The note informs of the unveiling in March 1928 of a monument to Archbishop Józef Bilczewski by Piotr Wójtowicz in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lviv. The monument is located in the Chapel of the Crucifixion (Jablonovskis). The information was published in the periodical "Sztuki Piękne",1927/1928, no. 6, p. 228 (public domain, reprinted from the Library of the University of Silesia, Katowice).

A modernised reading of the text

Unveiling of the monument to Archbishop Bilczewski.

The unveiling of the monument to Archbishop Bilczewski took place in mid-March. The monument, placed in the Cathedral of Lviv, in the chapel of Blessed Jakub Strzemię, was made by the Lviv sculptor Mr. Wojtowicz. It depicts this distinguished shepherd in pontifical dress, standing, with a cross in his right hand and a pastoral in his left. The execution of the entire figure in Carrara marble, although rather trivially carried out, betrays great and serious skill.

The figure would have benefited if it had not been depicted with such photographic realism, and this dissonance with the architectural setting of the monument is further magnified by the pastoral which the archbishop holds in his hand, which is made of polished wood, decorated with shining brass rings and a shiny metal snail ending the pastoral. The statue is set on a pedestal, made of pink Kielce marble to a design by Professor T. Obminski. It is a modest cube with a slight cornice, on which an inscription in Latin proclaims the merits of the deceased Archpriest.

In the recess of the pedestal is placed an urn containing the heart of the late Fr Bilczewski, covered by a "transena", made in Carrara marble. The transenna, among decorative capitals, shows a heart shrouded in leaves and flowers with the inscription:

"cor archipraesulis (heart of the archpriest)".

The whole, not devoid of serious technical merit, is striking for its stylelessness and the figure's disconnection with the architecture of the Chapel of Blessed James Strzemie.