"LET'S DEFEND OUR OPOLE" MONUMENT IN OPOLE

Situated not far from the famous "woman on a bull", the "Let's Defend Our Opole" monument is a true symbol of the fight to maintain the Opolskie Voivodeship, maintained in a rather satirical form. The history of the monument dates back to 1998 and Poland's administrative reform plans at the time, which were to reduce the number of voivodeships from 49 to 12. Opolskie itself was one of the voivodeships that was to cease to exist.

However, thanks to an outburst of local patriotism and numerous lively protests – including in Warsaw – the Opolskie Voivodeship has been preserved. A monument was unveiled on 6 August 2000 to commemorate these events. It depicts a saluting cavalryman standing beneath a cannon in the shape of the Piast Tower, the symbol of the Opolskie Voivodeship, standing on a base with the outline of the voivodeship's administrative borders. Due to its form, it is undoubtedly one of Opole's most interesting monuments today. It is worth mentioning that the monument is located where a statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I stood before World War II.