London - a vibrant metropolis, a multicultural melting pot, but also one of the most important cities in the history of Polish emigration. From the time of the Great Emigration to the most recent wave of migration, Poles have left their mark here - in art, politics, religion and also in the collective memory. Today, these traces form a fascinating mosaic - a kind of guide to the history and national identity written in the walls and monuments of the British capital.

Institutions that speak Polish
In the heart of London, at the elegant Princes Gate, next to Hyde Park, is the Polish Institute and the General Sikorski Museum - a unique institution not only for the Polish community, but also for anyone interested in the history of the 20th century. Established in 1945, just a few months after the death of General Władysław Sikorski, the institute has always acted as a depository of national memory. Its collections include tens of thousands of documents, thousands of photographs, as well as uniforms, decorations, banners and objects of everyday use that once belonged to soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces in the West ( read the article on the Banner of the 14th Jazłowiec Lancers Regiment ). It is here that, among other things, the last, unfinished speech of General Sikorski, whose death in a plane crash over Gibraltar in 1943 still raises emotions and questions today, is kept. The Institute not only documents the drama of the war, but also the heroism and sacrifice of Poles on the fronts of Europe and Africa - from Tobruk to Monte Cassino.

The museum's collections also include unique memorabilia of the 14th Cavalry Lancers Regiment, Polish airmen fighting in the Battle of Britain and the soldiers of Generals Maczek and Anders. There is a reading room, an archive available for researchers and an exhibition room. Importantly, the facility is open to the public and regularly organises meetings, lectures and presentations - fulfilling not only a museum function, but also an educational one.

Just a few kilometres away, in the vibrant Hammersmith district, is the POSK - Polish Social and Cultural Centre, one of the largest cultural centres for the Polish community worldwide. Since its opening in 1967, POSK has become not only a centre for artistic events, but also a place to meet, exchange ideas and build community. For many Poles, especially those from the waves of post-war emigration, POSK was a substitute for the country - a place where one could speak Polish, listen to Polish music and participate in cultural events without the need to translate the context.

On a daily basis, it is home to the POSK Theatre, the POSK Gallery, the POSK Polish Library, a bookshop, a restaurant, the Jazz Café, as well as the offices of social and charitable organisations. Artists who have performed at POSK include Wojciech Młynarski, Krystyna Janda, Leszek Możdżer, Janusz Gajos, as well as jazz bands, choirs and folk groups. It is a place that brings generations together - from distinguished veterans to young cultural creators.

POSK also serves as an archive of the social memory of the emigration. Portraits of eminent Poles hang on its walls, and its spaces host a myriad of events - from author's evenings and literary meetings to vernissages, classical and jazz concerts, and exhibitions of photography and contemporary art.

One of the most interesting initiatives here is the project to document the history of Polish emigration by recording the memories of the oldest members of the London Polish community - a kind of 'living library'.

Today, with the Polish presence in London numbering in the hundreds of thousands, POSK remains not only a reminder of times gone by, but also a dynamically developing centre of contemporary cultural life. It is a space where Polish identity takes on many faces - traditional and modern, nostalgic and experimental.

Cemeteries - necropolises of Polish glory
London is not only a metropolis teeming with life and diversity, but also a vast book of memory in which countless Polish destinies have been written. Among its quiet, green necropolises, one can find chapters of this history, written with sacrifice, talent, patriotism and daily concern for the survival of identity in a foreign land. The Polish graves and monuments scattered around London's cemeteries bear witness to the fate of both national heroes and thousands of ordinary Poles who found shelter, work and a new home in this city - sometimes only for a while, and sometimes for the rest of their lives.

In the shade of centuries-old trees and among the elegant avenues of west London, Gunnersbury Cemetery hides one of the most important national memorials of Polish emigration. It is here, amidst stone crosses, stylised headstones and simple plaques, that a Polish quarter stretches beyond a cemetery - it is a story of freedom, exile and steadfast identity. At the heart of the Polish tombstone complex rises the Katyn Monument , unveiled in 1976, long before the Katyn massacre was officially recognised by the communist and later Russian authorities. The work by sculptor Luis Tomasi, made of granite and bronze, depicts a crowned eagle entwined with barbed wire - one of the most moving representations of Polish suffering and imprisoned truth. Below it is a simple but eloquent inscription: "Katyn 1940".

