KRAKOW 2013 - Kraków Miasto Literatury UNESCO

Krakow 2011

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KRAKOW 2013

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1. Krakow – UNESCO City of Literature . . 4

Working group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Support from the international community . . . . . 5Management team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Contact persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Ten reasons why Krakow deserves the title of UNESCO City of Literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1. The cultural capital of Poland and the 2000 European Capital of Culture . . . . . . . . . . . 72. Centuries-old literary heritage . . . . . . . . . . . . 73. Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74. The activity of literary institutions. . . . . . . . . 75. Literary festivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86. Scholarships and literary awards . . . . . . . . . . 87. The book market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88. Libraries, collections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89. A city of Nobel Prize winners . . . . . . . . . . . . . 910. A city of poets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3. Portrait of the city . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Basic information on the city . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Historical centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Multicultural profile of Krakow . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11European City of Culture 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14The knowledge-based economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Self-government authorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Culture and culture management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Strategies adopted for the development of cultural infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Implementation of strategies of culture – culture management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Infrastructural investments in the field of culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20International co-operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Most important cultural centres . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Cultural Centres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Museums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

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A view of the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Krakow’s Main Square

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4. Literary Krakow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Creators of literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Publishers and the book market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32The Book Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Literary associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Translators of literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Education for creative writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Literary and theatre awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Literary scholarships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Local, national and literary media . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Bookshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Antique and second-hand bookshops . . . . . . . . . 41Cyclical literary events and events promoting reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Conrad Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Milosz Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Reading Małopolska. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44The Book Fair and the Children’s Book Fair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Night of Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Krakow Poetry Salon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45The “Book and Rose” Malopolska Book Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45The Second Life of a Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45One Poem Tournament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Poetry Slam at Magazyn Kultury. . . . . . . . . . . 45Free Reading Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Tischner Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Norwid Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Talking Dog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46E-multipoetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Literary tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

5. Literary strategies – visions of participation – visions of development . . . 48

Key issues relating to the strategy of a city of literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Integration of diversified literary life. . . . . . . . 48Creation of links: literature, new media and creative industries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Creating readers’ attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Organisation of literary events and festivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Supporting the development of book industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Creation of conditions for the presence of literature in the public space . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Development of scholarship programmes . . . 57Developing the connections of literature with human rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Tightening of international co-operation in the field of literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Literary education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Prospects of the implementation of the program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Proposed financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

5. Addition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Historical outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62The Jagiellonian era and the 17th century. . . . 62The 18th and the 19th centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . 62The 20th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

History of literature and printing in Krakow. . . 63Index of abbreviations: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

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Miłosz Festival 2011


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Working group

The work on the application and literary strategies involved contributions from writers, experts on literary and cultural life, university staff, librarians, publishers, NGO representatives, heads of cultural institutions, journalists, cultural managers, booksellers, city officials and the Krakow Festival Office – the Application Coordinator. Persons invited to serve on the Working Group:

Filip Berkowicz – former Advisor on Culture to the Mayor of the City of KrakowEwa Bolińska – President of Znaczy Się FoundationAgata Chełstowska – Department for City Strategy and Development, Office for City Development Analysis and ForecastingBeata Czajkowska – Znaczy Się FoundationStanisław Dziedzic – Director of the Department of Culture and National Heritage of the Municipality of KrakowGrzegorz Gauden – Director of the Book InstituteKatarzyna Gądek – Director of the Tourism Department of the Municipality of KrakowDanuta Glondys – Director of the Villa Decius Association, Expert at the European Commission European Capitals of CultureGrażyna Grabowska – President of Targi w Krakowie, organiser of the Book Fair in KrakowKrzysztof Grüner – former Advisor on Foreign Cooperation to the Mayor of the City of KrakowIwona Haberny – Head of the Promotion Depart-ment at Wydawnictwo Literackie in KrakowIzabela Helbin – Director of the Krakow Festival OfficeJerzy Illg – Editor-in-Chief of ZNAK Publishing House, Director of the Czesław Miłosz FestivalGrzegorz Jankowicz – Vice President of Ha!art Publishing House, Executive Director of the International Joseph Conrad Literature Festival, Literary Editor of Tygodnik Powszechny

