Bimalbi

Bimalbi is a sculpture by Irena Loroch. The dignified statue of a sitting lion is not a literal portrait of the king of the beasts. Still, the distinctive leonine shapes, such as the massive paws or the head surrounded by a lush mane, have been clearly accentuated in the sandstone block. The work was created in 1974 during the Animalistic Sculpture Workshop in Oliwa Zoo and was funded by the Municipal Enterprise of Public Utilities and Housing in Sopot. Perhaps the mysterious and exotic-sounding title of the work refers to the first lion in Oliwa Zoo, named Bim.

Irena Loroch came from Vilnius, where she was born in 1931. She studied sculpture under Professor Stanisław Horno-Popławski at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. She took part in the reconstruction of post-war Gdańsk, reconstructing the sculptures decorating the architecture of the Main Town. She sculpted in wood, marble, bronze and ceramics. She created many monumental and open-air projects in the Tri-City, remembered by the people of Gdynia as the creator of the poignant work For Those Who Have Left for the Eternal Watch. Irena Loroch died in Gdynia in 2018.

Author: Irena Loroch (1931- 2018)
Date: 1974
Technique: sandstone

Photo: Klaudyna Karczewska.