A monument to Cardinal Bolesław Kominek on Piasek Island in Wrocław, unveiled in 2005 as a tribute to the author of the 1965 Polish bishops' letter to the German bishops.
The monument to Bolesław Kominek stands on Piasek Island (Wyspa Piasek) in Wrocław, on Najświętszej Marii Panny street, right at the entrance to Ostrów Tumski.
The bronze statue, 4.35 metres tall and weighing around two tonnes, depicts Cardinal Bolesław Kominek in a cope and mitre, holding a dove in his hand as a symbol of peace. Only the clergyman's face and hands are rendered realistically, the rest of the figure has a more stylised form. The shape of the sculpture echoes the lines of the Gothic windows of the Church of St Mary on the Sand, which forms the backdrop to the monument. The statue itself, without a pedestal, stands on a wide, flat base of grey granite.
The granite base bears the inscription "Cardinal Bolesław Kominek" together with the dates 1903-1974, and below it a larger inscription "...We forgive and ask forgiveness" along with its German translation "...Wir vergeben und bitten um Vergebung". The quotation comes from the 1965 letter of the Polish bishops to the German bishops, which Kominek initiated and authored.
Bolesław Kominek was the first Polish archbishop-metropolitan of Wrocław after the Second World War, holding the office from 28 June 1972 to 10 March 1974 - the first since the death of Adolf Bertram in 1945. For many years he worked towards West Germany's recognition of the Oder-Neisse border, and the aforementioned 1965 bishops' letter is one of the most important events in post-war Polish-German reconciliation.
The monument was funded by the Wrocław City Council at the initiative of the then mayor Rafał Dutkiewicz, to a design by sculptor Sławoj Ostrowski. It was unveiled on 3 December 2005, on the 40th anniversary of the sending of the Polish bishops' message to the German bishops.
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