Alicja Habsburg Bench in Żywiec

In the castle park in Żywiec, next to the Habsburg Palace, a bronze Archduchess Alicja Habsburg sits on a marble bench – a Swede who chose Poland and served in the wartime underground under the code name "Alicja". The life-size sculpture was unveiled in February 2012. There is a free seat beside her, which makes for an easy photo – and a good excuse to learn the story of the Żywiec Habsburgs.

Who was Alicja Habsburg

Alice Ankarcrona was born on 18 December 1889 in Hölö, Sweden, into a family related to the royal house. In 1911 she married Count Ludwik Badeni; their son Kazimierz later became the Dominican friar Joachim Badeni. Widowed in 1916, she married Archduke Charles Albert (Karol Olbracht) Habsburg, owner of the Żywiec estate, in November 1920. The couple had four children, all born in Żywiec.

War and resistance

In September 1939 the Gestapo seized the Habsburg residence in Żywiec and arrested Charles Albert. Both refused to sign the Volksliste, which would have let them keep part of their property. Alicja joined the Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ): she monitored radio broadcasts, carried correspondence and translated communiqués. In 1942 the family was deported to forced labour in Germany. In 1946 the archduchess received the Cross of Valour, and in 1963, at the request of General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski, the Honorary Badge for service in the Home Army. After the war the Habsburgs did not recover their property and in 1951 left for Sweden for good. In 1973 Alicja published her memoirs, "The Partisan Princess", and she died in Stockholm on 26 November 1985.

The sculpture

The life-size figure is the work of Bronisław Krzysztof, an artist from Bielsko-Biała. The archduchess sits on a marble bench holding a handkerchief embroidered with the Habsburg coat of arms. The bench was part of the Żywiec county's Miniature Park project and was placed near the apartment of the couple's youngest daughter, Maria Krystyna Habsburg, who returned to Żywiec in September 2001. In May 2023 the President of Poland posthumously awarded Alicja the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, and her husband the Grand Cross.

On the military heritage trail

The bench is one of the stops on the Żywiec Trail of Polish Arms, marked out in autumn 2023 by the town and the PTTK tourist association. The red-and-white route is about 6.7 km long (around 2 hrs 15 min) and leads from the Żywiec-Zabłocie station through the castle park and the Market Square to Moszczanica. Since 2 November 2023 the decorations of Alicja and Charles Albert have been on display in the Żywiec co-cathedral, in the Chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa.

Tripto tips

The bench stands in the park by the Habsburg Palace, next to the Old Castle. The park covers about 26 ha, and its oldest parts date from the 18th century. Access is free. The sculpture itself takes a few minutes, but allow 1–2 hours for a walk through the park and the Miniature Park with models of buildings erected by the Komorowski, Wielopolski and Habsburg families. From here the trail continues to the Market Square and the co-cathedral.