IT has taken years of work by a dedicated team to reach the last push.
The bronze memorial commemorating the story of Wojtek the Polish soldier bear has arrived in Edinburgh ahead of the official unveiling on Saturday.
Wojtek was an orphan bear cub when rescued by young Poles in 1942, as they made their way to the Middle East to join the Free Polish Army after surviving the hardships of deportation to Siberia.
The soldiers hid the Syrian brown bear cub from their senior officers, but when the secret was revealed, they were given permission to keep him as a mascot.
The Wojtek Memorial Trust, made up of members of the Scots and Polish communities, set up project.
Sculptor Allan Beattie Heriot shepherded his artwork into place in Princes Street Gardens.
Donald Wilson, Edinburgh's Lord Provost, Witold Sobkow, Polish Ambassador to the UK, and Polish military veterans connected to the Wojtek story will be leading Saturday's ceremony alongside guest of honour film-make Brendan Foley who is to make a movie of the story.
Wojtek the bear became a faithful mascot of a company of the Free Polish Army in the Second World War.
He is famed after reportedly carrying munitions at the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944.
After the Italian campaign, he lived in Scotland with the Polish soldiers in a displaced persons camp, and when the camp closed in 1947 he settled in Edinburgh Zoo, where he lived until he died in 1963.
His story has become a symbol of the Scots and Polish communities' linked history.
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