Authorities in Vienna opposed the installation of a monument to Polish King John III Sobieski, citing the ban as saying it would provoke “Islamophobic and anti-Turkish sentiments.”
The installation of the monument is demanded by the Austrian Freedom Party and, more recently, by advisers to the Christian Democratic Party and the New Austria and Liberal Forum movement. The country’s Polish community has also been fighting for many years for the installation of a monument to King John III Sobieski in the Austrian capital. The statue was to be placed on Kahlenberg Hill, from where on September 12, 1683 Sobieski launched an attack on the Turkish troops besieging the city.
However, the Viennese authorities are putting the brakes on the initiative. Thus, member of the Vienna Culture Council Veronica Kaup-Hasler of Austria’s Social Democratic Party said the monument to John III Sobieski would create conditions for “xenophobic agitation, Islamophobic or anti-Turkish hostility.”
“Today, the Sobieski monument should be a sign of peace and international understanding, rejecting the rhetoric of victory.” – she thinks.
The monument depicts John III Sobieski on horseback, trampling a defeated army. Kara Mustafa.
