The Copernicum building has had several occupants and owners . These include a Prussian '' realschule '' ; a Copernicus High School for mathematics and natural sciences ( 1923 ) ; and a military hospital during the German occupation ( 1939 1945 ) . Since 2005 , the owner has been the '' Kazimierz Wielki University '' ( after Casimir III the Great ( 1330 1370 ) ) . Kopernika Square is a green park landscaped in 1973 . Its statuary includes a metal sculpture of a female figure by Maria Chudoba-Wiśniewska , a mid-20th century sculptor of Poznań . The sculpture weighs 864 kg and is 4,57 m tall . The sculpture was erected in the park during the National Open Air Sculpture Festival ( '' Ogólnopolski Plener Rzeźbiarski '' ) which ran from August to September , 1973 . Ellipse shaped stones are positioned on the grass , surrounding the statue . They represent the planets of the solar system in orbit , and the Sun and Moon . In 1932 , the house on the corner of Asnyka Street and Kopernika Street was designed , built and occupied by the architect Bogdan Raczkowski ( 1888 1939 ) in 1932 . It is designed in the Functionalist style . In 1921 , Rackowski became a member of the Bydgoszcz municipal council . In December 1922 , he became a member of the City Development Committee . In 1934 , Raczkowski retired . In 1939 , he fell foul of the Gestapo and was shot dead by the Selbstschutz ( the local German paramilitary organisation ) in Fordon . Here , in the " Valley of Death " the German occupation force murdered many people , commencing with the intelligencia of Bydgoszcz
Fordon
Valley of Death (Bydgoszcz)
Kopernika Street in Bydgoszcz