Olga Jaros – National Museum in Krakow, the President of the Princes Czartoryski FoundationSzymon Kloska – Expert at the Book Institute in KrakowAnna Korfel-Jasińska – Department of Education at the Municipality of KrakowAgnieszka Kosińska – Long-time assistant to Czesław MiłoszPiotr Marecki, PhD – Professor at the Jagiellonian University, critic and publisher, Editor-in-Chief of Ha!Art, Director of the Krakow Screenplay SchoolKrzysztof Markiel – Director of the Culture Department at the Marshal’s Office of the Małopolska RegionMichał Paweł Markowski – Professor, Stefan and Lucy Hejna Chair in Polish Language and Literature, Professor and Head, Slavic and Baltic Languages and Literatures University of Illinois at Chicago; Artistic Director of the International Joseph Conrad Literature FestivalAgata Mierzyńska – Department for International Cooperation of the Krakow MunicipalityPiotr Mucharski – Editor-in-Chief at Tygodnik Powszechny, Programme Director of the International Joseph Conrad Literature FestivalMałgorzata Niemczyńska – Journalist in the Literary Department of Gazeta WyborczaMichał Niezabitowski – Director of the Historical Museum of the City of KrakowAndrzej Nowakowski – PhD, member of the Fac-ulty of Polish Studies of the Jagiellonian Universi-ty, photographer, Director of UNIVERSITAS – The Scientific Papers Authors and Publishers SocietyMałgorzata Nycz – Editor-in-Chief of Wydawnictwo Literackie in KrakowRobert Piaskowski – Specialist in Polish studies, Deputy Programme Director at the Krakow Festival Office, Coordinator of the Application of the City of Krakow for the title of UNESCO City of LiteratureMonika Piątkowska – Plenipotentiary of the Mayor of the City of Krakow for the Krakow Brand

1. KRAKOW – UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE

Application of the Municipality of Krakow, Poland, submitted in 2011 by Professor Jacek Majchrowski – Mayor of the City of Krakow – and the literary community of Krakow.

Update: July 2013, in accordance with the guidelines provided during the working meeting in Paris on 22nd March 2013 by Messrs Francesco Bandarini (UNESCO Deputy Director-General for Culture) and Mauro Rosi (UNESCO Program Specialist for Museums and Creativity Section) with Ms Magdalena Sroka (Deputy Mayor of the City of Krakow for Culture and City Promotion) and Mr Robert Piaskowski (Co-ordinator of the KCL Program) and by electronic means by Mauro Rosi.


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Jacek Popiel – Professor of the Jagiellonian University, Dean of the Faculty of Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian UniversityAgnieszka Rasińska-Bóbr – Expert of the Book Institute in KrakowGrzegorz Słącz – Editor-in-Chief of the Karnet monthlyMagdalena Sroka – Deputy Mayor of the City of Krakow for Culture and PromotionPaweł Szlachta – Chair of the Board of the INRET Cluster of Culture Industries and Free Time FoundationJoanna Szulborska – Department of Culture and National Heritage of the Municipality of KrakowBarbara Turlejska – Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Heritage of the Municipality of KrakowMarcin Wilk – Literary editor, critic, journalist/contributor to Dziennik Polski, Editor of the Application of the City of Krakow for the title of UNESCO City of Literature

Apart from that, students of JU and volunteers have also engaged in work on the application.

Support from the international community

The efforts are supported by among others: Adonis, Zygmunt Bauman, Susan Bernofsky, Marek Bieńczyk, Anders Bodegård, Wiera Burłakowa, Roberto Calasso, Andrej Chadanowicz, Stefan Chwin, Bei Dao, Duo Duo, Peter Esterhazy, Janusz Głowacki, Juan Gelman, Namita Gokhale, John Gray, Manuela Gretkowska, David Grossman, Julia Hartwig, Miriam Van hee, Jane Hirshfield, Eva Hoffman, Ryszard Krynicki, Michael Krüger, Fleur Jaeggy, Hatif Janabi, Mario Vargas Llosa, Richard Lourie, Alain Mabanckou, Alberto Manguel, Eduardo Mendoza, Herta Mϋller, Uładzimir Niaklajew, Amos Oz, Brian Patten, Orhan Pamuk, Andrè Rouillè, Janusz Rudnicki, Steve Sem-Sandberg, Ben Shalev, Anna Schloss, Zadie Smith, Gary Snyder, Mateo Terzaghi, Jeanette Winterson, Adam Zagajewski.

Particular support for Krakow’s efforts was expressed by the late Wisława Szymborska – Laureate of the Nobel prize in literature.

Official support for Krakow’s efforts was also given by Krakow’s partner cities: Solura, Zagreb, Dublin, Edinburgh, Vilnius, Budapest, Bratislava, Orléans, Rochester, Nurnberg, Rome, Vienna, Leip-Leip-zig, Ostrava and Milan, members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in literature: Norwich, Melbourne, Iowa City, Reykjavik, cities applying

for membership of the Network: Naples, Prague, Lvov and Vancouver, as well as cities with many years of literary traditions that give a prominent role to literature in their cultural development strat-egies: Bratislava, Madrid, Stavanger and Brussels.

