German Americans of Cleveland
Cleveland Press Articles
Statues Honor Great Foreigners
"100 Years of Nationalities in Cleveland"
Third of a Series
By Theodore Andrica
Cleveland Press, September 21, 1950
Besides the churches, halls and various organizations, another indication of the intensity of nationality life in Cleveland is the large number of statues erected here in honor of foreign writers, composers, musicians and patriots.
In no other American city have the nationality groups erected so many statues as in Cleveland.
The memory of 51 foreign famous men and women is being perpetuated in bronze and stone in Greater Cleveland. Many of the art pieces are located in the Cultural Gardens of upper and lower East Blvd., in Rockefeller Park.
In the Czech Cultural Garden are the busts of Frantisek Palacky, historian; Jindrich S. Baar, writer; Jan Purkyne, writer; Bedrich Smetana, composer; Myroslav Tyrs, co- founder of the Sokols; Bozena Nemcova, novelist; Antonin Dvorak, composer; and Karel Havlicek, co-founder of the Sokol movement.
In the German Cultural Garden are the busts of Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Johnn Cristoph Schiller, Heinrich Heine, Gotthold Lessing, poets; Frederich Jahn, founder of the Turner movement. The fountain honors Friederich Frobel, founder of the kindergarten system. Richard Wagner's statue is in Edgewater Park.
In the Hebrew Cultural Garden are the bas reliefs of the following:
Baruch Spinoza, Moses Mendelsohn, Achad Ha'am and Maimondides, philosophers and essayists; Jacques Halevy, Giacomo Meyerbeer and Carl Goldmark, educators; Emma Lazarus, humanitarian; Rebecca Gratz, educator and Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah.
The Hungarians have the bust of Franz Liszt, composer and pianist, and of Imre Madach, writer, in the Cultural Garden. The large statue of Louis Kosuth, leader of the 1848 revolt against Austria, is in University Circle.
A bust of Virgil is in the Italian Cultural Garden.
In the Lithuanian Cultural Garden are busts of Jonas Basanavicius, first president of Lithuania and of Dr. Vincas Kudirka, author of the Lithuanian national anthem. Biruta, the legendary Lithuanian princess, is honored with a fountain.
In the Polish Cultural Garden are the busts of Ignace Paderewski, pianist; Marie Curie, co-discoverer of radium; Frederic Chopin, the composer; Henoyk Sienkiewicz, author. The heroic statue of Thaddeusz Kosciuszko, hero of the American revolutionary war is in Wade Park.
The busts of the Rev. Jan Kollar, Lutheran pastor and of Rev. Fr. Stefan Furdek, Catholic priest, are in the Slovak Cultural Garden. A large monument of Gen. Milan R. Stefanik, co-founder of Czecho-Slovakia is in Wade Park.
In the Ukrainian Cultural Garden are the busts and bas reliefs of Volodimir the Great, ruler of Ukraine; Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Franko, poets and writers; Bohdan Khelmitsky, patriot; and of Michael Hrushevsky, historian.
In the Yugoslav Garden are the busts of Bishop Njegosh, Serb Orthodox leader; Bishop Baraga, Catholic Slovene missionary in the United States; Ivan Cankar and Simon Gregorcic, Slovene writers.
A bust of Shakespeare is in the Shakespears Garden and on the northern side of the Courthouse are the statues of Moses; Justinian the Great, founder of the Roman Law; Alfred the Great, founder of the Anglo-Saxon system of jurisprudence, and Pope Gregory IX, a mainstay of Canon Law.
Clevelanders possessing old pictures, souvenir booklets and other items about early nationality life here are asked to lend Theodore Andrica such material for use in preparing his series on history of the various groups here.
