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Walesa to unveil statue of Reagan

PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle 17.11.2011 11:04
Solidarity legend Lech Walesa is set to unveil a statue in Warsaw of Ronald Reagan, the late American president who played a key role in the collapse of the Iron Curtain.

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The monument, which was created from private funds, was inspired by Reagan's famed 1987 speech at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, when the American leader called for the dismantlement of the wall that divided the city.

“The statue presents Reagan standing behind a rostrum, speaking,” sculptor Wladyslaw Dudek told the Polish Press Agency, noting that the concept was suggested to him by retired businessman Janusz Dorosiewicz, chairman of Poland's Ronald Reagan Foundation.

The bronze monument will be installed on Ujazdowskie Avenue, one of the capital's most picturesque thoroughfares, not far from the American Embassy.

US Ambassador to Poland Lee A. Feinstein and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski are both due to speak during Monday's unveiling ceremony, as is Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.

The Warsaw monument is not the first Polish tribute to the late president.

In September 2004, councillors in Nowa Huta – the ideal communist town built next to Krakow – voted to change the name of the town's main square in Reagan's honour.

Until 1989, a statue of Lenin had stood nearby, a monument which opposition activists had previously attempted to blow up. (nh/pg)

Source: PAP

tags: Reagan, walesa
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  • Johnny Mash (guest) | 11/17/2011 12:29:03 PM Lech Walesa is not going to pass up another opportunity to snatch some spotlight and bask in the reflected glory of R.Reagan. I only wonder if the former US president would feel honored by his Polish counterpart's presence, given the latter's convuluted personal history and his statements that border on provocation and outrage. Why LW has been invited to do the honors beats me, especially that he wasn't the only one who represented one of the greatest popular movements in history.
  • RED ROVER (guest) | 11/19/2011 6:20:04 AM "Johnny Mash-Potato" ---- The Honourable Lech Walesa does not need actor Ronald Reagan as a "prop" or hide behind a "academy award" or a "hollywood script" to receive a U.S of A award. He ,already has a "Nobel Prize for Peace" not acting. "Johnny Potato"----The Honourable Lech Walesa did what "appeasing cowards" Churchill and "short change "Roosevelt could not do. "Johnny Potato"---The Honourable Lech Walesa stopped 280 Soviet divisions(2,8000,000 real soldiers not Mc Frie Marines), 18,000 Soviet tanks(not battle of CNN), 8000 fighter jets(not mission impossible starring TC) "without a single bullet". Could George Bush or CAN "Razzle Dazzle " Obama stop Iraq and Afganistan "without firing a single bullet" Johnny Boy". We are all so brave on the internet.......you might qualify by pulling faces on Facebook...fighting with words."Yanks are so heroic behind a "Mc apple." The Honourable Lech Walesa like Great Gandhi are "extraordinary men in extraordinary times", Johnny Appleseed.
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