The initiative is also supported by the President of the Polish Committee of UNESCO Professor Andrzej Rottermund, and the Secretary-General of the Polish UNESCO Committee Professor Sławomir Ratajski, director of the Book Institute Grzegorz Gauden, and Rector of the Jagiellonian University Professor Karol Musioł, the President of the Polish PEN Club Adam Pomorski, as well as representatives of international literary institutions: the Chair of the Board of ICORN Peter Ripken and the President of PEN International John Ralston Saul.

Management team

The application was submitted to UNESCO by the City of Krakow, Poland on 1st October 2011 upon the request of the Mayor of the City of Krakow Professor Jacek Majchrowski.

Supervision of the application process: Magdalena Sroka – Deputy Mayor of the City of Krakow for Culture and Promotion; Coordination of the application: Krakow Festival Office – Director Izabela Helbin; Project Coordinator: Robert Piaskowski – Deputy Director for Programme Planning

Editor of the Application: Marcin Wilk – Specialist in Polish studies, literary journalist

Editorial Cooperation: Agnieszka Rasińska-Bóbr, Urszula Chwalba, Anna Ćmil, Marcin Dyrcz, Katarzyna Erbel, Zuzanna Grüner, Danuta Glondys, Katarzyna Grzęda, Grzegorz Jankowicz, Jakub Kulasa, Szymon Kloska, Aleksandra Nalepa, Robert Piaskowski, Grzegorz Słącz, Anna Słowikowska-Bogacka, Ryszard Wołosiuk. Editors of the Application Update: Maciej Jakubowiak, Robert Piaskowski, Grzegorz Słącz, Michał Szostało (English version), Magdalena Pieczka (Typesetting)

Contact persons

Robert Piaskowski – Deputy Director for Programme Planning, KFO; ul. Olszańska 7, 31-513 Krakow, Poland; +48 509 260 692; [email protected]

Maciej Jakubowiak – Specialist in Literary Matters, KFO; ul. Olszańska 7, 31-513 Krakow, Poland; +48 504 084 577; [email protected]


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mailto:[email protected]

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The authorities of Krakow, the literary and academic communities and the inhabitants themselves all recognise that the prestigious title of UNESCO City of Literature appropriately highlights Krakow’s role in world literature, and is justified by the city’s many centuries of traditions. Krakovians are proud of both their literary past and the vibrant and diverse initiatives of the literary present. Krakow’s municipal authorities wish to capitalise on this enthusiasm and social consensus to build important programmes supporting the diversity and richness of literary initiatives in the city. In undertaking efforts to obtain the title, we believe that literature can contribute to the improvement of social cohesion, stimulate economic growth and the development of creative industries and have a significant impact on intercultural dialogue.

In applying for the title of UNESCO City of Literature, Krakow has identified the need to strengthen and manage its literary capital. These activities are aimed at developing long-term strategies that make it possible to initiate literary programs and create clear rules regarding the acquisition of funds for these programs and the criteria for their distribution. This is accompanied by a strong belief that literature can contribute to improving social cohesion and stimulating economic development and intercultural dialogue. The KCL (Krakow City of Literature) project was included in the Strategy for Culture Development for the City of Krakow for the years 2009-13 and for the Strategy being elaborated for years 2014-20. As a result of preparing the first version of the application, Krakow now shapes various programs of literary life and connections with other branches of the creative economy with greater awareness and attention, and consistently combines local activities in the field of literature with the activity of the global Creative Cities Network.

In the joint opinion of the team preparing the application, the title will reinforce the importance of the Krakow Brand at the political level, and so it will be helpful in obtaining a gradual increase in the funds (municipal funds, and also those from relevant external sources, including regional, ministerial, and EU programmes) for the development of a model for the management and functioning of literature in urban communities, and also for the international promotion of literary Krakow.

The title will be a strong case for promoting solidarity across communities and a sense of shared responsibility among the city and regional authorities, writers, publishers, promoters, academics and readers for the preservation and development of cultural heritage and a commitment to ceaselessly linking it with all sectors of the creative economy. Krakow’s literary identity emerged in strict connection with the entire region of Małopolska, therefore the city ties its development in the field of literature inseparably with the entire Małopolska Region.

A culmination and clear sign of an up-to-date understanding of not only the city’s responsibilities, but also those of the Małopolska regional authorities and the MCNH (Ministry of Culture and National Heritage) with regard to literature as an important factor in the economy and culture of Krakow are joint activities aiming at the creation of the first Literature Forum in Poland and this part of Europe together with the Book Institute. Constituting an extension of the national institution promoting Polish literature – the Book Institute, it will be a partner for all local, national and international bodies concerned with literature, and will not only coordinate but also develop new programmes for the development of the creative industry based on literature and books.

