Kościuszko Mound
Kraków Mounds
The most famous of Kraków's mounds, raised in 1820-1823 on St Bronisława Hill to honour Tadeusz Kościuszko. It has been managed since 1820 by the Kościuszko Mound Committee. At its foot stands a former Austrian fort housing an exhibition about the Kraków mounds.
History
After Tadeusz Kościuszko's death in 1817, a cult grew around him, especially in Kraków, where the hero's body was laid to rest. Money was collected for a monument, but for a long time no one could agree on the right form. In the end it was decided to raise a mound modelled on the ancient mounds of Krakus and Wanda, seen as symbols of permanence and the work of the people's shared effort. The Governing Senate of the Free City of Kraków gave its consent in July 1820, and the site chosen was St Bronisława's Hill to the west of the city. Since then the mound has been looked after by the Kościuszko Mound Committee, established in 1820.
Work on the mound began on 16 October 1820 and drew veterans of the uprisings, peasants and young people. For three years much of the earth was carried by volunteers; taking part became a patriotic duty, and even foreigners visiting the city joined in. Construction was completed on 25 October 1823. The mound was then 34.1 m high and 80 m in diameter at the base.
In the mid-19th century the hill was taken over by the Austrians. In 1854 they completed citadel fort No. 2 "Kościuszko" around the mound, but agreed that visitors could climb the mound from dawn to dusk, except during mobilisation. At the foot of the mound stands the neo-Gothic Chapel of Blessed Bronisława, consecrated in 1861; today the way up to the top leads through it. Heavy rain in 1997 badly damaged the mound, and an emergency fundraising campaign and repairs costing 14.7 million zł allowed it to reopen to visitors on 10 November 2002. In December 2017 the mound and its surroundings were declared a Monument of History. Today it stands 35.54 m high, and part of the former fort houses a Kościuszko museum with the exhibition "Kraków Mounds".
Did you know?
There were plans to set up a farming settlement of four farmsteads around the mound for peasant families who had taken part in the Kościuszko Uprising. In 1836 Kalikst Waligórski, the son of one of Kościuszko's soldiers, moved into the first of them. The idea was never fully realised because the Austrians took over the top of the hill for fortifications.