--- title: "Mitoraj — Ikaro Alato, Centrum Olimpijskie Warsaw | 2004" description: "Igor Mitoraj's Ikaro Alato (2004) — monumental bronze in front of the Polish Olympic Committee headquarters, Centrum Olimpijskie, Warsaw. Private collector." canonical: https://mitoraj-search.com/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie.html license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ credit: mitoraj-search.com generator: gen-md-alternates --- Own this piece? ✉ Email ☎ +48 575 967 063 Home › Igor Mitoraj — Ikaro Alato ~6 min read # Igor Mitoraj — Ikaro Alato Do you own a Mitoraj work? Sell it → Send photos via WhatsApp Scan with your phone camera to open WhatsApp — then send photos directly. sukaiqun@gmail.com +48 575 967 063 Centrum Olimpijskie · ul. Wybrzeże Gdyńskie 4 · Warsaw · 2004 ![Ikaro Alato by Igor Mitoraj (2004) — monumental bronze, Centrum Olimpijskie, Warsaw](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-1.webp) **Ikaro Alato** is a monumental bronze sculpture by Igor Mitoraj, standing in the forecourt of the *Centrum Olimpijskie* — the headquarters of the Polish Olympic Committee (*Polski Komitet Olimpijski*) at ul. Wybrzeże Gdyńskie 4 in Warsaw. Cast in 2004 and placed here in the year of the Athens Summer Olympics, it is one of the most prominently sited works by Mitoraj in Poland and among the largest public bronzes of his Icarus series anywhere in the world. ## Mitoraj's Icarus The figure of **Icarus** — the youth of Greek mythology who fashioned wings of feathers and wax to escape the labyrinth of Crete, flew too close to the sun and fell into the sea — was one of the defining subjects of Mitoraj's entire artistic career. He returned to it across four decades, in bronze, marble, and relief, in works ranging from small cabinet pieces to monumental outdoor installations. The title *Ikaro Alato* (Winged Icarus) designates a specific variant within this series: an upright, standing figure who still holds the wings — fragmented, archaic, worn — rather than the fallen horizontal figures known as *Icare* or *Icare Ailé*. For Mitoraj, the Icarus myth was never simply a cautionary tale about hubris. It was a meditation on the human compulsion to reach beyond given limits — to fly — and on the dignity and tragedy of that compulsion in equal measure. The broken wings in this work are not symbols of failure alone. They are remnants of a genuine attempt. The figure stands with them not in defeat but in the composure of someone who has made the attempt and survived its consequences in memory. ## The Sculpture The bronze figure is mounted on a tall, angular dark steel plinth that raises it high above the forecourt, visible from the Vistula embankment and from the approach along ul. Wybrzeże Gdyńskie. The body is characteristic of Mitoraj's mature style: classical in its proportions and musculature, but marked by the fragmentation and incompleteness that made his figures so recognisable. The **wings appear as ancient remnants** — partial, cracked, carried rather than spread — as though Icarus holds not a living instrument of flight but a relic of one. The face is turned slightly upward, in the posture of attention or aspiration that recurs across Mitoraj's standing figures. A reflecting pool and fountain at the base of the plinth frame the work in water — an allusion, conscious or not, to the sea into which Icarus fell. The placement in front of a building dedicated to athletic achievement gives the work an additional dimension: the Olympian pursuit of physical limits, and the mythology that both inspired and shadowed the ancient Games. ## Photographs — Ikaro Alato, Warsaw ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — frontal view with Olympic rings, Centrum Olimpijskie Warsaw — 2002, bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-1-800.webp) Frontal View — Olympic Rings Bronze · Centrum Olimpijskie, Warsaw · 2004 ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — full figure against glass facade, Polish Olympic Committee Warsaw — 2002, bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-2-800.webp) Full Figure — Glass Facade Sculpture against the building entrance ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — TEAM PL Olympic Committee insignia with sculpture, Warsaw 2004 — bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-3-800.webp) TEAM PL — Olympic Rings Close Sculpture with building signage ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — wide view with building and plinth, Centrum Olimpijskie Warsaw — 2002, bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-4-800.webp) Wide View — Site Context Sculpture on steel plinth · forecourt ![Ikaro Alato title plaque — IKARO ALATO / IGOR MITORAJ 2004, Centrum Olimpijskie Warsaw — bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-5-800.webp) Title Plaque IKARO ALATO · IGOR MITORAJ 2004 ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — from forecourt with reflecting pool and fountain, Warsaw — 