Additionally, Krakow will seek to pave the way into the UNESCO Cities of Literature network for other centres with which Krakow cooperates at economic and cultural levels. These include Vilnius, Lviv, Leipzig, Bratislava, Budapest and St Petersburg. Krakow will also develop cooperation with its partner cities of Edinburgh (the first city in the network), Dublin, and Frankfurt-am-Main through the network. In building joint literary programmes, Krakow also wishes to cooperate more closely with nearby Prague, which is also applying for the title of UNESCO City of Literature, Katowice (applying for the title of UNESCO City of Music) and Wrocław (which is planning to become a member of the literary cities network). The above activities will contribute to enhancing cultural competences in the macro-region, improving social cohesion, and will also promote social and intercultural dialogue. Economy-wise, the title will stimulate the growth of cultural tourism as well.

Obtaining the title of UNESCO City of Literature is an opportunity to strengthen the determined developmental trends leading to the

2. INTRODUCTION


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creation of literary capitals in the spirit of artistic, social and intercultural dialogue, and to set an example for other cities of Central & Eastern Europe by demonstrating that urban development based on literature and artistic activity is not only possible, but also extremely attractive and beneficial.

In anticipation of UNESCO’s decision, the city consistently pursues, develops, supplements and improves on the conclusions presented two years ago, which leads to clarification and unification of the strategy and the inclusion of new partners. In this way, Krakow carries out bold new projects (such as the KCL program or Reading Małopolska) while pursuing goals consistent with the mission of UNESCO Cities of Literature, which is demonstrated by the update of the application presented below.

Ten reasons why Krakow deserves the title of UNESCO City of Literature

1. The cultural capital of Poland and the 2000 European Capital of CultureKrakow is the most recognisable Polish city in the world, the cultural capital of the country, a city of literature and poetry. In 1978, by the decision of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, Krakow was inscribed on the first list of the most valuable objects in the world. The area including the Old Town, Wawel Hill, and the Jewish district of Kazimierz – the world’s second (after Prague’s Josefov) complex of Judaic monuments that is this large and valuable – came under protection. In order to emphasize the historical heritage and contribution to the achievements of world culture and civilisation, Krakow was honoured with the title of the European Capital of Culture of the year 2000. One of the pillars of the celebrations held under the slogan “Thought – Spirituality – Creation” were the much-discussed meetings of poets from the East and the West.

2. Centuries-old literary heritageKrakow is one of the largest Polish academic centres. 23 institutions of higher education operate here, including the oldest and the most important one –Jagiellonian University (Universitas Jagellonica Cracoviensis), established in 1364 as Studium Generale. After Prague University, it was the second university established in this part of Europe. More than 200,000 students a year study in Krakow, both in the broadly defined field of humanities and in the fields of technology and

science. This way, the city attracts and retains talents in various disciplines. Today, Krakow is also Poland’s most powerful centre of literary research, but it also excels in opening up to new forms of literature: e-books, kinetic poetry, e-poetry, city literary games, new book industries. In Poland, Krakow is also the leader in the digitisation of historic literary collections.

3. EducationThe city has undisputable advantages resulting from the development of artistic and academic circles over many centuries. The oldest and most beautiful Polish university – JU (Universitas Jagellonica Cracoviensis) – was opened for general studies 1364, and was the second university created in this part of Europe after the University of Prague. Today, with its 23 institutions of higher education, Krakow has over 210,000 students annually and ranks second in Poland after Warsaw in this respect. Nearly 50,000 persons graduate from studies in Krakow every year. Students are attracted not only by the dynamically growing city with its educational and cultural offerings, but also the developing labour and real estate market. In this way, the city attracts and retains talent in various disciplines. Krakow is one of the largest creative centres in Europe, and the leading centre in this part of Europe with regard to academic staff, specialised R&D centres and competent specialised human resources both in the humanities and in exact, technical, natural and IT sciences. Moreover, it is the most important Polish centre of literary research due to the work of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Polish Academy of Learning, and JU.

