NEW SARCOPHAGUS OF THE POLISH PRESIDENTIAL COUPLE
White Carrara marble has been replaced with light yellow onyx with carved, gold letters – these are the main features of the new tomb of Lech and Maria Kaczynscy. It is a controversial matter, though. According to the creator of the first tomb, three mistakes were made while dismantling onyx slabs. During his work Jan Siuta – who in 2010 together with his 30 employees made a sarcophagus for the presidential couple - was observed by a lot of journalists and under enormous time pressure. Now he has decided to reveal some unknown facts. Mr Siuta thinks that if the creator of the sarcophagus was able to open it, there would be no need to prepare a new one since the onyx tomb is said to have been opened once just after the funeral of the presidential couple (!). It is said that the slab was then removed and after that the sarcophagus was closed again. One thing is certain. Nothing was damaged during those works. The following question arises then: why wasn’t the creator of the first tomb asked to do it again? Nobody knows why another company opened the tomb. Mechanical cutting of one of the stone blocks was necessary. Polish media were speaking a lot about it because, according to Stanisaw Sitarz, a long time member of the Association of Polish Stone Employers and also an expert witness, if the sarcophagus had been dismantled in the right way, it would have been re-installed without any damages.
Let us remind some basic facts. The new tomb of the presidential couple was designed by M. Witosławska (architect) and M. Moderau (sculptor). It is a little bit shorter and narrower. But these are not all the changes that have been applied. On the left side there is now a convex emblem which was carved in stone and embedded in a thick slab. On the right there are dates of births and deaths of the presidential couple and a cross. Structure of the first tomb was made from steel. Now stone thick slabs support on each other. Angle brackets were added only in some places. The new sarcophagus was installed at night. We do not know what will happen to the old one.
Photo: wikipedia.pl
The new sarcophagus can be visited in the crypt of the Wawel Cathedral.