From the beginning, the memorial has stirred emotions - not only among the Polish community, but also among the British authorities and the public. Over the years it has been the site of prayers, remembrance marches and protests against the distortion of history. Its symbolic significance has been honoured by the awarding of the Virtuti Militari Cross, making it one of the few monuments outside Poland honoured with this decoration.

But Gunnersbury is not just a Katyn Memorial. It is also the resting place of eminent personalities whose names are familiar to 20th century history. The most famous of these is Edward Raczyński - President of the Polish Republic in Exile (1979-1986), diplomat, Ambassador of the Second Polish Republic in London from 1934 to 1945. It was he who was the first to publicly inform the Allies about the Holocaust, sending the reports of Rotmistrz Witold Pilecki and Jan Karski. Raczynski was not only a politician, but also an author of memoirs and Byron's translator.

Also resting here are generals of the Polish Army, including associates of Generals Sikorski, Anders and Maczek; Cichociemni soldiers, Home Army officers, Siberians, as well as scouting activists and representatives of the pre-war intellectual and artistic elite. Each gravestone tells a separate story: here you will find names associated with the fight for independence, with the dramas of war and with life in exile, which was not just emigration - it was a continuation of service to Poland.

Gunnersbury Cemetery is not a forgotten place. Every year, around 1 November, 3 May and 11 November, patriotic ceremonies are held here, attended by representatives of the Polish Embassy, veterans' organisations, scouts, students of Polish Saturday schools and ordinary Londoners. During these ceremonies, the cemetery comes alive - candles are lit, Polish songs are heard and words of poems and speeches resound in the silence. There are 19 index cards of gravestones from this cemetery in the catalogue of Polonica .

On the slopes of Highgate Hill, among the trees, ivy and majestic neo-Gothic-style monuments, is one of the oldest Polish graves in London - a testimony to the fate of the Great Emigration and the spirit of the fight for freedom, which was not extinguished even in exile.

Highgate Cemetery, founded in 1839 as part of the famous 'Big Seven' of London's necropolises, has attracted artists, reformers and intellectuals from the beginning. Resting here are Karl Marx, George Eliot, Michael Faraday, among others - but also... Polish patriots who were thrown to England after the defeat of the November Uprising. Among them were Albert Darasz and Stanisław Worcell - representatives of the current of radical, democratic émigré thought.

Both were not only insurgents, but also ideologues - Darasz was associated with the Union of National Unity, while Worcell - one of Joachim Lelewel's closest associates - promoted ideas of republicanism, social equality and national liberation. Their lives - short, intense and full of travels around Europe - ended in London, but the memory of them did not fade.

In 1890, on the initiative of the Polish Society in London, their grave was restored and provided with a marble monument, which became one of the oldest Polish monuments in exile. Inscriptions in Polish and French, ornaments with laurel leaves and the symbol of an eagle without a crown - all this was not only a tribute to the dead, but also a manifestation of the continuance of the Polish national cause.

For many decades, it was here, on Highgate, that patriotic celebrations took place on 3 May and 11 November, bringing together representatives of the Polish community, émigré activists, veterans, and later also scouts and students of Polish schools. During the communist era, when these dates were not allowed to be openly honoured in the country, Highgate became a symbol of the continuity of national memory.

On the slopes of this cemetery one can still feel the spirit of those who believed that the fight for Poland did not end with the fall of the uprising. They turned defeat into a new kind of activity - journalism, philosophy, organising education, supporting the uprisings of succeeding generations.

In the heart of London, near the museum district of South Kensington, is Brompton Cemetery - one of the most elegant and picturesque cemeteries in the British capital. Among the carefully maintained avenues, classical columns and stately tombs, there are also traces of the Polish presence, which - although less well known than those at Gunnersbury or Highgate - tell a fascinating story about the fate of individuals inscribed in the great map of emigrant heritage.

Among the thousands of gravestones, a special place is held by the grave of Jan Herman Zukertort - one of the most remarkable figures of the 19th century Polish community. Born in 1842 in Warsaw (then under Russian annexation), Zukertort was a renaissance man: he spoke more than a dozen languages, studied medicine, fought in the Prussian-Austrian war and, above all, was a chess grandmaster, considered one of the greatest strategists in the history of the game.

