Investor: the office of Architecture and Spatial Planning of the Capital City of Warsaw City Hall Location Grzybowski Square, Warsaw Design team: Piotr Musiałowski, Paulina Pankiewicz, Michał Adamczyk, Cooperation: Michał Lenczewski
The memorial's shape is closely connected with its location. The long, white ribbon consists of the front part and its unfolding. The main part is situated in front of the arcade of the All Saints church and it corresponds with the architecture of the entire Grzybowski Square. It's unfolding is the ribbon's 'tail', stretching out along the Bagno Street, in parallel with the church's wall. The ribbon merges the spaces together while at the same time being gentle to the trees already growing there. Last names of 10 thousand families who during WW2 were helping Jewish people were placed on the 130 meters long ribbon. In the European culture a ribbon is a symbol of solidarity. Apart from that our ribbon is also an invitation to learn about other people's stories. It urges to become engrossed in meditation and, in consequence, to approach the subject of Extermination and Rescue. The act of following the ribbon's flow creates an opportunity to seek out familiar surnames, an opportunity to commune with the memorial. The ribbon is also a path, leading towards the main part of the memorial, the place where it starts to curl and creates a circle. A place for meditation and calmness. The space is half-open and half-closed. With this project we wanted to create an atmosphere of a shelter, protection, safety. The ribbon's outer side keeps thundering with history's magnitude, when it curls - we find ourselves near its center. Words do not reach this place. Everything was already said. Now it's our turn to cope with the load.
