more interesting than monuments (...), because this is a monument that is telling a story. Here you can trace the whole life, the whole story, the whole biography (…) This little point at the end – Gołąbki – is very important for me: this is the house where I continue to live. Everyone here will see how many things in one lifetime could happen – both dramatic and joyful. I hope that the citizens of Warsaw will like this mural and thus like my great-grandfather more, and that some will learn of his existence.”
Deputy Mayor of the Mokotów district Krzysztof Skolimowski was also present at the ceremony.
“This mural is not that ordinary, but it’s educational. I hope that this place will become a place for excursions, because here you can make a great history lesson, (…) bring the era closer. Since Stanisław Wojciechowski’s life was long enough, he is basically a man of several historical eras. (…) Thank you for the fact that (the mural) is, indeed, in Mokotów, because I think the youth of Mokotów will have more opportunities to experience a great history lesson here. And the artistic expression is also cool and I am very fond of it,” said the deputy mayor of Mokotów.
“Over these few days, I expanded my knowledge of President Wojciechowski’s life and (…) what stuck in my mind was probably the most important moment of his life, which shows the quintessence of his person. And this is not the moment when he was elected president, not the moment when he met Marshal Piłsudski on the bridge, but the moment when he was offered a trade (by the Nazis). If you betray Poland, your son (sent to Auschwitz) will survive. I think it was a key moment that showed who that person was. President Wojciechowski did not betray Poland, his son died. (…) in people’s lives there comes such a moment of trial (…), when it is shown what each of us is worth, what the declarations we said before, the various words are worth (…) President Wojciechowski survived such a trial, which few people in the world have been subjected to.”
Tytus Brzozowski talks about the mural for SGH, based on the life story of Stanisław Wojciechowski
