The Polish artist and sculptor Bronislaw Krzysztof has been commissioned to create a life-size memorial of the Second World War hero General Stanislaw Maczek seated on a bench in the Scottish capital.
Mr Krzysztof was met by Adam McVey, Edinburgh City Council leader, below, and representatives of the General Stanislaw Maczek Memorial Trust at the planned memorial location in the courtyard at the entrance to the City Chambers, ahead of formal contract-signing.
The move followed this week’s £18,000 financial boost from the Polish Government.
The general, who made Edinburgh his home for the last 50 years of his life, was Commander of the 1st Polish Armoured Division and appointed by Winston Churchill to defend Scotland’s east coast from potential invasion.
Read more: Poland boosts tribute fund for war hero Maczek
He played a key role in the Battle of Normandy but when the Second World War ended he was unable to return to his home in Poland under communism.
Mr McVey said the general's history has struck a chord with many in Edinburgh.
He said: "It is a fascinating story of someone who couldn’t find refuge in their own community and came to Edinburgh and found what I hope was a good life here."
Read more: Poland boosts tribute fund for war hero Maczek
Mr Krzysztof said: "I see it as my role in turning this amazing idea into reality.
"It is important not just from the artistic point of view that this is happening but it is also a genuine initiative of co-operation between our nations.
"There is a great connection between the Poles and the Scots which is extremely positive and very important.
"I have a lot of friends in Scotland, so it is a great pleasure to be working here.
"I have been here as a tourist and I hope that this artistic endeavour now will be an even greater pleasure over the coming months.
"I’m really happy that there will be this little piece of my artistic work here in the city, it is a great honour."
Trustee Katie Fraser, whose late father Lord Fraser of Carmyllie started the campaign, said: "It’s good to reach this significant milestone after years of work by everyone involved."
The artwork is due to be unveiled later this year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here