Warsaw. The siren monument, losses of over 300,000 poured with paint. zloty. The process of activists of the last generation has started

In the District Court for Warsaw Śródmieście, the trial of two activists of the last generation of the accused of pouring the siren monument with paint began. The prosecutor's office indicated that women's action led to losses of over PLN 360 thousand.

The indictment shows that in March 2024, on the boulevard of General Patton, two activists of the last generation jointly and in agreement damaged the sculpture of the mermaid, the basins of the fountain and the sandstone stone pedestal by pouring the siren monument from 1938 with a significant amount of orange paint. The monument is entered in the register of monuments of the Masovian Voivodeship.

The prosecutor's office emphasized that with their deed women caused losses with a total value of PLN 361,607, and such an amount is due to the fact that the paint soaked in the pedestal and the fountain basin and caused permanent pollution inside the stone structure. Also, the shelling coatings were removed as a result of cleaning, which caused the sculpture to be unprotected.

“The amount of this amount was calculated on the basis of the position of the Provincial Masovian Conservator of Monuments and the opinion of an expert in the field of stonemasonry, as well as the unit responsible for the care and maintenance of the sculpture” – noted the prosecutor's office.

“Washing paint”. Translations of activists

On Monday, the first hearing took place in the Warsaw court regarding damage to the monument. The activists present in the courtroom did not plead guilty. They indicated that this was not an act of vandalism, but a desire to pay attention to the climate crisis. They emphasized that they chose this monument because it is a symbol that everyone knows.

– We did everything so as not to direct the protest against the mermaid herself. We poured a monument with washable paint made of a mixture of water and potato starch powder, which the first rain would wash. We checked the public registers of monuments, i.e. those to which we had access and there was no Warsaw mermaid – said one of the activists.

She noted that the climate crisis destroys everything, including cultural goods and monuments, and the rulers do not take action to counteract it. – I beat the alarm. I did something that could not be unnoticed and it happened – the activist said.

Asked by the representative of the monument conservator if she was aware of which the monument was made, she replied that from copper, and the sandstone plinth and that before waking it with paint with her friend they conducted tests on another object.

The second activist, in turn, clarified that the paint that women had poured a monument was a resident of water and Hoi powder used at festivals. – To my knowledge, this mixture is not toxic or durable and should not damage the monument (…). Crisis activities are not adequate, which is why we decided to fail the monument – she said.

Judge Marcin Kowal appointed the next date of the hearing on September 17. During the event, a film from the event is to be restored, witnesses are to testify, and the accused continue to continue explaining.

Mermaid monument on the Vistula Boulevards

The Syrena monument on the Vistula boulevards was revealed 85 years ago in June 1939, President Stefan Starzyński, who initiated the sculpture. Its author is Ludwik Nitschowa.

In order to work on the sculpture, Starzyński made available to the sculptor the hall of a closed boiler room at the Filter Station Complex at ul. Koszykowa 81. The management of the filter station also assigned her to help two manual workers.

Nitschowa, a student of the Ethnography of the University of Warsaw Krystyna Krahelska, who soon died in the Warsaw Uprising. When she posed for the monument, she was 23 years old.

During the German occupation, none of the two Warsaw monuments of Syrena was on the list of monuments intended for demolition. They were also not destroyed after the fall of the Warsaw Uprising. It probably happened because both were on the Vistula, which from September 1944 was a front line. However, the monument was damaged. In 1949, the studio of the Łopieński brothers without removing the sculpture from the pedestal took 35 minor mermaids.