"Air and silence are not lacking. (...) The park, very beautiful and very extensive, is reminiscent of the gardens at Monte Carlo, but prettier than them because it is shaded and more overgrown. It goes right down to the sea. Here and there, buildings, gazebos, cafés very elegant, but full of secluded places. (...) I think it will kill Meran because it has everything; the mountains, the air, it is very sheltered, and it has the sea and its healthy breezes. Finally, it is 12 hours closer, because you drive 24 hours from Vienna to Meran - and in equally unremarkable carriages" is how Henryk Sienkiewicz wrote about Abacia in a letter to his sister-in-law dated 4 April 1887. It was his first stay in this city, and he stayed there until 16 April. He came here again - it was between 24 and 29 April 1889. He may have visited again in 1909 when he stayed for two days in Lovran. Undoubtedly, however, it was a place he liked and felt comfortable in.

In 1887, Henryk Sienkiewicz, as he himself recalled, "rolled up his sleeves" and got down to work, starting writing 'Pan Wołodyjowski' probably on 7 April. There is also information that it was in Abacia, in May 1888, that Sienkiewicz wrote the last words of the trilogy, "This concludes this series of books, written over many years and with considerable difficulty, for the enrichment of hearts". However, at this time, the writer was not staying at the famous resort. Instead, in 1889, while staying in the city, Sienkiewicz wrote The Bullfight. The chronology of facts contradicts the oft-repeated thesis that the idea for "Quo Vadis" was born in Abacia. The idea for the novel was probably born in 1893 and the text was completed in 1896. Furthermore, as Sienkiewicz did not stay at the spa in December 1905, contrary to popular belief, he could not have found out there that he had received the Nobel Prize. Yes, in 1905 he was, but in January he was, in nearby Lovran. However, there is no confirmation that he arrived there after receiving the prize.

To contemporaries, Abacia may sound somewhat exotic, although the village is still a popular holiday destination for many Poles. Today, however, it is known by its Croatian name - Opatija. In the second half of the 19th century, however, the resort was most often called by its Italian name Abazzi, and it was this name that was adapted and polonised by Poles as Abacia.

Opatija is located in Istria, on the north-eastern Adriatic coast in the Kvarner Bay, on the route between Rijeka and Lovran. The history of Opatija, also known as the 'pearl of the Adriatic', is a fascinating example of the evolution of a small fishing town into one of the most prestigious holiday destinations in Europe. Admittedly, the area was supposed to have been home to several patrician villas in ancient times. However, the town's history dates back to a village of about 35 houses that developed around the Benedictine Abbey of St James, first mentioned in 1453. In the Middle Ages, Opatija was part of the Venetian Republic, which controlled a large part of the Adriatic coast. Until the mid-19th century, virtually nothing significant happened in the development of this small fishing settlement. The breakthrough came in the middle of the 19th century, by which time it was already part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and from 1868 the Triple Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Hungary. During this period, Opatija transformed from a small fishing village into an elegant resort. The Austrian aristocracy and bourgeoisie discovered Opatija as an ideal place for relaxation, which led to the construction of many luxury hotels, villas and palaces. During this time, beautiful parks and promenades were also built, which are still a characteristic feature of the town today. The twentieth century brought further changes to Opatija. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a result of World War I, the town became part of the Kingdom of Italy, followed by Yugoslavia and, after its collapse, Croatia.

The beginnings of Opatija as a resort can be dated back to 1844, when Iginio Scarpa, a rich merchant from Rijeka, built his summer residence here - Villa Angiolina, named after his late wife, and surrounded it with a magnificent park. After its construction, in the 1850s and 1860s, Opatija began to attract more and more wealthy visitors. More villas and guesthouses were built. Important for Opatija's popularity was the visit of Empress Maria Anna of Savoy, who spent almost three months at Villa Angiolina. Her stay drew the attention of the Viennese nobility to Opatija. Opatija started to become a fashionable place from the 1870s, while in 1882 the Kvarner Hotel, the first on the eastern Adriatic coast, was opened. Investments were also made in railways, infrastructure was developed and lush gardens and parks were established. An almost paradisiacal enclave was being created on the Adriatic, for those who could afford it. In 1889, Opatija was officially recognised as a health resort by the Austro-Hungarian government. This decision was the result of Opatija's growing popularity and perception as a place with exceptional climatic and health values. In the following years, hotels, guesthouses and Opatija's signature seaside promenade, Lungomare, were built. The city became a symbol of luxury, elegance and refined leisure.

