The June 1956 Monument stands on Adam Mickiewicz Square, a pair of tall steel crosses that have become one of the most recognisable symbols of Polish resistance to communist rule. The monument was erected in 1981 as part of the agreement between the Solidarity trade union and the Polish government, and its placement in a central public square was itself a significant political concession. The inscriptions record the names of those who died and the demands the workers had made — wages, freedom, bread.
The square around the monument is Poznan's main civic space, fronted by the neoclassical Grand Theatre and flanked by the Imperial Castle to one side. The monument works best in the context of a visit that includes the Enigma Cipher Centre and a walk through the Old Town — together they give a layered picture of a city that has been at the intersection of major 20th-century events more often than most.