Current issue:
EVENTS
Zbigniew Herbert Year
The year 2008 has been announced the Zbigniew Herbert year. The initiative, put forward by Michał Ujazdowski, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, was adopted by acclamation by Polish Parliament. The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage will support all initiatives that promote the achievements of Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998). He is one of the greatest contemporary Polish poets, famous all over the world. His poetry has been translated into many foreign languages and won international renown. The poet was nominated to the Nobel Prize in Literature. His poetry is a never-ceasing dialogue between the sacred and the profane, between the myth and the reality, between tradition and contemporary times, convention and imagination, culture and science, abstraction and concrete things, between thought and action, faith and distrust, between optimism and skepticism. Herbert’s poetry is full of paradoxes, which is best mirrored in one of his characters – Mr Cogito (Pan Cogito).
Young Spanish Art
Lovers of young Spanish art can admire it in the Zach´ta Gallery. La Caixa is one of the most important collections of contemporary art in Spain. It gathers works of top artists from the last thirty years, and the collection consists of over 700 exhibits: paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos and installations. Amongst the authors whose works originated in the tradition of minimalism we should name, for instance, Txomin Badiola, Daniel Buren, Katharina Fritsch, Luis Gordillo, Rodney Graham, Joan Hernandez Pijuan, Agnes Martin, and many others. The exhibition is open until September, 2.
Important Information!
At this free of charge phone number: 0 800 200 300 foreign tourists can find out how to travel safely in Poland. They will also receive information on emergency telephone numbers and will be given advice on how to behave during road accidents or in similar situations. For those who have access to mobile phones only, a special number has been launched, namely +48 608 599 999. The info-line will be accessible from September 30, 2007, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The operators speak English, German and Russian fluently, and in these three languages you can get all the information you need.
63 Years Have Passed By
It has been 63 years since the outbreak and the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising. Those inhabitants of Warsaw who survived the event have never forgotten it and will remember it forever. Exactly on August 1, 1944, the inhabitants of Warsaw started their unequal fight against the German oppressor. Even children participated in the Uprising. Still, the fights could not have succeeded. The insurgents did not have enough weapons, and Warsaw was lonely in its fight. And the Soviet army, which stationed on the other bank of the Vistula River, did not bother to help the insurgents and did not let other countries help them, as they waited for the city to lose a lot of men so that they could „liberate” it afterwards. Finally, the Uprising collapsed after 63 days. Almost 250,000 people were killed and the city was reduced to a heap of rubble. The Russians entered Warsaw as liberators. Every year, on August 1, the inhabitants of Warsaw honor the heroes of the city on cemeteries, near monuments and plaques. This is a unique holiday for Warsaw. For three years, the city has had the excellent Warsaw Rising Museum (Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego) which presents the information on this event in a very modern and attractive form. The Museum is a must-see!
Pansies on the Art Wall
Wilhelm Sasnal (see the photograph), a famous artist, has dedicated his mural in the Rose Garden of the Warsaw Rising Museum (Ogród Różany, Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego) to the heroes of the Uprising. Yellow pansies with a black background seem to be an image of peacefulness and harmony. Yet, when you take a closer look at the mural, the innocent flowers change into human skulls or winced faces of ghosts. Pansies often grow on graves. There are various associations with these flowers. I wanted to leave my painting open to various interpretations, says the painter. Sasnal’s pansies is the ninth painting of this unique gallery that is referred to as the Art Wall. Reproductions of all the murals are sold in the Museum’s souvenir shop.
Life Full of Adventures on Screen
The largest Polish and American film co-production with the main role played by Brad Pitt is being currently prepared. The budget of the film is to reach USD 50 million, and shooting will be taking place in Poland and France. The film is a unique story of an unusual man whose name was Merian Caldwell Cooper.
The story of his life reminds of a screenplay for a film. He was born in 1893 in Florida. During the First World War, he came to France to live a life of adventure. He became a pilot of a combat aircraft. After the end of the war in 1918, he did not come back to the States, but went to provide medical services for people in Kiev that was besieged by Bolsheviks at the time, as the Polish – Soviet war had already started.
The Soviet communists wanted to impose communism everywhere in Europe. Poland, headed by Marshal Józef Piłsudski, decided not to let them do so. And thus the war broke out. At first, the Soviets were winning. M.C. Cooper joined the Polish army in Paris, where Polish troops were established grouping Poles who stayed in France. Cooper became a pilot and created a division of Polish pilots. When asked by Piłsudski, who gave him the Order of Military Virtue, why he wanted to risk his life for Poland, Cooper said that he did it for his grandfather. Cooper’s grandfather participated in the battle of Savannah and witnessed the death of the great Polish and American hero, Kazimierz Pułaski. On June 26, 1920, Cooper’s aircraft was shot down and he became imprisoned by the Soviets for nine months.
After Poles defeated the Soviets, Cooper was freed and traveled around Europe. During his journey, he met Ernest B. Schoedsack, a famous filmmaker. Together they made many films, for example, the popular King Kong. In his private life, Cooper fell in love with an English woman, whom he had met in Warsaw. They had a son, who later became an excellent Polish translator of English literature.
The film is directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, a great Polish cameraman working in Hollywood, a graduate of the Film School in Łódź. The film will be shot in English, and the filming will start at the beginning of 2008.