4. The activity of literary institutionsKrakow is the headquarters of the most important national institution dealing with the promotion of Polish literature in the world and the support of national literary programmes, The Book Institute, which was established in 2004. The Polish Writers’ Union, the Polish Writers’ Association, the Polish Academy of Sciences – an independent scientific institution serving the development of science, its promotion, integration, and dissemination – and the Polish Academy of Learning, as well as countless non-governmental organisations, associations, and foundations supporting literary initiatives, and industries related to books and the promotion of literature in everyday life also operate here. Krakow is also home to editorial offices of over a dozen newspapers, periodicals, and literary magazines, some of which – such as: Tygodnik Powszechny, the Znak monthly,


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Dekada Literacka or the trilingual Radar – are an invaluable forum for popularising literature throughout the country. The editorial staff of these magazines actively join in the organisation of literary festivals and meetings, as well as literary criticism and publishing activity. Krakow is also the largest and the most important theatre centre in Poland, which boasts both theatres with centuries-old traditions and new theatres dealing with important social issues, such as the rights of minorities, visibility of immigrants and politics, thus continuing important traditions of engaged theatre in Krakow.

5. Literary festivalsIn addition to several dozen theatre, music, and film events, Krakow is host to the most important literary festivals in Poland: the Milosz Festival and the Conrad Festival. Each year, eminent authors from all over the world come to Krakow, along with a select circle of Polish writers, poets, and reporters. These festivals have become a brand recognised in the world and a symbol of international celebration of literature. Meetings with authors are accompanied by academic conferences, debates, concerts, meetings with translators and publishers, and parallel to the Conrad Festival, another celebration of literature takes place in Krakow – the largest Book Fair in Poland. The list of events supporting the book market and promoting reading also includes the Book and Rose Malopolska Book Days, the Comic Book Festival, the Online One Poem Tournament, the 366 Poems in 365 Days workshops, The Second Life of a Book and the Multipoetry campaigns, and the Krakow editions of the national All of Poland Reads to Kids programme. It is also necessary to mention the rich activity of the Free Reading Zones, reading promotion campaigns and countless occasional events, such as academic sessions, literary seminars, jubilees of poets and writers and events organised by publishers, libraries and bookshops. The festival offering is augmented by a number of important theatre festivals, such as Krakow Theatrical Reminiscences and the Divine Comedy Festival, which are among the most important festivals of this kind in Poland.

6. Scholarships and literary awardsNumerous prestigious literary prizes are awarded in Krakow, including: the Transatlantyk Award in the field of the promotion of Polish literature abroad; the Jan Długosz Prize awarded to the best book of the year in the field of the humanities, broadly defined; the Kazimierz Wyka Award for outstanding achievements in the field of essay

writing and literary and art criticism; the Wisława Szymborska Poetry Award; and the Stanisław Vincenz New Culture of New Europe Award. Another form of promotion of good literature by the City of Krakow is the monthly award of the Krakow Book of the Month. For years, Krakow’s publishing houses and authors have received the largest number of nominations for the most important national and international literary awards and distinctions from the publishing industry. The Villa Decius Association, operating in Krakow for 12 years now, organises scholarship stays for young writers and translators. To date, as part of the Homines Urbani and Dagny programmes, more than a hundred authors from Poland and abroad have taken advantage of the residential scholarship. The Albrecht Lempp scholarship is also granted in Krakow, supporting translations and the Polish-German dialogue. In 2011, Krakow joined the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN), a prestigious network of 40 world cities providing refuge to persecuted writers.

7. The book marketThe most prestigious and the most important national publishing houses have their headquarters in Krakow, but there are also many small, exclusive, and niche bibliophile publishers. Parallel to the Conrad Festival, the largest Book Fair in Poland takes place here (almost 500 publishers from all over Poland present their offer here each year), and since 2011 – also the only Children’s Book Fair in Poland. Krakow’s publishing companies publish more than 3,000 titles annually, printed in the total number of about 6 million copies, and local writers and publishers receive the largest number of nominations for the leading Polish literary awards. There are nearly 80 bookstores and almost 30 antiquarian bookshops in the city. Krakow’s bookstores are among the best-stocked in the country. Evidence of Krakow’s bookshop tradition may be found in the fact that one of the buildings on the Market Square has housed a bookstore continually since 1610. The artistic book market is developing, and Krakow publishers are releasing books in new forms: e-books, audio books etc. It was in Krakow that the term Liberatura (Liberature) was coined for artistic books, and one of the most important ‘liberary’ book collections in Poland was created.

8. Libraries, collectionsKrakow is the city of the first scriptoriums, libraries, and printing houses. At present, several dozen libraries operate here: the regional


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library, municipal and district libraries, as well as scientific, academic, and university libraries. Krakow’s largest and most important library, with a centuries-old tradition and of international significance is the Jagiellonian Library, which houses the most important relics and masterpieces of the Polish language and world literature. The Jagiellonian Library also assembles and archives all Polish prints published in Poland and abroad. The former Municipal Arsenal houses the collection of the Czartoryski family, with priceless treasures of national literature, including a collection of the oldest manuscripts and antique books in Europe. Krakow’s archives contain treasures of European writing, including manuscripts and incunabula of unparalleled diversity and significance. Scientists are attracted by the libraries of the Polish Academy of Learning and the Polish Academy of Sciences, and youth by one of the most modern and the best stocked institutions collecting books in Poland: the Regional Public Library. Recently, the multimedia Arteteka, presenting art, books, and literature in their latest incarnations, has also begun to operate at the Malopolska Garden of Arts.