2002, bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-6-800.webp) Forecourt View — Fountain Reflecting pool at base · Warsaw ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — frontal from building entrance, full sculpture, Warsaw 2004 — bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-7-800.webp) From the Entrance Full figure · building behind ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — upward view showing full standing figure, Warsaw Olympic Centre — 2002, bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-8-800.webp) Upward View — Full Figure Looking up from the base ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — figure against cloudy sky, Warsaw 2004 — bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-9-800.webp) Figure Against the Sky Bronze and sky · classical form ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — dramatic silhouette against sky, Centrum Olimpijskie Warsaw — 2002, bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-10-800.webp) Silhouette Against the Sky Wings and figure · dramatic light ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — rear view showing fragmented wings, Warsaw 2004 — bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-11-800.webp) Rear View — Wings Fragmented wing forms · rear angle ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — base and feet detail, steel plinth, Centrum Olimpijskie Warsaw — 2002, bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-12-800.webp) Base and Feet Steel plinth detail · ground level ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — wide angle with full building facade, Olympic rings, Warsaw — 2002, bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-13-800.webp) Building Facade — Full Width Sculpture in architectural setting ![Ikaro Alato Mitoraj — establishing shot, Centrum Olimpijskie grounds, Warsaw Vistula — 2002, bronze sculpture](https://mitoraj-search.com/images/thumbs/mitoraj-centrum-olimpijskie-14-800.webp) Establishing Shot — Site Centrum Olimpijskie grounds ### Ikaro Alato — Technical Details Medium: Bronze · Location: Centrum Olimpijskie, Warsaw · Year: 2004 **Title:** Ikaro Alato (Italian: Winged Icarus) **Artist:** Igor Mitoraj (1944–2014) **Date:** 2004 **Medium:** Bronze on steel plinth **Subject:** Icarus — Greek mythology · winged figure holding fragmented wings **Location:** Forecourt of Centrum Olimpijskie (Polski Komitet Olimpijski) **Address:** ul. Wybrzeże Gdyńskie 4, 01-531 Warsaw **Access:** Publicly accessible · no admission charge **Plaque:** IKARO ALATO / IGOR MITORAJ 2004 ## Icarus and the Olympic Ideal The placement of a Mitoraj Icarus at the headquarters of the Polish Olympic Committee is not accidental in its resonance. The ancient Olympic Games emerged from the same Greek world that produced the myth of Icarus — a civilisation in which the mortal aspiration to transcend human limits was simultaneously celebrated and cautioned against. The athlete at Olympia and Icarus on his wax wings are expressions of the same impulse: the reach beyond the ordinary, the wager of the body on an extraordinary attempt. Mitoraj — who spent much of his life in **Pietrasanta**, the Tuscan marble-working town where he maintained his studio, and was deeply formed by Italian classicism and Greek antiquity — would have been aware of this resonance. The commission placed his fragmented, winged figure not in a museum or gallery but in front of a building where that aspiration is institutionally organised and celebrated in the present day. ## Visiting The sculpture stands in the forecourt of **Centrum Olimpijskie** at ul. Wybrzeże Gdyńskie 4, on the left bank of the Vistula near the Gdański Bridge. It is freely accessible from the riverside embankment path and visible from the street. The best light for photography is in the morning, with the sculpture facing the building and the river behind you. The site is reachable by tram (lines 1, 22, 24 stop nearby at Skwer Hoovera) or on foot along the Vistula embankment from the city centre. Combined visits: the Koneser cultural quarter and the Praga district are a short walk across the Gdański Bridge; the Old Town is approximately 15 minutes' walk south along the embankment. ### Have questions about this work? Ask the AI assistant — grounded in this collection's pages, replies in your language. Ask the AI → ## Interested in Mitoraj Works? I am a private collector in Warsaw actively buying Igor Mitoraj bronzes, medals, and works on paper. If you have a work available, please get in touch. Any other Mitoraj work also welcome — any subject, condition, or format. ### Other Works & Locations Warsaw — All Locations Warsaw — Jesuit Church Warsaw — Bobrowiecka Warsaw — Plac Defilad Ikaria Pequeña (collector size) About Igor Mitoraj Interactive Map All Bronzes Interested in this work? Inquire about this work → ← Igor Mitoraj — Centauro Igor Mitoraj — Centurione II (1986) → Recently viewed 𝕏 Share f Share Thinking of selling a Mitoraj? [See our dedicated sell page →](/sell-mitoraj.html)