The state historical conservator has come out against the suggested Monument of Light being built in front of the Presidential Palace in memory of the Smolensk crash victims.

Poitr Zuchowski, who is in charge of looking after Warsaw’s historic buildings, said that the project could dominate the space in front of the palace.

“This would be an interference in the area around the palace, an area which is already closed in the historic and conservationist sense. To maintain the area as it is it would not be best idea to place any new elements there, even such delicate elements as rays of light,” he said Friday.

Plans for a  monument commemorating the 96 victims of the Smolensk air crash in April last year were presented early this week with the support of Marta Kaczynska, the daughter of the late president Lech Kaczynski, who died with 95 others in the plane crash last April.

The idea by architect Pawel Szychalski envisages 96 light beams symbolising the victims of the crash, placed in the pavement in front of the Presidential Palace. (ab/pg)