Prohászka László: Polish Monuments - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2001)
Polish eagle with a golden crown, bearing an iconlike colour representation of the Madonna of Cz^chostowa above its heart. The Madonna picture is flanked by two bronze figures praying, crafted in modern style, one representing Blessed Eusebius (c 1200-70), the other representing Saint Hedvig (1373-99) Polish queen, whose father, Hungarian king Louis the Great, settled the Pauline monks in Czechostowa in 1382 The bronze eagle is the work of a noted Polish sculptor, Bronislaw Chromy, whose work includes another item of Hungarian interest, a relief of the Hungarian Renaissance poet Bálint Balassi, which was placed on the wall of the Potocki Palace in Krakow in 1995. The enamel Madonna representation was made by Teresa Blasyczyk. The altar was a gift from organisations and private individuals resident in Poland. The stained glass window features “Patrona Hungáriáé”, the Virgin Mary, the eponym of the church. On one of the bronze plaques to its side are listed the names of all those places in Hungary where there used to be refugee camps for Polish refugees. The inscription on the other plaque, in both languages, reads: It was in this place that / the Polish soldiers and refugees / interned in Hungary during World War II / prayed to the Queen of Poland and Hungary / for their return to a free and independent Poland / as soon as possible. The top corners of the plaque are decorated by the arms of the two nations. Next to the entrance to the chapel there is a clay relief of Saint Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) built into the wall (the work of Mária Majzik). A piece of barbed wire hints at the place where the priest died a martyr—Auschwitz. Franciscan friar Kolbe was arrested by the Gestapo in February 1941 and taken to Auschwitz, where he was marked number 16670. In retaliation for a successful escape from the camp by a few prisoners, the German commander of the camp sentenced ten inmates to death by starving. Kolbe volunteered to go into the starvation chamber instead 55