In 1886, he played the first official world chess championship match against Wilhelm Steinitz, lost after a dramatic battle but remaining to this day one of the most important events in the history of chess. Although he spent most of his life in England and Germany, Zukertort never denied his Polish roots.

He died suddenly during a demonstration game in London in 1888. His tombstone, neglected for years, was restored in 2012 thanks to the initiative of chess and Polish history enthusiasts. Today, it features a bilingual inscription - in English and Polish - commemorating this 'king among chess players'.

Although Zukertort's grave is the most famous Polish site at Brompton, it is not the only one. The cemetery also hides the gravestones of other prominent representatives of Polish emigration:
. - Julian Ławrynowicz (1904-1961) - sculptor, medallist, author of numerous works commemorating soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces, collaborator of émigré cultural and veterans' institutions. His artistic work is a bridge between classical and modern symbolism of remembrance.
- Maria Danilewicz-Zielińska (1907-2003) - literary scholar, librarian, populariser of Polish culture and long-time manager of the Polish Library in London. Her contribution to the preservation and promotion of her literary heritage cannot be overestimated. Although buried in Portugal, she has a symbolic grave in Brompton, visited by researchers and students.
- Jozef Retinger (1888-1960) - political adviser to General Sikorski, emissary of the Polish government in exile, co-founder of the idea of a united Europe and the Bilderberg Group. His work, although controversial, had a huge impact on the post-war shape of Europe. Brompton was his burial place before his remains were moved to Poland.
- Kazimierz Krzyżanowski (1902-1984) - archivist, independence activist, associated with the Polish Historical Institute in London. He worked on documenting the fate of Poles in the UK and co-founded the émigré national archive.
- Symbolic plaques and commemorative plates - commemorating social activists, teachers of Saturday schools, guardians of the scouting movement and women who played a huge role in organising the family and cultural life of the emigration after 1945.

Poles are also buried in many other London cemeteries including Hampstead Cemetery , East Finchley , St Mary's Catholic Cemetery or in the columbarium at St Andrew Bobola Church .

Although the most famous Polish graves in London belong to historical figures and heroes, it is worth remembering that the majority of Polish gravestones in the British capital belong to 'ordinary' emigrants - those who could not or did not want to return to communist Poland after the war, and those who came here after 2004 in search of work and a better life. On many gravestones one can find inscriptions in Polish, scout signs, red and white ribbons, photographs from pilgrimages, and even... excerpts from Norwid and Miłosz's poems.

London's cemeteries are an archive of the fate of a community which, despite its physical distance from its homeland, has retained its memory, language and identity. They are also places of reunion - for families and friends, as well as for contemporary researchers, artists and documentarians. Many of these necropolises, such as Gunnersbury and Highgate, are today sometimes the destination of educational tours and commemorations.

Remembrance in public spaces
In the urban landscape of London - a city full of monuments, symbols of empire and contemporary architectural icons - Polish monuments do not scream. They do not overwhelm with monumentality or pushy rhetoric. They are modest but eloquent. Their strength lies in the meanings they carry - in the history hidden behind every name, symbol and date. In the silent tokens of gratitude, solidarity and shared struggle for freedom.

On the bustling South Bank, close to the galleries, theatres and boulevards along the Thames, is the Solidarity Monument - a symbol of the British public's support for the Poles who fought for freedom in the 1980s. The monument was erected at a time when the Solidarity movement, headed by Lech Walesa, was not only a workers' movement for the world, but also a symbol of peaceful resistance against the oppression of communism.

This work by Mieczysław Stobierski, a sculptor from Krakow, depicts a clenched hand piercing a grating, which at the same time resembles a flag. The monument is not impressive in size, but its concise form has the power of an emotional manifesto. It reminds us that solidarity is not just a slogan - it is an act of courage, togetherness and hope that transcended the Iron Curtain.

This monument was created in 1986 at the initiative of British trade unions and academics supporting the Polish resistance movement. Today, decades later, it continues to attract Londoners and Polish tourists alike - as a place of reverie, photography, but also spontaneous gestures of remembrance such as candles, ribbons and flags.

