We were delighted to host the Polish Ambassador Anna Sochańska on 17th September 2021 as part of our Culture Night celebrations.
The Ambassador kindly unveiled Kieran Tuohy’s sculpture of Pawel Strzelecki, an often forgotten Famine hero. Kieran has kindly donated this piece of work to the Irish Workhouse Centre as part of our permanent Strzelecki exhibition. According to ‘A Forgotten Hero of the Irish Great Famine’, Strezelecki was a world-renowned Polish explorer and scientist. He came to Ireland as a volunteer in 1847 and through charity work witnessed the terrible conditions of the Irish poor of that time. “You may now believe anything you hear and read”, he said, “because what I actually see surpasses what I ever read of past and present calamities”.
Thanks to his work, over 200,000 children received food in schools, his intervention saving many lives. He was knighted as Commander of the Order of Bath in 1848.
