“Woman with a Jug”

The sculpture “Woman with a Jug”, commonly known as the “Gliwiczanka”, by the sculptor Wanda Demczyszyn-Wiśniewska (1956).

The work refers to the legend of the heroic defence of the city by its women during the attack on Gliwice by General Mansfeld’s troops in 1626, during the Thirty Years’ War. When the Protestant forces attempted to seize the city, the women of Gliwice poured hot porridge and water onto the attacking soldiers from the tops of the defensive walls, helping to save the city. A native resident of Gliwice, Gerda Rothkegel, posed for the statue.