Using a chisel, sculptor Czeslaw Dzwigaj works wet clay to shape a
small fold in the robe on a statue of John Paul II ordered for the
beatification of the late pope at the Vatican on May 1.
Ahead of the historic event, Dzwigaj's studio in the Rzaska suburb of
the southern Polish city of Krakow has been flooded with orders for
statues of the Polish-born pontiff.
"Orders continue to pour in," said Dzwigaj. "With the beatification,
priests now want a statue in their church with a reliquary at the base
so parishioners can practice the cult of devotion of John Paul II."
The artist is currently working on his 72nd statue of the pope, whom
many Poles regard as having played a key role in toppling communism in
their country and whom the Vatican has put on a fast-track to sainthood.
"We used more than one-and-a-half tonnes of clay for this pope which
is three metres (nearly 10 feet) high. The model is ready for us to make
a plaster cast. Then it will go to a foundry to be cast in bronze. The
assembly must be completed by the end of April," the 61-year-old
sculptor said.
The statue was commissioned by the parish of Kwaczala, just east of
Krakow. Beside it lies another statue-in-the-making of the pope -- the
73rd commissioned by the city of Kaunas in Poland's northern neighbour
Lithuania.
It depicts Karol Wojtyla as the pontiff standing on a globe-shaped
pedestal, leaning on his pastoral staff and blessing the faithful with
his right hand.
"Currently, there are over 640 statues of the late pontiff across
Poland, 30 more will be erected before his beatification. Worldwide,
there are about 300, mostly in Latin America," said Kazimierz Ozog, an
art historian from the University of Opole in south-western Poland.
But Dzwigaj insists that the pope was never very fond of all these
sculptures.
"He was very modest, but also knew he couldn't do anything
to stop this cult of devotion," he said.
Some statues that come out of his studio go as far abroad as the United States, Canada and Argentina.
"I also have ones in Liechtenstein, Australia and Germany. Recently, I was contacted by a city in Japan," he boasted.
"Shortly after the pope's death in 2005, orders peaked," added
Zbyszek Karnas, himself a sculptor who has collaborated with Dzwigaj for
the last 27 years.
"Every week we started a pope. It was crazy," he said, as he covered a
new statue in a plastic sheet to prevent the clay from drying and
cracking.
Twenty or so of the plaster models of Dzwigaj's statues of Jean Paul II are on display in a castle in Nowy Wisnicz, near Krakow.
They show the pope sitting, kneeling, standing or working at a desk,
reciting the Angelus prayer from his window at the Vatican or blessing
children.
But for art historian Ozog, most sculptures of the pope are kitsch.
Recently, there is even a trend to produce them using synthetic resins in workshops specialising in garden gnomes.
"They're cheap, about 2,000 euros (2,828 dollars) and are delivered in a few days," he said.
Although John Paul II forbade the removal of any of his bones for use in the cult of devotion, some of his relics have surfaced.
Dzwigaj's workshop has been commissioned to create a statue of the
pope that will contain a lock of his hair, regarded as a relic of the
first degree.
Relics of the second degree, or objects used by the pope, are more common and include pieces of cloth from his clothes.
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the archbishop of Krakow and the late
pope's long-time secretary, keeps the most precious relic: a vial of
blood.
Recently, he gave a drop to Polish Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica who
suffered serious injuries during an accident at a rally in Italy.