9. A city of Nobel Prize winnersThe city’s history is closely tied to the life stories of the Polish Nobel Prize winners in literature. The Krakow magazine Czas featured serializations of popular novels by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Quo Vadis), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905. Władysław Stanisław Reymont, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1924 (the author of The Promised Land and The Peasants received the award for lifetime achievement) often visited Krakow. The 1980 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, poet, prose writer, and essayist,

Czesław Miłosz (The Captive Mind, Family Europe) selected Krakow to be his home in the last years of his life. Wisława Szymborska (Calling Out to Yeti, People on the Bridge), honoured with the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996, spent most of her life in Krakow. Altogether, Krakow has been visited by several dozen winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature – most recently by Mario Vargas Llosa, Herta Müller and Orhan Pamuk.

10. A city of poetsThe literary legend of the city is co-created by great poets. Krakow was a capital of literary modernism, it was here that the Futurists organised their literary provocations, the poetic avant-garde also has its roots here, and finally, Krakow is a place of artistic activity of poetry groups of the latest history of Polish and world literature. At present, several hundred poets live and work here. Poetry soirées and poetry salons enjoy popularity observed nowhere else in the world – they attract crowds of listeners and readers. Poets in Krakow are treated as local heroes, and young budding poets take part in numerous competitions. As part of the Krakow 2000 Festival, the city became the place of the famous Meetings of the Poets of the East and the West, organised by the Polish winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature connected with Krakow: Wisława Szymborska and Czesław Miłosz. Today, premieres of poetry volumes, benefit performances, poetry marathons, and the Poetry Night initiated in 2011 also enjoy popularity. Meetings of Poets, organised by Adam Zagajewski and Edward Hirsch, also take place in Krakow. Poetry circles focus around the Wydawnictwo a5 publishing house and the Korporacja Ha!art Foundation.


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Basic information on the city

Krakow, the Royal Capital City of Poland, is situated in a unique location in the south of Poland at an altitude of 219m. It lies at the heart of that part of Europe lying between Berlin, Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, Budapest, Lviv and Vilnius. Western civilisation reached Wawel from the south, through the Moravian Gate. That is why from Krakow it is easier to see not only Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Zagreb and Trieste, but also Silesia, Moravia, Spis, Styria and Transylvania.

Krakow, covering an area of 327 km2, is the second most populous city in Poland and the capital of the Małopolska Region. In 2012, its population (758,000) accounted for 1.96% of the total Polish population and 22.6% of the population of the Małopolska Region. Good living conditions attract an influx of new inhabitants. Most of them are students, who come to Krakow to pursue their education.

The city is located in the vicinity of the Trail of the Eagles’ Nests (Szlak Orlich Gniazd) – Royal fortresses dating back to the times of the Piast and the Jagiellon dynasties – and the Wooden Architecture Trail (with emphasis on historical Catholic, Uniate and Orthodox churches, bell towers, old Polish manor houses, wooden villas and open-air ethnographic museums). Krakow’s suburbs include Wieliczka – a town with a UNESCO-listed historic salt mine. Bochnia, 40 km away, is a town boasting the oldest salt mine in Poland. This is a reminder of the traditions of the region, once a major crossroads in the trade in “white gold”, as salt used to be called in bygone days. Nearby Niepołomice has a Gothic-Renaissance royal castle from the mid-14th century. Krakow also has a strong cultural association with Zakopane, a major centre of highland culture and the capital of the Polish Tatra mountains, a place important to Polish literature and culture. The unique complex of Niepołomice Forest also lies close to Krakow. This habitat hosts over 175 species of birds protected under the Natura 2000 Network. Moreover, 6 national parks are situated close to Krakow: Gorczański, Magurski, Ojcowski, Pieniński, Tatrzański, and Babiogórski. The last of these was listed by UNESCO under the World Network of Biosphere Reserves as early as 1977.

