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Culture Cracow’s rich intellectual, spiritual and artistic life has received worldwide attention, thanks to its selection as one of the nine European Cities of Culture in 2000. This special year was overseen by the patronage of Cracow’s leading cultural residents: the film and theatre director Andrzej Wajda, the poets Wislawa Szymborska and Czeslaw Milosz, and the composer Krzysztof Penderecki, who won a Grammy Award in 1988. Cracow has long been Poland’s cultural capital but the city’s broad range of culture and the appeal of Cracow’s artistic life have taken off since this year-long arts extravaganza and now more and more events take place all around the city. Information on cultural events and tickets are available from the Centrum Informacji Kulturalnej (Cultural Information Centre), ulica sw Jana 2 (tel: (012) 421 7787; fax: (012) 421 7737; website: www.karnet.krakow2000.pl). There is a culture information centre in central Cracow at Suckiennice, Rynek Glowny 1/3 (tel: (012) 428 3600; e-mail: info@mcit.pl; website: www.mcit.pl). The Cultural Information Centre publishes a monthly magazine, Karnet, which has listings in English and Polish. Music: Cracow’s musical heritage goes back to the liturgical music of the 11th-century Cathedral School. Liszt and Brahms gave concerts in Wawel Castle’s Saxon Room, Szymanowski is buried in Skalka Church and Paderewski made a bequest to the university. The Cracow Academy of Music continues to produce high-calibre musicians. The Cracow Philharmonic Orchestra performs at the Panstwowa Filharmonia im Szymanowskiego (Szymanowski State Philharmonic), ulica Zwierzyniecka 1 (tel: (012) 422 4312). The Capella Cracoviensis choir gives special concerts in the Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) and a number of Cracow’s churches, in addition to their performances at the Philharmonic Hall. Opera performances take place on Sunday and Monday in the impressive Teatr im Juliusza Slowackiego (Juliusz Slowacki National Slowacki Theatre), plac sw Ducha 1 (tel: (012) 422 7807; website: www.slowacki.krakow.pl), which echoes the Paris Opera. The Cracow Operetta performs at the Scena Opretkowa (Operetta Stage), ulica Lubicz 48 (tel: (012) 421 1630). The Music in Old Cracow festival and the Tyniec Organ Recitals, in an 11th-century Benedictine abbey in the nearby village of Tyniec, have both been running for a quarter of a century. Much newer, but rapidly gaining in popularity, is the annual Easter Ludwig van Beethoven Festival, inaugurated as part of the Krakow 2000 festival and featuring works by Beethoven and other composers. The summer Jazz Masters Festival features local and international performers. Theatre: Cracow has a rich dramatic history – the Aktorzy Teatru Cricot 2, ulica Kanoniczna 5 (tel: (012) 422 8332 or 292 9290), was renowned as the place to see the works of avant-garde director Tadeusz Kantor, while the Teatr im. Juliusza Slowackiego or Slowacki Theatre, plac Sw Ducha 1 (tel: (012) 422 4575), was the venue for the premiers of Stanislaw Wyspianski’s plays. Today, both classic and avant-garde works are staged there. The Teatr Stary im Heleny Modrzejewskiej (Old Theatre) is Cracow’s foremost theatre company and performances are on one of three stages. The main stage is at ulica Jagiellonska 5 (tel: (012) 422 8566). Teatr Ludowy, Osiedle Teatralne 34 (tel: (012) 643 7101, information or 644 2766, box office), retains its socialist name (The People’s Theatre). It also retains the sparse (for some, plain ugly) interiors of Poland’s Communist past but this is where radical new plays are performed or cutting-edge adaptations of the classics. Tickets (Z15-20) may be purchased Tuesday to Saturday 1600-1800 and two hours before the performance. Dance: In addition to ballet at the Slowacki Theatre, the city is a good place to see performances during the Cracow Ballet Spring, when international companies arrive and the accompanying Ballet Film Festival has screenings at plac Wolnica (Wolnica Square). Film: Film buffs should time their visit to Cracow to coincide with some of the annual festivals, such as the Polish and International Festival of Commercials and Advertisements in March (Poland was the proud winner at Cannes International Advertising Festival in June 2000), the International Short Film Festival and Polish Short Film Festival in May, or the Etiud International Film Festival in November. Almost all films shown in Cracow’s cinemas are in the original language, with Polish subtitles. Film prices range from Z12-20. Cracow’s screens include those at the Wanda Cinema, ulica sw Gertrudy 5 (tel: (012) 421 4294), and Sztuka Cinema, ulica sw Jana 6 (tel: (012) 421 4199). The biggest cinema, the newly renovated Kijow Cinema, is behind the Hotel Cracovia, Krasinskiego 34 (tel: (012) 422 3093). There is also a new IMAX cinema, aleja Pokoju 44 (tel: (012) 290 9090; website: www.kinoimax.pl/krakow). Cultural events: Many of Cracow’s annual festivals are deeply rooted in the city’s past. The oldest events include Wianki, held on St John’s night on the Vistula River; Emaus Fair held on the second day of Easter; the Lajkonik Pageant, commemorating the victory of the Tartar invasion in 1287; the procession from Wawel to Skalka bearing the relics of St Stanislaw in May; and the competition for the finest Cracow Nativity Crib in December. Other popular festivals include: the International Festival of Short Feature Films, the Music in Old Krakow festival, the Days of Organ Music, Jazz All Saints’ Day, the International Print Triennial, the Festivals of Student Song, the Street Theatre Festival and the Jewish Culture Festival – celebrated with all manner of performances, exhibitions and symposia. Literary Notes There are two winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature closely associated with Cracow. Firstly, Czeslaw Milosz, who is the author of The Captive Mind (1953). Secondly, the poet Wislawa Szymborska, whose literary debut began with I Seek the World (1945), published in the supplement Fight (Walka) of Cracow’s daily newspaper, and was followed by the runaway success That’s What we Live For (1952) and many subsequent collections of poetry. The leading Polish science fiction writer and author of Solaris (1961), Stanislaw Lem, studied at Cracow’s Jagiellonian University. Although it is Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List (1993) that has so dramatically raised awareness of Cracow’s former Jewish population, it was Schindler’s Ark (which won the Booker Prize in 1982), by Thomas Kenneally, that first told story. A good recent history of the city is Zdislaw Zygulski’s Cracow: An Illustrated History (2001). |
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