Culture

Polish culture has a rich thousand-year history influenced by both west and east. Today, these influences are evident in Polish architecture, folklore and art. Poland is the birthplace of many world famous people, including Pope John Paul II (Polish: Papiez Jan Pawel II), Marie Sklodowska Curie (Polish: Maria Sklodowska-Curie), Casimir Pulaski (Polish: Kazimierz Pulaski), Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish: Mikolaj Kopernik), and many more.

Architecture

Polish towns reflect the whole spectrum of European styles. Poland's Eastern frontiers used to mark the outermost boundary of the influences of Western architecture on the continent.

History has not been good to Poland's architectural monuments. However, a number of ancient edifices have survived: castles, churches and stately buildings, sometimes unique in the regional or European context. Some of them have been painstakingly restored (the Wawel), or completely reconstructed after being destroyed in the Second World War (the Old Town and Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Old Towns of Gdansk and Wroclaw). Kazimierz on the Vistula is an example of a well-preserved medieval town. Krakow ranks among the best preserved Gothic and Renaissance urban complexes in Europe. In Vilnius (Lithuania) there are about 40 baroque and Renaissance churches. In Lviv (Ukraine) there are Gothic, Renaissance, and baroque urban complexes with influences of the orthodox and Armenian church. Polish church architecture deserves special attention.

There is one of the best preserved examples of complex Modernist Movement architecture in Europe in Katowice, Upper Silesia, designed and built in Thirties.

Some interesting buildings were also constructed during the Communist regime in the style of Socialist Realism; some remarkable examples of modern architecture erected recently.

Art

Polish art has always reflected world trends while maintaining its unique character. Jan Matejko's famous school of Historicist painting produced monumental portrayals of significant events in Polish history. Stanislaw Witkiewicz was an ardent supporter of Realism in Polish art, its main representative being Jozef Chelmonski.

The Mloda Polska (Young Poland) movement witnessed the birth of modern Polish art, and engaged in a great deal of formal experimentation, led by Jacek Malczewski (Symbolism), Stanislaw Wyspianski, Jozef Mehoffer, and a group of Polish Impressionists. Artists of the twentieth-century Avant-Garde represented various schools and trends. The art of Tadeusz Makowski was influenced by Cubism; while Wladyslaw Strzeminski and Henryk Stazewski worked within the Constructivist idiom. Distinguished contemporary artists include Roman Opalka, Leon Tarasewicz, Jerzy Nowosielski, Wojciech Siudmak, and Miroslaw Balka and Katarzyna Kozyra in the younger generation.

The most celebrated Polish sculptors include Xawery Dunikowski, Katarzyna Kobro, Alina Szapocznikow and Magdalena Abakanowicz. Since the inter-war years, Polish art and documentary photography has enjoyed worldwide recognition. In the sixties the Polish Poster School was formed, with Henryk Tomaszewski and Waldemar Swierzy at its head.

Film

Graduates of the famous Lodz Film School include many celebrated directors, among them Roman Polanski (Knife in the Water, Rosemary's Baby, Frantic, The Pianist) and Krzysztof Zanussi, a leading director of the cinema of moral anxiety of the 70s. Andrzej Wajda's films offer an insightful analysis of what is universal in the Polish experience - the struggle to maintain human dignity under circumstances which hardly allow it. His major films describe the identity of many of Poland's generations. In 2000 Wajda was awarded an Oscar for his contribution to cinema. In the 90s the films of Krzysztof Kieslowski, such as The Decalogue (made for television), The Double Life of Veronique and the Three Colors trilogy, won great popularity. Other Polish film directors such as Agnieszka Holland and Janusz Kaminski have worked in Hollywood as well. Polish animated films - represented by Jan Lenica and Zbigniew Rybczynski (awarded an Oscar in 1983) - have a long tradition, and derive inspiration from Poland's graphic arts.

