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Secondary sourceArtifact

Urn with the Heart of Tadeusz Kościuszko

A commemorative urn holding Kościuszko's heart, now kept at the Royal Castle in Warsaw as a relic of his national memory.

This urn preserves Kościuszko's heart as a relic of the patriotic cult built around his memory.

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A black urn-shaped monument on a base with four gold-painted eagle feet, decorated with a blue and black striped ribbon draped over the top. Gold letters on the front read 'SERCE TADEUSZA KOŚCIUSZKI'.
Urn with the heart of Tadeusz Kościuszko, Royal Chapel, Royal Castle, Warsaw.

About this source

What it is

This urn, now held at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, contains the heart of Tadeusz Kościuszko. It is a dark, decorated vessel on a base with gilded eagle-shaped feet, with his name inscribed in gold lettering on the front.

Why it matters

Preserving a leader's heart separately in an urn was a practice tied to the romantic, patriotic cult that grew around Kościuszko after his death. As a hero of uprisings in Poland and of the American Revolution, Kościuszko became a symbol of national struggle, and relics like this urn show how later generations mythologized and memorialized him.

Look closer

  • Why might people in the 19th century have wanted to preserve and display a leader's heart separately from the rest of the body?
  • What do the eagle feet and the ribbon draped over the urn suggest about national symbolism?
  • How does an object like this shape the way we remember a historical figure, compared to a document or photograph?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tadeusz Kościuszko on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Printed broadside proclamation headed 'RADA NAYWYZSZA NARODOWA' with the name Tadeusz Kosciuszko in large capitals, dated Warsaw 30 Maja 1794, in Polish, printed in two columns on aged paper with a signature and seal mark at the bottom.Document

Primary source

Proclamation of Połaniec

Tadeusz Kościuszko · 7 May 1794 (this printing 30 May 1794)

Oil painting of a young man with curly brown hair in a dark coat and white cravat, reclining on a green day bed with one hand raised to his head. Red curtains frame a window showing a domed building. A desk with papers and an inkstand is at left, and a red book and letters lie on the bed.Painting

Primary source

General Thaddeus Kosciusko

Benjamin West · 1797

Oil painting of a man with dark, tousled hair in a dark coat over a blue sash, with a white collar and black cravat, looking toward the viewer against a grey-brown background.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of Tadeusz Kościuszko

Józef Grassi · c. 1792

Stone wall ruins of Fort Putnam at West Point with black cannons mounted on a stone parapet, a wooded mountain range under a hazy sky behind, and metal railings in the foreground.Artifact

Primary source

Fort Putnam

1778

Handwritten manuscript page in Polish, dark ink on aged paper, with an ornate title reading 'Ustawa Rządowa' and the opening invocation 'W Imię Boga w Trójcy Świętey Jedynego', followed by a list of royal titles and body text in cursive. A handwritten date notation appears at top right.Document

Primary source

Constitution of May 3, 1791

3 May 1791

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