location of the monument further delayed the project. Poland's communist government finally gave permission to construct the monument on 12 April 1988. It was unveiled on 1 August 1989, the 45th anniversary of the Uprising. The monument was designed by sculptor Wincenty Kućma and architect Jacek Budyn. The monument was visited by German president Roman Herzog on 1994, who paid tribute to the Poles and gave a speech about German shame in context of Nazi Germany's crimes during the Second World War in Poland. Herzog apologized to the Poles during his speech about war crimes. Description The monument is on the southern side of Krasiński Square. In 1999, the building of the Supreme Court of Poland was constructed in the area directly behind it. The monument is made of bronze and is about tall. It has of two parts near each other. The larger, elevated element shows a group of insurgents actively engaged in combat, running from the artistic vision of a collapsing building, represented by a more abstract composition. The smaller element shows insurgents descending into a manhole, a reference to the use of Warsaw's sewer system by the insurgents to move across German-held territory during the uprising and specifically to the evacuation of 5300 resistance fighters from Warsaw's Old Town to the city centre at the beginning of September 1944, a five-hour journey which started from Krasiński Square (there is a small plaque across the road from the monument at the intersection of Długa and Miodowa Streets above the two manholes that were actually used). The realistic style of the monument has been favourably compared to a still from a movie or a historical painting by Jan Matejko, but has been also criticised for its socrealist style. There have also been critical voices saying that the monument is "defeatist" and that it was a gesture of reconciliation by the passing communist government that came many years too late. A 2013 analysis suggests that the monument is in need of renovation, particularly for its deterioration caused by atmospheric pollutants. According to the authors, it is a part of a memorial triptych, the other two parts of which are the Monument to the Defenders of the Polish Post Office (pl) in Gdańsk and the Monument to the Fallen in Defense of the Homeland (pl) in Częstochowa. See also Warsaw Uprising Home Army Polish resistance movement in World War II Warsaw