Polish Air Force Memorial in Northolt - wings over the Thames
Much further away from the centre, in the Northolt district, next to the former RAF airfield, rises the Polish Air Force Memorial - one of the most moving and majestic monuments dedicated to the Poles in the UK. It was unveiled in 1948 - just three years after the end of the war - in the presence of Queen Mother Elizabeth and hundreds of Polish and British veterans.

The memorial is in the shape of a classical column, at the top of which is a symbolic eagle taking flight - the mark of the Polish Air Force. On its granite plaques are carved the names of 2936 Polish airmen who fell during the Second World War - primarily during the Battle of Britain, but also in numerous other RAF operations to which Polish squadrons were attached.

The most famous of these are Squadron 303 and Squadron 302, whose bravery and effectiveness have passed into legend. The British still recall to this day that the Polish pilots flew like demons, and at the same time - often with the feeling that they were not just fighting for England, but first and foremost for Poland.

The Polish Air Force Memorial is not only a historical site - it is the centre of the annual commemorative ceremonies held in September, on the anniversary of the Battle of Britain. They are attended by Polish and British veterans, diplomats, school children and local residents. For many, it is the first contact with the history of the Polish presence in the UK, which stays in the memory for a long time.

The memorial underwent restoration in the 1990s and 2000s, and new plaques were added in 2010, incorporating additional names and a brief history of the Polish Air Force. More about this memorial in a separate article .

Poles in the British cultural landscape
Although the history of Polish-British relations often evokes images of joint military combat, culture is an equally important, and often under-appreciated, area of Polish presence in Britain. London - the city of art, literature and music - has welcomed many Polish artists who have not only continued their work in exile, but also enriched British culture with new perspectives, aesthetics and ideas.

In the spring of 1848, Fryderyk Chopin visited London - he came at the invitation of the London aristocracy and musical circles. He gave concerts in exclusive salons, including Stafford House (now Lancaster House), and his performances attracted crowds of listeners. This was his last concert tour - he died in Paris a few months later.

There is a plaque on a wall in the South Kensington district, close to where he lived and gave concerts, recalling this visit. Although in poor health and mired in melancholy, Chopin remained an artist whose music moved British listeners with its lyrical power and Polish idiom.

A few steps away from Hungerford Bridge, under the arcade of the railway station, was for decades the studio of Feliks Topolski - one of the most original Polish artists of the 20th century. It was he who created Memoir of the Century - a monumental fresco on canvas, stretching over several dozen square metres, depicting the most important figures and events of the 20th century.

Topolski portrayed Winston Churchill, Gandhi, Elizabeth II, Krzysztof Penderecki, as well as... the Warsaw Mermaid and the 1944 uprising. He was the official artist for the Queen's coronation in 1953, but at the same time he remained true to his expressive, offbeat line - a draughtsman, painter, documentarian and also a witness to history ( read about Feliskie Topolski and his work ).

In Our Lady Church in the Acton district you will find the expressive painting 'The Baptism of Christ in the Jordan' by Marek Żuławski , painted in 1982. The work, executed just before the artist's death, combines avant-garde form with a Christian message. The figures are simplified, modelled with colour and light, and the whole breathes a spirituality that is modern but deeply rooted in iconographic tradition.

Żuławski - son of the well-known Polish writer Jerzy Żuławski - was not only a painter, but also a writer and essayist. He began to emigrate even before the war, and his London work becomes a metaphor for the dialogue between Eastern spirituality and Western form, between solitude and community.

Not far from New Cross station, on the wall of a Benedictine monastery, sits the ' History of Old Kent Road ' - one of London's most extraordinary works of ceramic art. The author of this mural, consisting of more than 2,000 hand-moulded and glazed tiles, is Adam Kossowski, an artist who went through the Soviet gulag and later found asylum in the UK.

The work depicts the history of south London - from the Roman military road to the modern tenements - with humour, irony and surprising detail. Among the scenes are saints, soldiers, children, clergymen, workers and... a tube train. It is a chronicle of a neighbourhood and at the same time an artistic story about everyday life, which - even if it is full of absurdity - deserves to be recorded.