Literature

The origins of Polish literature written in the Polish vernacular go back beyond the 14th century. In the 16th century, the poetic works of Jan Kochanowski established him as a leading representative of European Renaissance literature. Baroque and Neo-Classicist belle letters made a significant contribution to the cementing of Poland's peoples of many cultural backgrounds. The early 19th century novel "Manuscrit trouve à Saragosse" by Count Jan Potocki, which survived in its Polish translation after the loss of the original in French, became a world classic. Wojciech Has' film based on it, a favourite of Luis Buñuel, later became a cult film on university campuses. Poland's great Romantic literature flourished in the 19th century when the country had lost its independence. The poets Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Slowacki and Zygmunt Krasinski, the "Three Bards," became the spiritual leaders of a nation deprived of its sovereignty, and prophesied its revival. The novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz, who won the Nobel Prize in 1905, eulogised the historical tradition. It is difficult to grasp fully the detailed tradition of Polish Romanticism and its consequences for Polish literature without a thorough knowledge of Polish history.

In the early 20th century, many outstanding Polish literary works emerged from the new cultural exchange and Avant-Garde experimentation. The legacy of the Kresy Marchlands of Poland's Eastern regions with Wilno and Lwow (now Vilnius and Lviv) as two major centres for the arts, played a special role in these developments. This was also a region in which Jewish tradition and the mystic movement of Hasidism thrived. The Kresy were a cultural trysting-place for numerous ethnic and national groups whose achievements were inspiring each other. The works of Bruno Schulz, Boleslaw Lesmian, and Jozef Czechowicz were written there. In the south of Poland, Zakopane was the birthplace of the avant-garde works of Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy). And, last but not least, there was Wladyslaw Reymont awarded 1924 Nobel Prize in literature for his novel Chlopi (The Peasants).

After the Second World War, many Polish writers found themselves in exile, with many of them clustered around the Paris-based "Kultura" publishing venture run by Jerzy Giedroyc. The group of emigre writers included Witold Gombrowicz, Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski, Czeslaw Milosz, and Slawomir Mrozek.

Zbigniew Herbert, Tadeusz Rozewicz, Czeslaw Milosz (Nobel Prize in 1980), and Wislawa Szymborska (Nobel Prize in 1996) are among the most outstanding 20th century Polish poets, including novelists and playwrights Witold Gombrowicz, Slawomir Mrozek, and Stanislaw Lem (science fiction). The long list includes Hanna Krall whose reportage focuses mainly on the war-time Jewish experience, and Ryszard Kapuscinski with books translated into many languages.

Music

The music of Fryderyk Chopin, inspired by Polish tradition and folklore, conveys the quintessence of Romanticism. Since 1927, the International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition has been held every five years in Warsaw. Polish classical music is also represented by composers like Karol Szymanowski, Mieczyslaw Karlowicz, Witold Lutoslawski, Wojciech Kilar, Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki, and Krzysztof Penderecki - all of whom rank among the world's most celebrated composers. Contemporary Polish jazz with its special national flavour has fans and followers in many countries. The best-known jazzmen are Krzysztof Komeda, Michal Urbaniak, Adam Makowicz, and Tomasz Stanko. Successful composers of film music include Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Wojciech Kilar, Czeslaw Niemen and Zbigniew Preisner,

Museums

Poland offers a wide spectrum of cultural experience. Those interested in high culture will enjoy the renowned music festivals like Wratislavia Cantans and the Warsaw Autumn. Polish museums exhibit remarkable art collections - masterpieces including Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine at the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow; the Veit Stoss High Altar in St. Mary's Basilica, Krakow; and the Last Judgement by Hans Memling (The National Museum in Gdansk). Ethnographic museums and open-air site-seeing museums also hold attractive collections.

Theatre

The Polish avant-garde theatre is world-famous, with Jerzy Grotowski as its most innovative and creative representative. One of the most original twentieth-century theatre personalities was Tadeusz Kantor, painter, theoretician of drama, stage designer, and playwright, his ideas finding their culmination in the theatre of death and his most recognised production being "Umarla klasa" (Dead Class).