Opatija was visited by many distinguished guests, including Emperor Ferdinand, Emperor William II Hohenzollern, Swedish King Oscar II, Serbian Emperor Alexander I, dukes, counts, princes and archdukes, as well as people of the arts such as writers James Joyce and Anton Chekhov and composer Gustav Mahler, who was to compose part of his symphonies here. The resort, with its beautiful villas, hotels and spa character, was - from the 1880s onwards - also an attractive place for the Polish, above all Galician, landed gentry, as well as representatives of the rich bourgeoisie and the artistic and scientific world, such as Tadeusz Pilat. The mild winters also attracted many residents from Poland, and medical recommendations reassured them of the right choice. Abaca was becoming an increasingly popular bathing and climate station, or simply a fashionable resort. The journey from Galicia was arduous lasting from almost two days to about a day later. However, it was possible to stop in Vienna, among other places, on the way. The last leg of the journey was described by Henryk Sienkiewicz - "Onegdaj evening departure from Vienna. Wicked carriages, squeezing and discomfort, sleep as far as possible. Yesterday, before nine in the morning - Fiume! Not an ugly town, quite decent, on a slope of hills reaching right down to the sea, decent hotel, quite cheap. We took a boat to Abacia. Half an hour's journey'. Sienkiewicz arrived in Vienna at the end of March, where he fell ill with a throat infection. Treatment on the Adriatic was recommended to him by the Warsaw-based Teodor Heryng, whom he had met in Vienna. The choice fell on Abaca. Along the way, Sienkiewicz also stopped off in Fiume. Among the well-known arrivals from Poland, the most frequently mentioned are: Maria Konopnicka, Stefan Żeromski, Józef Piłsudski and Stanisław Witkiewicz, the latter, however, lived in nearby Lovran. Abacation was also visited by, among others, Agenor Gołuchowski, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria-Hungary, who was to meet here with his Italian counterpart Tommaso Tittoni, or Włodzimierz Dzieduszycki, who, nota bene, funded trips for researchers connected with his Natural History Museum in Lwów.

Mieczysław Orłowicz's words from his 1914 guidebook to Europe, which states that as many as 8,000 of the city's 50,000 visitors were Poles, testify to the popularity of Abacus among Poles. According to Izabela Gass, "Poles stayed at the 'Kronprinzessin Stefanii' hotel, or in boarding houses run by Poles: Villa Mascagni, Villa Peppina, Villa Heim . Polish doctors, such as Dr Henryk Ebers junior, who founded the spa in Krynica, or Ksawery Górski, the founder of the sanatorium in Szczawnica, or another medical celebrity of the time, Dr Bolesław Kostecki, used to prescribe here". He also quotes words from Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński's epigram about Mrs Stefania, who "used to go to Abacia for a topic of conversation". By the aforementioned famous promenade there is a place for a small bust of Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Around the year 2000, the municipal authorities of Opatija, probably not without the influence of the local Polish community, decided to commemorate Henryk Sienkiewicz in the Avenue of Merit, and then approached the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Zagreb about the matter. The Ambassador initiated the process of obtaining a bust of Henryk Sienkiewicz by submitting an official request to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. On 1 March 2001, the Director of the Department for the Protection of National Heritage at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage forwarded this request to Ignacy Moś, founder and founder of the Henryk Sienkiewicz Literary Museum in Poznań.

Ignacy Moś agreed to support the venture, and the Henryk Sienkiewicz Literary Museum undertook the preparation and implementation of the project. One of the busts of Sienkiewicz by an unknown artist in the museum's collection was chosen as the model for the copy. The cast was made in Kochanowski's workshop in Rokietnica, near Poznań. The entire project was financed by Ignacy Moś. The ceremonial unveiling took place on 12 July 2001. The bust was placed on its own pedestal, which bears the cast inscription Sienkiewicz //. The whole is situated on a low pedestal in the form of a partially worked horizontally placed boulder. Attached to it on the front is a gold plaque with the inscription Henryk Sienkiewicz / poljski književnik / (1846.-1916.) / Dobitnik Nobelove nagrade 1905. / Boravio u Opatiji 1887., 1889. 1905. //. The plaque is attached to a rectangular polished section of the plinth, under which the letters of an earlier, illegible inscription are visible. The pedestal is compositionally unsuited to the casting, and appears to have been originally intended for a slightly wider carving. Also, the machined upper part of the pedestal, intended as a base for the bust, does not match its dimensions. The mismatch between the plinth and the bust may be due to its elaboration prior to the importation of the sculpture or may be indicative of a secondary use of the plinth.

The bronze casting, patinated, measures 53 cm high and 33 cm wide at the base, weighing 15 kg,

For detailed information on the history of the bust's placement, I thank Dr Mirella Ryś of the Raczynski Library in Poznan.