The year 2008 has been announced the Zbigniew Herbert year. The initiative, put forward by Michał Ujazdowski, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, was adopted by acclamation by Polish Parliament. The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage will support all initiatives that promote the achievements of Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998). He is one of the greatest contemporary Polish poets, famous all over the world. His poetry has been translated into many foreign languages and won international renown. The poet was nominated to the Nobel Prize in Literature. His poetry is a never-ceasing dialogue between the sacred and the profane, between the myth and the reality, between tradition and contemporary times, convention and imagination, culture and science, abstraction and concrete things, between thought and action, faith and distrust, between optimism and skepticism. Herbert’s poetry is full of paradoxes, which is best mirrored in one of his characters – Mr Cogito (Pan Cogito).
Young Spanish Art
Lovers of young Spanish art can admire it in the Zach´ta Gallery. La Caixa is one of the most important collections of contemporary art in Spain. It gathers works of top artists from the last thirty years, and the collection consists of over 700 exhibits: paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos and installations. Amongst the authors whose works originated in the tradition of minimalism we should name, for instance, Txomin Badiola, Daniel Buren, Katharina Fritsch, Luis Gordillo, Rodney Graham, Joan Hernandez Pijuan, Agnes Martin, and many others. The exhibition is open until September, 2.
Important Information!
At this free of charge phone number: 0 800 200 300 foreign tourists can find out how to travel safely in Poland. They will also receive information on emergency telephone numbers and will be given advice on how to behave during road accidents or in similar situations. For those who have access to mobile phones only, a special number has been launched, namely +48 608 599 999. The info-line will be accessible from September 30, 2007, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The operators speak English, German and Russian fluently, and in these three languages you can get all the information you need.
63 Years Have Passed By
It has been 63 years since the outbreak and the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising. Those inhabitants of Warsaw who survived the event have never forgotten it and will remember it forever. Exactly on August 1, 1944, the inhabitants of Warsaw started their unequal fight against the German oppressor. Even children participated in the Uprising. Still, the fights could not have succeeded. The insurgents did not have enough weapons, and Warsaw was lonely in its fight. And the Soviet army, which stationed on the other bank of the Vistula River, did not bother to help the insurgents and did not let other countries help them, as they waited for the city to lose a lot of men so that they could „liberate” it afterwards. Finally, the Uprising collapsed after 63 days. Almost 250,000 people were killed and the city was reduced to a heap of rubble. The Russians entered Warsaw as liberators. Every year, on August 1, the inhabitants of Warsaw honor the heroes of the city on cemeteries, near monuments and plaques. This is a unique holiday for Warsaw. For three years, the city has had the excellent Warsaw Rising Museum (Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego) which presents the information on this event in a very modern and attractive form. The Museum is a must-see!
Pansies on the Art Wall
Wilhelm Sasnal (see the photograph), a famous artist, has dedicated his mural in the Rose Garden of the Warsaw Rising Museum (Ogród Różany, Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego) to the heroes of the Uprising. Yellow pansies with a black background seem to be an image of peacefulness and harmony. Yet, when you take a closer look at the mural, the innocent flowers change into human skulls or winced faces of ghosts. Pansies often grow on graves. There are various associations with these flowers. I wanted to leave my painting open to various interpretations, says the painter. Sasnal’s pansies is the ninth painting of this unique gallery that is referred to as the Art Wall. Reproductions of all the murals are sold in the Museum’s souvenir shop.
Life Full of Adventures on Screen
The largest Polish and American film co-production with the main role played by Brad Pitt is being currently prepared. The budget of the film is to reach USD 50 million, and shooting will be taking place in Poland and France. The film is a unique story of an unusual man whose name was Merian Caldwell Cooper.
The story of his life reminds of a screenplay for a film. He was born in 1893 in Florida. During the First World War, he came to France to live a life of adventure. He became a pilot of a combat aircraft. After the end of the war in 1918, he did not come back to the States, but went to provide medical services for people in Kiev that was besieged by Bolsheviks at the time, as the Polish – Soviet war had already started.
The Soviet communists wanted to impose communism everywhere in Europe. Poland, headed by Marshal Józef Piłsudski, decided not to let them do so. And thus the war broke out. At first, the Soviets were winning. M.C. Cooper joined the Polish army in Paris, where Polish troops were established grouping Poles who stayed in France. Cooper became a pilot and created a division of Polish pilots. When asked by Piłsudski, who gave him the Order of Military Virtue, why he wanted to risk his life for Poland, Cooper said that he did it for his grandfather. Cooper’s grandfather participated in the battle of Savannah and witnessed the death of the great Polish and American hero, Kazimierz Pułaski. On June 26, 1920, Cooper’s aircraft was shot down and he became imprisoned by the Soviets for nine months.
After Poles defeated the Soviets, Cooper was freed and traveled around Europe. During his journey, he met Ernest B. Schoedsack, a famous filmmaker. Together they made many films, for example, the popular King Kong. In his private life, Cooper fell in love with an English woman, whom he had met in Warsaw. They had a son, who later became an excellent Polish translator of English literature.
The film is directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, a great Polish cameraman working in Hollywood, a graduate of the Film School in Łódź. The film will be shot in English, and the filming will start at the beginning of 2008.
Found in our archive:
Information published at 26 August 2007