The city contains 5 nature reserves and approximately 40 parks, interspersed with

the functional architecture of the centre of the metropolis. Some popular walking destinations are: Planty Park – one of the most beautiful parks in Europe, which was established in place of demolished defensive walls, the Vistula Boulevards – a popular place of recreation, Błonia Common Green – 48 hectares of green space in the heart of Krakow. In the city centre, tourists are drawn to Poland’s oldest Botanical Garden (founded in 1783) which belongs to the Jagiellonian University. In 2010, two new stadiums were constructed, for Wisła and Cracovia clubs, the city will be enriched by a modern sport and entertainment arena capable of hosting sporting events and concerts for thousands of people, and the ICE International Conferencing and Entertainment – concert and congress centre. In recent years, cycling routes have been marked out around the historical city centre, Nowa Huta and on the route to the medieval Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec and the 17th-century Camaldolese Monastery in Bielany. It is worth mentioning that the Nazi death camps Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oświęcim-Brzezinka) were situated just 60 km from Krakow, and are today places of remembrance visited by millions of tourists.

The proximity of the longest Polish motorway, the A4, is of great importance for the city’s development. This is the Polish section of the E40 international road that continues the route of the German motorway from Dresden. A principal transportation axis of the Małopolska Region runs within the trans-European east-west infrastructural corridor TINA III which links EU Member States with Ukraine and Russia. It consists of the part of the completed Krakow-Katowice motorway, the Zgorzelec-Medyka E4 national road, and the central rail line parallel to it. Krakow International Airport in Krakow-Balice cleared 2,863,996 passengers in 2010 – in 2012 this number rose to 3,014,060 – and maintains regular connections to 53 airports in 44 cities in 18 countries – the range of services being continuously extended. With the International Airport in Katowice-Pyrzowice located 100 km from Krakow, this makes up an ideal regional airline centre that attracts tourists and businesses to Krakow, especially as, with the development of infrastructure and transport links, the Silesian Metropolitan Area and Krakow are increasingly close to each other. For years cultural

3. PORTRAIT OF THE CITY


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events in the capital of Małopolska have been an attraction for almost 3 million inhabitants of the Silesian Metropolitan Area, and even Katowice makes use of Kraków’s tried-and-true models for the management of cultural activities, for instance on the occasion of Katowice’s having applied for the title of European Capital of Culture 2016.

Historical centre

Krakow, considered to be a jewel among the cities of Central and Eastern Europe, was the only historic city in Poland to have miraculously survived the horrors of the Second World War intact. The city owes its position not only to the masterpieces of art and architecture, but above all to the powerful intellectual, scholarly, literary and artistic assets that the city has contributed to the heritage and development of European civilisation over many centuries.

The City of Krakow grew out of the formal layout of the medieval town and has retained its historic core. Krakow’s medieval Main Market Square is still the heart of the city, the setting for major events, and a traditional meeting place for the city’s inhabitants and for visitors who love Krakow’s unique atmosphere. On a national scale, the city boasts the largest number of cultural assets with the highest historical and artistic value. The Register of Heritage currently lists 1236 monuments. Evidence for the high status of Krakow’s heritage is provided by Wawel Hill with its Royal Castle and the Cathedral, 10 urban complexes and groups of buildings, 37 rural complexes – former villages – mostly developed in the Middle Ages, 93 residential buildings and building groups, 95 religious buildings and building groups (including a group of seven synagogues, unique at a European scale), 180 public facilities, 4 mounds, 17 historic cemeteries, 24 parks and ancient green spaces, relics of defence systems from various ages, including 184 military facilities associated with the Austrian Fortress of Krakow, over 40 industrial facilities and complexes, and more than 480 original small chapels, statues and roadside crosses. The interiors of historic buildings contain more than 25,000 works of art forming part of their decor and furnishings, of which over 17,000 are kept in numerous museums and private collections. In 1978, the historic centre of Krakow, including Wawel, the historical city centre, Stradom, and Kazimierz, was put on the first List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites as “the common good of humanity”.

The multicultural complexity of Krakow is well represented by the city’s necropolises with a number of works of art of high artistic quality. The oldest modern necropolis is Rakowicki Cemetery. Kazimierz includes two Jewish cemeteries: Remuh Cemetery, founded in 1533, and the New Jewish Cemetery, founded late in the 18th century. Royal tombs in the Wawel Cathedral are the most august national sanctuary. The Cathedral houses numerous crypts of Polish rulers, poets and national heroes. The crypt in the Pauline Church Na Skałce / On the Rock is the resting place for distinguished artists and scholars, and the burial place for, amongst others, a Polish chronicler and historian of the 15th century Jan Długosz, dramatist and painter Stanisław Wyspiański, composer Karol Szymanowski, and the poets Adam Asnyk and Czesław Miłosz.

Population

In 2012, Krakow’s population (758,000 citizens) accounted for 1.96% and 22.6% of the total population of Poland and the Małopolska Region respectively. Good living conditions attract an influx of new inhabitants. Most of them are students, coming to Krakow to pursue their education.

