Tadeusz Kościuszko is one of those Polish historical figures whose commemorations can be found practically all over the world. Monuments, busts and commemorative plaques adorn the public squares of metropolises and smaller towns. Their total number is estimated at around 200, but few stand in such a prestigious location as the one next to the White House in Lafayette Park in Washington.

Foundation and competition to design the monument
The Tadeusz Kościuszko Monument in Washington DC was created on the initiative of Polish organisations in the United States (notably the Polish National Alliance, founded in 1880), who submitted a petition in 1904 to then President Theodore Roosevelt requesting its construction. As it was written, the monument was to be "an expression of their loyalty and devotion to their adopted homeland, for whose freedom Kosciuszko so nobly fought".

The monument took the place originally intended for the commemoration of Casimir Pulaski, whose founders did not want to agree to erect a pedestrian monument to the hero as was required in that location, following the example of others already placed in the square. The money for the construction ($75,000) was raised through membership dues of two cents per month. The rules of the international competition stipulated that the Kosciuszko monument in Washington was to be placed on a granite pedestal surrounded by bronze cast allegorical figures.

In this way, it was to relate to the already existing monuments to Generals Rochambeau and Lafayette in the park. Only artists from Poland were invited to participate in the competition. Twenty models of the monument were submitted (18 from Europe and 2 from the United States). Of these, as judged by the art commission, the first place went to the design by Stanisław Lewandowski of Vienna, the second to that of Antoni Popiel of Lviv, and the third to that of Julian Bełtowski, also of Lviv. In the end, however, it was Popiel's project that was realised, as it best fitted into the park environment.

The last work of Antoni Popiel
Antoni Popiel arrived in the United States in September 1907 and temporarily settled in Chicago, where he began work on the monument. Unfortunately, this was the sculptor's last work. Due to illness, he had to return to the country, where he died in July 1910. He was buried in Lychakiv Cemetery in Lwów. He did not live to see the unveiling of the Kościuszko monument, which took place on 11 May 1910. The ceremony was a major event for the American Polish community of nearly 4 million people at the time. It was treated as an event of national importance and was even attended by the then President of the United States, William Taft.

The monument stood in the north-east corner of Lafayette Park. Measuring 3 metres in height, the figure of Tadeusz Kościuszko, dressed in the uniform of an American general, is placed on a high granite pedestal (the whole is almost 10 metres high). The hero holds a sabre in one hand and in the other a plan of Saratoga's field fortifications, which he himself designed to defend the city from attack by British troops during the American War of Independence.

The monument is complemented by allegorical representations placed on the sides of the plinth and relating to the struggle for freedom in both hemispheres. These include an American eagle defending the flag, a Polish eagle fighting a snake (a symbol of Russian domination), a group depicting Courage with a blacksmith shielding a Polish officer and a group depicting Freedom, an American soldier with a banner leaning over a captured soldier.

Inscriptions on the front and back of the base of the monument inform the public of its dedication to the clashes at Saratoga and Racławice. One side of the pedestal is engraved with a quotation from Thomas Campbell's poem 'And Freedom shrieked as Kosciuszko fell', and the other with an inscription announcing the founders and the date of the unveiling of the monument.

The Tadeusz Kosciuszko Monument in Washington, D.C. is listed on the National Register of Historic Places of the United States.

Significance of the Tadeusz Kościuszko Monument
The erection of the Tadeusz Kościuszko monument in Washington, D.C., emphasised the sentimental and patriotic ties of the American Polish community to its homeland. A hero symbolising the Polish nation's struggle for freedom and, at the same time, a figure of merit in the American War of Independence, deserved special commemoration. Such a form is the monument, which - transforming public space - is a very expressive symbol and strengthens the presence of Tadeusz Kościuszko in the canon of figures important to American culture. It is worth knowing that a copy of the Washington monument, made by the Krakow sculptors Anna and Wojciech Siek, was erected in 2010 on Plac Żelaznej Bramy in Warsaw.

Monuments have always aroused public emotions, given rise to conflicts and been destroyed in various circumstances. Nevertheless, they remain the most widely used form of commemorating figures, events and ideas. It is worth noting that many monuments to Tadeusz Kościuszko located in Europe are copies of originals destroyed in the past by the occupying forces (e.g. the equestrian monument on the Wawel Hill in Kraków or the monument in Poznań). In contrast, such a fate has not yet befallen any of the commemorations dedicated to Kościuszko in the United States. On the night of 31 May to 1 June 2020, the monument in Lafayette Park was vandalised during a riot. The pedestal of the monument suffered, which unknown perpetrators painted over with inscriptions. However, the event was not related to the figure of the commemorated person himself.