[PIŁSUDSKI Józef - funeral of the Marshal - situational photograph]. [Cracow, 18 May 1935]. Photograph form. 15,6x11,...

[PIŁSUDSKI Józef - funeral of the Marshal - situational photograph]. [Cracow, 18 May 1935]. Photograph form. 15.6x11.3 cm, by Stanislaw Mucha in Krakow.
Visible funeral procession heading, decorated with cairns down Basztowa Street, to Wawel Cathedral. The coffin on a gun carriage with the Marshal's corpse covered with a purple cloth with the national emblem and with a cushion laid on it, on which rested a saber and a maciejówka, accompanied by officers. Behind the coffin, among others: wife Aleksandra Pilsudska led by General Edward Smigly-Rydz, daughter Wanda led by General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, in the distance President Ignacy Moscicki assisted by senior officers of the Polish Army. Also visible are the Polish clergy (including Cracow Metropolitan Archbishop Adam Sapieha, who presided over the solemn mass, Bishop Jozef Gawlina - the Field Ordinary of the Polish Army). In the lower right corner an imprint: "Fot. St. Mucha [...] Kraków, Tel. 149-66". On the back the date: "18.V.1935.". On the back traces of peeling from the album, otherwise good condition. Photograph documenting most likely the largest celebration ever held in Poland, representing a manifesto of national unity.
S. Mucha (1895-1976) - photographer from Cracow, specialist in panoramic photography. During the First World War he photographed the activities of the Polish Legions. From 1922 he studied law in Cracow and became a photojournalist for the IKC. In 1929 he opened his own atelier in Cracow, focused on landscape photography, as well as documenting the architecture and life of Cracow. He has been a member of the ZPAF since 1952.