Stefan Żeromski Bench in Siedlce

On Piłsudski street in Siedlce, in front of the seat of the Municipal Public Library, Stefan Żeromski has sat down on a bench. The monument was unveiled in 2011, on the occasion of the reopening of the modernised library; its author is the sculptor Stanisław Strzyżyński from Nałęczów.

A writer tied to Siedlce

Żeromski's connection with the town is no accident: the writer's wife, Anna Zawadzka, came from Siedlce, and the protagonist of the novel "Przedwiośnie" (The Spring to Come), Cezary Baryka, is in the book a native of this town. The bench commemorates the author of "Ludzie bezdomni" (Homeless People) and "Popioły" (Ashes) — a prose writer nominated four times for the Nobel Prize in 1921–1924, called "the conscience of Polish literature".

The library and the town hall next door

The choice of a spot in front of the library is symbolic: Żeromski was a social activist and librarian, the first president of the Polish PEN Club. A few steps from the bench stands the Siedlce town hall known as "Jacek", and within a few hundred metres are the cathedral and the former Ogiński palace.

In practice

The bench is accessible around the clock, and a visit is best combined with a walk through the centre of Siedlce: from the town hall, past the cathedral, to the Ogiński palace. A dozen or so minutes is enough for a photo and a moment of reflection.