On the one hand, this story cannot be fully understood without a broader context. On the other hand, however, the monument, which is its symbolic representation, brings together so many different threads that one is reminded of Pierre Nora’s concept of ‘places of memory’ and their mirror image – ‘memory of places’. And it is hard not to view this monument as a point where various, even the most distant, histories converge, and at the same time as a place radiating those histories.

The monument, measuring 2.5 metres including the plinth, was carved from sandstone characteristic of the mountains of central Vietnam, with Cat’s Tooth (Mỹ Sơn) as the most prominent of the peaks. On both sides of the rock block, the sculptor Phạm Hồng has incorporated rectangular elements, stacked one on top of the other. In the foreground is a bas-relief depicting the bust of a Pole, Kazimierz Kwiatkowski, alias Kazik (1944–1997).

It is known that the artist drew inspiration from the Vietnamese history of the monument’s subject. He also bore in mind the man’s motto: that he was prepared to endure anything if it served to restore the towers in the Mỹ Sơn temple complex. The decorative elements at the edges of the memorial are therefore more of a reference to the characteristic vaults of these sacred buildings. Especially as Kwiatkowski is said to have remarked that he wished to be buried amongst these monuments.

A Polish folk healer in Indochina

In the relief, Kazimierz Kwiatkowski is depicted as he appeared when he arrived in Vietnam in the early 1980s, with longer hair combed to one side and a full beard, which quickly became his trademark. The sculptor presumably had in mind the words of ‘Kazik’, according to which the builders of the temple towers at Mỹ Sơn — the Cham people inhabiting the Champa kingdom — had infused their spirituality into the building material, the distinctive red brick, and, in harmony with nature, had erected masterpieces. Can this idea be found in the memorial?

Undoubtedly, the figure’s head draws the viewer’s attention by being set against a slightly concave, shell-like surface. As a result, the bas-relief gains depth and a sense of space. In the sculptor’s interpretation, the figure of the Polish conservator exudes energy and catches the eye with his patriarchal beard, though for the locals it was probably the beard and his imposing stature that might have evoked associations with… ‘Znachor’, the main character in the film based on the novel by Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz (1900–1939).

Four decades ago, this film was screened for Vietnamese audiences as part of a cultural exchange between the countries of the Communist bloc. Perhaps the character played by Jerzy Bińczycki (1937–1998) was so fascinating because it is not difficult to spot a physical resemblance between Dr Wilczur and Kazik.

The park and the monument to Kazik on the Silk Road

There are two plaques on the monument. A small one on the bust bearing his full name (with a typo – ‘y’ instead of the final ‘i’) and the dates of his life: 1944–1997. And a larger one, placed on the plinth, with an inscription in Vietnamese and English:

The Party, the authorities and the people of Hội An erected this monument to express their gratitude and honour a close friend of Hội An – Kazik

Beneath this tribute, issued by the people of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the date – January 2007 – and the sculptor’s name. On the plinth stand smouldering incense sticks, and in a vase there are cut flowers, laid there by both locals and tourists. All around, in a small square known as Kazik Park, crowds are thronging.

Hội An, home to the Kazik monument, is not a particularly populous town, with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants, but it is an architectural gem of Vietnam. As an important port on the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ (running from the South China Sea through the Malay Archipelago and India to the shores of the Red Sea), it was once a place where many cultures coexisted. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the town was a major port and a centre of trade and craftsmanship, where merchants from China, Japan and Portugal settled. It was famous for its numerous temples, reflecting the diversity of its inhabitants’ faiths.

In 1999, Hội An was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which led to an explosion in tourist numbers. In 2017 alone, 3.2 million visitors came to the town and the nearby Mỹ Sơn temple complex. This accounted for a quarter of all tourists visiting Vietnam.

Vietnamese sites on the UNESCO list

The dynamic growth of tourism is partly due to Kazimierz Kwiatkowski. As head of the Polish-Vietnamese Mission for the Conservation of Monuments, he led work at Mỹ Sơn from 1981 onwards. In 1982, whilst on his way to a seaside holiday, he decided to visit Hội An. Kwiatkowski’s attention was drawn to the town’s unique, well-preserved urban layout and its numerous examples of secular and religious architecture, which were then in a deplorable state.

Crucially, the Polish conservationist managed to dissuade local decision-makers from the idea of demolishing the original buildings in the historic centre. Kazik decided to combine his existing work at the Mỹ Sơn temple complex with this new task and threw himself into the revitalisation of Hội An’s historic old town with great energy. His success was measured by the implementation of a long-term programme to revitalise the architecture and revive tourism, as well as the site’s inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List (which took place after Kwiatkowski’s death).

In contrast, the activities of the Polish-Vietnamese Mission for the Conservation of Monuments at Mỹ Sơn, led by Kazik, were of a different nature. In addition to strictly conservation and archaeological work, advanced research and analytical methods from both disciplines were utilised on a much larger scale. This enabled Kwiatkowski’s team to gain in-depth knowledge of the Cham people’s building techniques and to apply this knowledge in practice to save the damaged monuments. Thus, the success at Mỹ Sơn lay not only in the so-called ‘archaeological restoration’ of the temple complex, but also in the expansion of knowledge about ancient culture.

Kazimierz Kwiatkowski – conservator of historic monuments

And finally, one might ask: what benevolent forces brought an architect born near Parczew to the Indochinese Peninsula? The answer to this question lies in the memory of the place.

In the monument dedicated to Kazimierz Kwiatkowski, alongside the history of Vietnam rising from the ashes of a brutal conflict and the history of the ancient Cham people, who erected exquisite buildings a thousand years ago, we also come across Polish connections. These lead to the State Enterprise for the Conservation of Monuments (known by the acronym PP PKZ or PKZ), established in Warsaw in 1950.

The aim of this institution was to support the reconstruction of historic monuments in Poland, which had been devastated by the Second World War. From the very beginning, the specialists employed by the PKZ applied scientific methods, and the organisation’s structure included laboratories and research workshops. As a result, during the austere times of the Polish People’s Republic, one of Poland’s finest export commodities was its heritage conservators.

When Vietnam – a country ravaged by a protracted armed conflict – appealed to various nations for help in saving the Mỹ Sơn complex, only the Poles responded. More specifically, representatives of the Lublin branch of the PKZ, where a young, talented and broadly educated architect worked – a man known today to all Vietnamese as ‘Kazik’, namely Kazimierz Kwiatkowski.

Kazimierz Kwiatkowski is also commemorated by memorial plaques in Huế, at the Imperial Palace in the Purple Forbidden City, and in Mỹ Sơn, at the Cham sanctuary.