Smolensk cross at St Ann Church, Warsaw

Residents of Warsaw are to decide via an opinion poll if they want a monument to the victims of the Smolensk catastrophe to be erected in the city centre.

The question will be asked during the annual Warsaw barometer survey, Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz has told Polish Radio.

She has ruled out locating the monument in front of the presidential palace on the prestigious Krakowskie Przedmiescie street because of restrictions protecting the historic neighbourhood.

Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz made the comment after a politician from the opposition Law and Justice party Adam Hofman said that post-Smolensk mourning can end only when a worthy monument is built to commemorate the late president Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria and other victims of the air crash on 10 April 2010.

“The issue of the monument will be resolved in May, depending on the response of the people of Warsaw,” Hanna Gronkiewicz Waltz said.

The Warsaw metropolitan, Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz told a press conference in Warsaw this week that the time of mourning ends a year after the Smolensk catastrophe in accordance with Polish national and Catholic Church tradition. (kk/pg)