Jan Florian Raszka (1871-1945) - Polish sculptor, engraver, medallist, painter, professor and pedagogue working under the influence of Art Nouveau and Art Déco. In 1892 he graduated from the German-language state gymnasium in Cieszyn. During this period of his life he joined the Polish pupils' organisation "Jedność" and two years later he became one of the founders of the Association of Polish Academics in Cieszyn Silesia "Znicz". After graduating from high school, he decided to pursue his artistic interests at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where he studied painting and sculpture for five years. During this time he created a portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph I. In 1900, on the occasion of the Paris Exhibition, he won a competition to model a bronze group depicting the transition between the 19th and 20th centuries, which won him a prize of 5,000 crowns. In 1902 he moved to Krakow, where he worked on the artistic restoration of the Wawel Castle and at the same time served as a lecturer in drawing and sculpture at the Faculty of Arts Industry at the Higher School of Industry. In 1914, as a volunteer, he joined the Silesian Legion and later the Polish Legions during the First World War. He served in the Second Brigade of the Legions and gained a reputation as a war sculptor. After the war, he returned to work in Kraków, where he was director of the State School of Art Industry from 1921 and served as president of the Association of Polish Artists. He retired in 1931 and towards the end of his life, also passionate about technology, he engaged in tinkering in his sculpture studio. He died in Krakow in 1945. Raszka is best known for his monuments, especially those dedicated to fallen soldiers from World War I, including the Freedom Monument in Dziedzice, the Mieszko I Monument in Cieszyn, the Silesian Legionnaires Monument or the Marshal Piłsudski Monument on Litewski Square in Lublin.