Controversial Rainbow on the Savior’s Square
8March 10, 2014 by Aleksandra Łuczak
This post has been prepared by Kamila Dudzic from Kozminski University
What colors should be there at the Savior’s Square rainbow to make it a symbol of agreement? The Internet started to be filled with proposals to have the artistic structure rebuilt in white and red, in Legia football club colors, or in Hungary’s national colors.
What’s the reaction of state administration? The installation grew in the Warsaw’s square in June 2012 and was supposed to disappear in January 2013. It started to be liked very fast and an idea came to let it stay longer. There were some people, however, who did not like the Rainbow – they complained on its lack of architectural harmonization with the square or LGBT symbolic promotion. Its opponents appeared among the Warsaw’s city council members. Councilor Olga Johann from Law and Justice convinced, that the Rainbow covers the sight of the Church of the Holy Savior and called for respecting “the remains of architectural beauty”.
During the Independence March, Julita Wójcik’s installation was burnt again. The Warsaw’s authorities declared that it would be rebuilt.
What should it look like? The Internet users propose color changes. Thousands of people supported an initiative in a popular social network to have the Rainbow rebuilt in national flag colors. The authors of this idea deny to be either nationalist organization, or followers of “homosexual organizations”, and define themselves as simple citizens of the capital city. – Let’s build white and red Rainbow. It will symbolize all of us, Poles, our colors. All will be satisfied: Warsaw citizens, visitors, the poor, the rich, homosexuals, hipsters, nationalists, youtubers, bloggers, football fans. That’s the idea – what do you think? – asks the social network.
Colors of Legia football club? An idea appeared to have half of the rainbow in Polish national flag colors and the other half – in national colors of Hungarian flag. “Poles – Hungarians both like brothers ” quote the idea authors, referring to many years of friendship between Polish and Hungarian nations. Some say, that the installation should have the colors of Legia football club. One of the Internet users proposed to have it with two different sides. – Rainbow-colored on one side, and white and red, on the other one.
Someone else proposed it to be in form of famous meme: Nyan Cat. There was its image on the Rainbow too. “There is no such idea” Zofia Ślepowrońska – City Sanitation Department spokeswoman – does not leave any doubts, however. – We do not consider to have the Rainbow rainbow-colored. There is no such idea. A proposal came to have it made of LED lights, but these are pure divagations right now. First we will try to recover money from the organizers of Independence March for destruction of the Rainbow, then we will think about organizing a public procurement for its reconstruction – says Ślepowrońska. Now, it’s being decorated by flowers brought by the citizens.
What should it look like in your opinion?
Have your say!
Category discrimination, Poland, violence | Tags:
I think that this rainbow is just pretty, that’s all. If someone interpretes it as a symbol of homosexualism than it’s just his intepretation. On the other hand the designer of this rainbow said that he was somehow inspired by the homosexualism logo.
If our country wants to show that we are tolerant and we accept homosexualism then the people in the government should do something with our law. Manifesting their support by this rainbow is not supporting but only provoking the radical people to destroy it etc.
Rainbow on Savior’s Square is really beautiful. It makes this place look special. I don’t see any bad intentions behind it’s colours. They are obviously colours of the rainbow, so I don’t really know what is the problem. For everyone, who thinks different – come on, it’s just a kind of construction in the middle of a traffic circle.
If changing colours to white and red would make the rainbow stay longer than a few months – I agree. It will be as beutiful as now is.
I admire the view of the Savior ‘s Square in the summer. Green trees nearby and the sun reflecting in the Rainbow localized just in the middle are simply beautiful. During the winter this colorful construction is the only element which can improve mood of people passing by. I do not understand the reasons of those who are so bitterly fighting against it. I think that their symbolism which is assigned to a rainbow is highly exaggerated. The Eiffel Tower at the beginning of its existence has also been negatively assessed by the Parisians. Today it is the one of the most characteristic buildings in the entire world. I hope it will also happen with rainbow and we all begin to be proud of the symbols of our city.
I don’t think that it is a necessary element of Savior’s Square’s arrangement. It is nice, colorful, it emanates with happiness but still it associates with specific views. I have nothing against this fact, but some people apparently do. In my opnion this rainbow unnecessarily attracts attention of homosexual and gender “problems”. As long as its existence causes dispute in society it should not be in the city centre.
I think there’s nothing wrong with this rainbow, maybe it’s colors were inspired by homosexuality but so was the first Apple logo. To tell the truth it would be nice to see this rainbow in red and white – a little bit of patriotism is always nice but he have to ask one question. Is it again worth spending money on this rainbow or maybe something new, fresh should be build in new location to add some variety?
I find the Rainbow at the Savior’s Square one of the most beautiful things in Warsaw. It is a modern element of the architecture which suits with the church in the background (Let’s say we look at it from Marszałkowska Street.) It could show how Warsaw is tolerant and how we have developed. However, the idea of rebuilding it is inappropriate because those funds used to rebuild the Rainbow should be spent for the meals for the poor and hungry children. That is the good use of those money. Back to the topic, the idea of make the Rainbow in Legia’s colors is ridiculous for me because they exist other sport clubs and Legia’s fans aren’t those the most important. When I read about making the Rainbow in colors of Hungarian flag, I think it is an amazing idea. Poland and Hungary have a common history, our tradition is influenced by the Hungarian. We are in good relations with Hungary so it should not be a problem for anyone. The most popular meaning of the colors of a typical rainbow is that they belong to the homosexual part of the society. I agree with that stereotypical point of view but why should it be bad for Warsaw? We could have showed how our minds are open to the world but unfortunately, we did not manage to.
It’s an absurd to build a rainbow in our national colours because rainbow from its definition isn’t red and white but has 7 different colours on itself. In my opinion it should be rebuild and just stay there because it’s a beautiful symbol of tolerance, not only for LGBT society but in general. That is why i don’t see any reason why anybody should be affended by it.
This famous rainbow came through many detriments. Ones it was built – over and over again something was happening. It was put on fire few times. Why some people wanted to destroy it? Was it beacause the rainbow is commonly know as a symbol of homosexuality? those people who distroyed it was thinking that way for sure. How deeply homophobic a person must be to destroy such a pretty thing – a creation of someone else. just because he or she seens it as a symbol of something they just cannot accept. it is unacceptable for me. I think this rainbow deserve to exist on the Savior’s squere and become a symbol of this square.