Kossowski has gained recognition in the UK as a creator of sacred art, decorating many Catholic and Anglican churches. His works are testimonies of faith and survival, deeply personal yet rooted in the commonality of the expatriate experience.

In modern London, one can come across monumental sculptures by Igor Mitoraj - one of Poland's most prominent contemporary artists. His works, such as " Testa addormentata " (1983) or " Centauro " (1994/95), have been presented in urban spaces, including Canary Wharf gardens and at the Tate Modern.

Mitoraj's style is a distinctive combination of the ancient and the modern - sculptures resembling Greek torsos and faces, but devoid of limbs, wounded, covered by the patina of time. They are figures of dreams and memory - symbolic portraits of a humanity maimed but enduring. In London, his art meets the viewer in a place where history and modernity exist side by side in organic tension.

Today, London is teeming with Polish daily life - from the sausage and bread shops on Notting Hill to the contemporary art galleries run by young artists from Poland. There are increasing numbers of exhibitions, film screenings, concerts and festivals dedicated to Polish culture. Polishness in London is not a relic - it is a living, multi-voiced story of identity, openness and memory.

The Polonica Institute has published Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz' s publication , Polish Art in Exile in the Matthew Bateson Collection, London.

Catalogue of objects without separate entries

"The Revelation of St John" in the University Chapel of Saint Benedict at Queen Mary's College
"The Apocalypse of St John" by Adam Kossowski was created in 1964 and is located in the Saint Benedict University Chapel at Queen Mary's College, London (address: Mile End Road). It is a sgraffito mural circling the entire interior of the central chapel, 243 cm high. Between scenes from the Apocalypse are figures of Saints Mark, Matthew, Paul, Luke and John.

Time of creation: 1964
Creator: Adam Kossowski
Compilation of information: Wiktoria Grabowska
Panoramic view of the entire chapel

Coronation of Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace
Coronation of Elizabeth II are panoramas by Feliks Topolski, created in 1959. They are located in the so-called Lower Corridor at Buckingham Palace in London. They take the form of two murals of about 15 m each [divided into eight and six segments], 120 cm high.

Time of creation: 1959
Creator: Feliks Topolski

Painting 'Fiat Lux' at St Christopher's Hospice
The painting 'Fiat Lux' by Marian Bohusz-Szyszko was created in 1970 and is located in the hall of the main building of St Christopher's Hospice, in the Sydenham area of London (exact address: 51-59 Lawrie Park Road, London SE26 6DZ). It is an oil painting on canvas measuring 51 x 48 cm.

Time of creation: 1970
Creator: Marian Bohusz-Szyszko
Compilation of information: Wiktoria Grabowska

Sunset " painting in St Christopher's Hospice
The painting 'Sunset' by Marian Bohusz-Szyszko was painted around 1960. It is located in the hall of the main building of St Christopher's Hospice, in the Sydenham area of London (exact address: 51-59 Lawrie Park Road, London SE26 6DZ). It is an oil painting on canvas measuring 91 x 119 cm.

Creation time: circa 1960
Creator: Marian Bohusz-Szyszko

Bas-relief "Dove of the Holy Spirit with Angels" in the baptistery of Saint Aidan Church
The bas-relief 'Dove of the Holy Spirit with Angels' by Adam Kossowski was created in 1961 and is located in the baptistery of Saint Aidan Church, Acton, London (address: Old Oak Common Lane). It is ceramic and glazed.

Time of creation: 1961
Creator: Adam Kossowski

'Nativity-Crucifixion-Resurrection' triptych at Saint Christopher's Hospice
The triptych 'Nativity-Crucifixion-Resurrection' by Marian Bohusz-Szyszko was created in 1965 and is located in the hall of the main building of Saint Christopher's Hospice, in the Sydenham area of London (exact address: 51-59 Lawrie Park Road, London SE26 6DZ). It consists of three oil paintings on canvas, each measuring 109 x 61 cm

Time of creation: 1965
Creator: Marian Bohusz-Szyszko

Stained glass window "Holy Trinity, Evangelists and Saints" in the Church of St. Etheldreda
The eastern stained glass window 'Holy Trinity, Evangelists and Saints' by Richard Demel and Edward Nuttgens was created in 1950-52 and is located in the upper church of St Etheldreda in Ely Place, London. The composition consists of five stained glass windows in a single window about 6.5m high, and small decorative stained glass windows in the upper parts of the Gothic masquerade.

