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| Warsaw
Culture Guide |
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Culture in Warsaw was already strong even before the fall of Communism but it has expanded and opened up significantly ever since, although some state financed performers have suffered. Polish theatre is world-famous and numerous companies are based in Warsaw. You’ll also find dance, music and modern art installations in many venues. There is a great sense of pride in Frederic Chopin in Warsaw. Born in 1810, in nearby Zelazowa Wola, the musician moved shortly thereafter to Warsaw, where he remained until he left for Paris in the year 1830. The Grammy Award winner Krzysztof Penderecki had his debut during the Warsaw Autumn festival in the year 1959.
Poland’s golden age, in terms of art and culture, was without a doubt the Sarmatism (Polish Baroque) period from 1572 to 1764. The dress, painting and sculpture of the period reflect the lifestyle of the Polish nobility – familiar to most in the costume of the ‘Winged Hussars’.
Warsaw has several world-class cultural institutions, including the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Theatre. The main cultural season runs from September to July, although there are often summer festivals featuring outdoor concerts held in the Old Town Square and in Warsaw’s parks. Jazz fans should look out for the Warsaw Summer Jazz Days (around mid June – July) and the Autumn Jazz Jamboree in October.
The Warsaw Tourist Information Points have a useful weekly and annual online calendar of events. The Warsaw Voice (in English) includes weekly listings of events, as does the monthly Warsaw Insider and the free What’s Up Warsaw. In addition to the venues themselves, tickets can be purchased at the ZASP box office, aleje Jerozolimskie 25 (tel: (022) 621 9454), or at Empik Megastore, ulica Nowy Swiat 15/17 (tel: (022) 625 1219).
Literary Notes
Romanticism is evident in the works of Adam Mickiewicz, whose epic poem Pan Tadeusz (1834) is a magnum opus of Polish literature.
Teodor Josef Konrad Korzeniowski (Joseph Conrad) is another well known Warsaw-born writer, although he emigrated and wrote in English.
Henryk Sienkiewicz won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1905, while Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont, who lived in Warsaw for some time, received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1924. His classic novel, The Peasants (1924), documents the life and rituals of a small peasant village in Poland. His grave may be visited in the Avenue of Merit (the resting place of Warsaw’s famous literary and artistic figures) in the beautiful Old Powazki Cemetary, established in 1790.
The poet Czeslaw Milosz lived in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation as well as Isaac Bashevis Singer, who spent his childhood and the start of his writing career in Warsaw. His recording of Polish-Jewish culture in his classic family chronicles earned him a Nobel Prize in 1978.
More recently, Wislawa Szymborska won the Nobel Prize in 1996; she has published 16 compilations of poetry. |
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