Project Description

The Staniszewski Family Stoneworks

Zakład Kamieniarski Józefa Staniszewskiego 1934 ul. Nowy Świat 18 w tle Huta Szkła i budynek Monopolu Tytoniowego

Józef Staniszewski's Stoneworks, 1934, Nowy Świat 18 street, in the background the Glassworks and the Tobacco Monopoly building.

Sor over 115 years, the Staniszewski family's stoneworks have been witnesses to and participants in the history of the city of Radom. In 1900, Piotr Leon Staniszewski (1864-1934) founded a stone carving and masonry workshop in Radom, located on Starokrakowska Street across from the Old Jewish Hospital. The company fulfilled all orders for monumental and construction works, using both sandstone and marble. For its time, it boasted a vast selection of ready-made domestic and foreign monuments.

Piotr Leon and Florentyna Staniszewski had numerous children, among whom sons Józef, Jan, and Leon established their own stone and construction workshops, thus passing on the family's craft traditions to subsequent generations.

Radom's cemeteries are filled with old monuments and tombs bearing the Staniszewski signature. The artistic craftsmanship of the family's patriarchs continues to be admired to this day. Many old chapels in Radom and the Radom region were created by the Staniszewskis, leaving a lasting mark on the life and landscape of our city.

Piotr Leon Staniszewski z żoną Florentyną i najstarszym synem Józefem i jego żoną Genowefą

Piotr Leon Staniszewski with his wife Florentyna and their eldest son Józef and his wife Genowefa

Like many old Radom families, the Staniszewskis also experienced the tragic fate of war and occupation. Jan Staniszewski, son of Piotr Leon, was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz. Family members were involved in the resistance, and Leon Staniszewski's apartment housed a contact point for the "Ponury" underground organization.

Over 50 years of communism did not interrupt the operations of the Staniszewski stoneworks. Despite repression, bureaucratic sanctions, and widespread material shortages, the workshops persevered and continued to serve the residents of Radom.

Thanks to the Staniszewski family, dozens of historic Jewish tombstones were saved. Purchased at great risk from German transporters who were taking them to build an airport in Sadków, they were buried during World War II and preserved until the liberation of Poland. Today, they are a priceless monument to Jewish culture in our city.

The fifth generation of Staniszewskis has the honor of continuing the family's craft traditions in the stonemasonry trade. The vast majority of the family still lives and works in Radom.


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