the history of rainbowsin Zbawiciela Square

"Rainbow" in Zbawiciela Square - it was supposed to stand for three months, it stayed three years. It became a symbol of Warsaw and started one of the biggest debates in Poland on the place of LGBT+ people in public space. Residents, the LGBT+ community, artists, and allies fighting for equality gathered around it.

It was set on fire seven times. Each time, it came back. It did not give in to the violence.

For more on the story of Julita Wójcik's "Rainbow", see Flashpoint.

After its dismantling, there were many attempts to bring it back, including Indestructible Rainbow in 2018, and Rainbow of Balloons in 2021. Zbawiciela Square itself remained an important place for Warsaw's LGBT+ community. A rainbow Christmas tree stood there in December 2021.

However, these were temporary projects, initially due to a lack of political will to bring it back, and later due to a legal and political roadblock - the property rights to original "Rainbow" are held by the Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, which was taken over by Law and Justice in 2020, and does not agree to any reuse of the piece.

In 2022, however - we succeeded. After initial problems, the project "Make Warsaw rainbow" was allowed to be voted on in the Warsaw Participatory Budget.

It received 6806 votes. Unfortunately, it was not enough for it to be implemented.

This year, experienced and better prepared, we submitted a new project. And this year - we will win!