Funeral of Henryk Sienkiewicz in Vevey

Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916) spent the last moments of his life in Vevey, Switzerland. He died on the evening of 15 November 1916, with his wife Maria and son Henryk by his side. His corpse was soon embalmed and placed in an oak sarcophagus. On 18 November, the remains of the author of 'Quo Vadis' were put on public display at the Grand Lac Hotel, and at night they were moved to the parish church of Our Lady. A funeral mass was celebrated there on 22 November, during which the well-known Warsaw preacher Father Jan Gralewski gave a farewell speech and the gathered people sang patriotic songs. In accordance with the wishes of the family, the body was temporarily deposited in the crypt of the church.

Sienkiewicz's remains were brought to Poland in 1924 in a special train that served as a mobile chapel. The specially decorated interior contained a coffin with the remains of the writer. Before his body was deposited in the crypt of the Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Warsaw, the Polish writer was paid tribute to by dignitaries of state, cultural figures and crowds of admirers in Switzerland.

Plaque dedicated to Henryk Sienkiewicz in the Church of Notre-Dame

In 1959, a rectangular stone plaque commemorating the writer was hung in the Church of Notre-Dame in Vevey, the site of Henryk Sienkiewicz's original burial, located to the left of the entrance. The author of the plaque is a Polish sculptor and medallist active in France and Switzerland, specialising in portrait sculpture - Franciszek Ksawery Black (1881-1959). The commemorative plate of Sienkiewicz in Vevey was one of the artist's last realisations, made just before his death. At the time of the commission, Black already had a full-length portrait bust of the Nobel laureate, a cast of the writer's death mask and hands, and a series of medallions with his image.

The plaque from the Church of Our Lady in Vevey contains a bronze medallion with a realistic profile of Henryk Sienkiewicz, the emblem of Poland and the coats of arms of eight Polish cities: Warsaw, Krakow, Poznań, Wrocław, Szczecin, Gdańsk, Lviv and Vilnius. The main part of the plaque is occupied by an inscription in French:

"HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ L'AUTEUR DE QUO VADIS NÉ LE 5 MAI 1846 A WOLA OKRZEJSKA EN POLOGNE MORT LE 16 NOVEMBRE 1916 A VEVEY EN SUISSE AFIN QUE LES OEUVRES HUMAINES ACCOMPLIES DURANT LES SIECLES NESE PERDENT PAS DANS LA NUIT DE LOUBLI IL EST BON ET JUSTE DE MAINTENIR LEUR MEMOIRE ET DE LA LEGUER A LA POSTERITE. H.SIENKIEWICZ OFERRT PAR ZBIGNIEW PORAY-ŁUKASZYŃSKI" (HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ AUTHOR OF QUO VADIS BORN MAY 5, 1846. IN WOLA OKRZEJSKA, POLAND DIED 16 NOVEMBER 1916 IN VEVEY, SWITZERLAND. SO THAT THE WORKS OF MANKIND ACCOMPLISHED OVER THE CENTURIES ARE NOT LOST IN THE DARKNESS OF OBLIVION, IT IS GOOD AND RIGHT TO KEEP THEIR MEMORY ALIVE AND PASS IT ON TO POSTERITY. H. SIENKIEWICZ, FOUNDED BY ZBIGNIEW PORAY-ŁUKASZYŃSKI).

Below, on the lower left-hand side, there is the signature of the author of the plaque. The plaque was founded by Zbigniew Poray - Łukaszyński, a Polish immigrant in the United States.