Time of creation: 1950-1952
Creators: Ryszard Demel and Edward Nuttgens

Stained-glass window of the Polish Airmen Association and the stained-glass window of the Lviv Circle in the St. Andrew Bobola Church
. The two stained glass windows (Association of Polish Aviators and Circle of Lvivians) by Janina Baranowska were created between 1980 and 1987, and are located in the Polish parish church of St Andrew Bobola in the Hamersmith area of London (exact address: 1 Leysfield Road, Shepherds Bush, W12 9JF). They are approximately 4 metres high.

Time of construction: 1980-1987
Creator: Janina Baranowska

Monument to Władysław Sikorski
In London, on Portland Place, there is a monument to Władysław Sikorski, erected in 2000. It depicts the general standing on a pedestal in full military uniform, with a cap on his head.

An inscription in English on the pedestal of the monument reads:

"General Władysław Sikorski (1881-1943) Prime Minister of the Polish Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces 7 November 1939 - 4 July 1943".

Time of creation: 2000

Clock in the British Museum
The 16th century clock was produced in Poland by an unknown maker. At the top of the clock is a figure of a farmer with a staff indicating the hour. The cow's eyes move from side to side and when the clock strikes, the milkmaid milks the cow. The uterus of the mechanical animal then releases fluid retained in the herd, which flows rapidly down the woman's hands. The device was made in the Augsburg style. The specimen is a rare specimen - several examples of 16th-century automatic clocks with figures are known, but this is the only known specimen with an idyllic motif and a very rare example of a liquid-pumping clock.

Creation time: 16th century.

Monument to General Władysław Anders at the National Army Museum
The sculpture is the first monument to General Anders in the UK. It was made by Andrzej Pityński and placed in the main hall of the National Army Museum in London. The object was unveiled on 25 June 2021. The ceremony was attended by the military officer's daughter, Anna Maria Anders.

Creation time: 2021
Creator: Andrzej Pityński

Portrait of Ignacy Jan Paderewski at the Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses a sculpted portrait of Ignacy Jan Padarewski. The casting mould was made in 1891 and the sculpture itself was cast in 1934 by the renowned British artist Alfred Gilbert. The sculpture depicts the composer's head, placed on a pedestal.

Creation time: mould 1891, cast 1934
Creator: Alfred Gilbert

Plaque in memory of Maria Skłodowska-Curie
On the wall of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is a stone plaque engraved with the name of the Polish Nobel laureate, scientist Maria Skłodowska-Curie. The Polish chemist is one of 23 people chosen to be honoured. The plaque was placed on the 120th anniversary of the school. It was a historic moment also due to the fact that the Skłodowska-Curie plaque was the first of the plaques honouring a woman.

Creation time: approx. 2019
More information

Interior decoration of the Parish of Our Lady of Czestochowa and St Casimir
Adam Bunsch completed a decorative ensemble for the Parish of Our Lady of Czestochowa and St Casimir in London between 1943 and 1945. It includes ten stained glass windows in the nave and side chapel, eleven decorative windows and an oil painting of the altarpiece. The stained glass windows in the nave depict the intercession of the saints for the recovery of an independent state for the Polish people.

Time of construction: 1943-1945
Creator: Adam Bunsch

Sculpture 'Centauro' by Igor Mitoraj in Canary Wharf

Igor Mitoraj's bronze sculpture 'Centauro' was created in 1984 and is located in Montgomery Square, Canary Wharf, London.

Time of creation: 1984

Creator: Igor Mitoraj

Works by Polish artists in the collection of the Tate Modern Gallery in London

London | United Kingdom | Greater London

The Tate Modern Gallery in London is one of the largest museums dedicated to modern and contemporary art in the world. The gallery's collection includes siẹ works by several highly acclaimed Polish contemporary artists, including Magdalena Abakanowicz, Mirosław Bałka and Wilhelm Sasnal, among others. However, for all lovers of photography, the most interesting works of art are undoubtedly the photographs of Polish industrial buildings and factories taken by Tadeusz tumiński in 1962-63.