The monument commemorating Frederick the Great was proposed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg in 1791. It was sculpted by Johann Gottfried Schadow from white marble imported from Carrara, Italy. For his work, he received 6,000 thalers. The statue was unveiled on 10 October 1793, in front of the Palace of the Pomeranian Estates Assembly, at the White Parade Square, later renamed to the King's Square, and currently known as the Polish Soldier Square. It was originally placed on a pedestal made from black marble imported from Silesia, on top of platform with three steps.[1][2] It featured reliefs made from white marble, depicting symbols of war, poetry and music, as well as a Latin inscription that read: "FRIDERICO II POMERANIA CIↃIↃCCXCIII",[a] meaning Frederick II, Pomerania, 1793. It was surrounded by a metal fence, with linden trees planted around it.[1][3] In 1877, due to fears of damage from the weather, the marble sculpture was moved inside the Palace of the Pomeranian Estates Assembly, and in its place was installed a bronze copy, manufactured by Gladenbeck workshop in Berlin.[1][2]
In 1942, during the Second World War, to protect it from aerial bombings, it was moved to the Wildenbruch Castle in the village of Swobnica. During transport, the statue broke into several pieces. In 1956, it remains were moved to the storage of the Ducal Castle in Szczecin, and later handed to the Szczecin National Museum. It remained mostly forgotten until the restorers at the State Plaster Casting Workshop in Berlin borrowed a plaster copy of the statue as a model for restoration. In Berlin, the Schadow Society soon began collecting private donations for the restoration costs, estimated at between 60,000 and 110,000 euros. This made a restoration possible, which was largely carried out by the Wrocław-based sculptor Ryszard Zarycki. The additional parts added to the sculpture were made from the same marble in Italy, from the same vein of stone as the block Schadow originally used. After completion, the Bode Museum in Berlin received the statue on loan from December 2011 to October 2015. It was on display there for the 300th anniversary of Friedrich's birth and the 250th of Schadow's. The then Minister of State for Culture, Bernd Neumann, assumed patronage of the project and issued a security guarantee for the loan on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany. At the end of October, the statue was returned to Szczecin and has since stood in the courtyard of the Palace of the Pomeranian Estates Assembly in the custody of the Museum of Regional Traditions, a branch of the Szczecin National Museum.[2][4][5]
Overview
The statue, made from white marble, depicts Frederick the Great, King of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1740 to 1786, wearing a military uniform, a mantle, a tricorne hat, and riding boots, as well as a pistol and saber attached to his belt. Frederick II holds the baton in his right hand, which he rests on two books stacked on the floor, featuring titles Artes pacis et belli (the arts of peace and war) and Corpus Juris Fried. The statue measures 2.5 metres and weighs 3.5 tonnes, standing on a square base made of brownish marble.[1][2]
Notes
↑ Historically, roman numerals did not use M for 1000 and D for 500. In this old-style inscription, CIↃ represents 1000 and IↃ represents 500.
References
1 2 3 4 Encyklopedia Szczecina, tom. 2: P-Ż. Szczecin: University of Szczecin, 2000, pp. 147–148. ISBN 83-7241-089-5. (in Polish)
↑ Pomerania. Geschichte und Beschreibung des Pommernlandes zur Förderung der pommersehen Vaterlandskunde. T. IV. bis VI. Buch. Szczecin: Verlag von F. Sanne & Comp., 1846, p. 281. (in German)
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