In 2012, 6,824 new dwellings were completed, while the construction of 9,000 new dwellings was begun, including ones in postindustrial neighbourhoods.

It is easy to find employment in Krakow. In recent years, Krakow has recorded a decline in the unemployment rate. In 2012, the unemployment rate stood at 5.9%.

Those in the artistic professions frequently and gladly choose Krakow as their place to work. Of considerable significance is the multigenerational nature of the corps of professionals, the mutual influence of creative communities, the constant friction and change. Perhaps because of this tension and the coexistence of different creative communities belonging to different generations, Krakow is seen as one of the most open and tolerant of Polish cities.

Multicultural profile of Krakow

Krakow is one of those European cities whose unique appearance was moulded through the creative involvement of representatives of many nationalities. The Małopolska Region is today inhabited by 19 ethnic groups, including Polish


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Highlanders, Lemkos and Lachy Sądeckie. They, too, contribute to creating the image of Małopolska with their cultures, customs and colourful costumes which have been preserved to this day. In the Middle Ages, German settlers brought the finest guild traditions here; in the Renaissance, Italians enriched Krakow with the greatest achievements of contemporary art and architecture; Jews had for centuries traded and been craftsmen in Krakow. Under the Magdeburg Law, modelled on German Law, Krakow was granted city status which in turn promoted its development. The great numbers of newcomers attracted to Krakow by its unparalleled tolerance and attractive culture quickly became Polonised. The German Werzig became Wierzynek, while the Montelupi family from Tuscany changed their name to Wilczygórski.

In the Jagiellonian era, the 15th and the 16th centuries, Krakow was the capital of one of the most powerful and extensive countries of Europe, stretching at that time from the Baltic Sea almost to the Black Sea. The city, open to all peoples inhabiting this vast country, could develop thanks to this assimilative character and tolerance and also to the presence of the Krakow Academy – a highly respected university in both the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, with foreigners accounting for half of all students. Jews referred to Krakow as Little Jerusalem. By the decision of Sigismund the Old (Zygmunt Stary) in 1536/1537, German sermons were moved to St Barbara’s Church, while Polish ones were preached at St Mary’s Church, which meant that Germans had their own parish. Those who found freedom in Krakow included persecuted Protestants and also members of other Christian denominations: Armenians, Orthodox and Greek Catholics.

During the Enlightenment and also the so-called Republic of Krakow, the city became a part of the Habsburg Empire. Immersed in the multicultural nature of the multinational empire, Krakow reflected the ethnic diversity of contemporary Europe. Receptiveness to cosmopolitan, artistic and intellectual movements resulted in the emergence of a unique bohemia and a strong multicultural community and a specifically Central European intelligentsia. The autonomy of Krakow and the University attracted the free spirits from this part of Europe, and the city’s rapid growth at the beginning of the century attracted many foreigners, lured with the opportunity to get rich quickly during the rapid industrialisation of the region. Krakow was becoming a place offering asylum to refugees of many nationalities.

This trend was interrupted by the tragedy of World War II and irreversible changes in the demographic and ethnic map of the city, including the near-complete extermination of the Jewish population and the assimilation of Polish populations from lands in present-day western Lithuania and Ukraine, particularly Lviv and Vilnius.

It is estimated that Jews accounted for 1/3 of the population of Krakow before the Second World War. The extermination of Jews by the Nazis at the nearby Auschwitz-Birkenau led to irreversible changes in the social and cultural map of Krakow, whose multiculturalism was not only made up of Jewish merchants and craftsmen, but also scientists, intellectuals and artists.

Krakow seeks to restore the memory of the Jews by organising the Jewish Culture Festival (held regularly since 1988), the programme of which focuses on a scientific session devoted to the encounter between Polish and Jewish cultures, but which also includes concerts, workshops, Hebrew and Yiddish courses, and performances by singers and synagogue choirs. The Festival is one of the most important and largest events of this kind in the world. Over time it has become a meeting place for Jews and non-Jews from around the world. Krakow’s Kazimierz has become a huge living centre of dialogue; shabbat prayers resound in synagogues; Krakow’s Jewish community is reconstructing itself; and the Jewish Religious Community functions in a dynamic way. Important centres for dialogue and promotion of Jewish culture are the Center for Jewish Culture and Jewish Community Centre (JCC). On the anniversary of the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto, the city hosts the March of Remembrance, starting at Plac Bohaterów Getta (Ghetto Heroes Square), the former Umschlagplatz. The aim is not only to commemorate those Jews so tragically killed, but also to relate to their centuries-long presence in Krakow. The participants in the March cover the route once covered by the Jews for whom it was often the last route.

As a result of the post-war period and the irreversible changes in the demographic map of Europe, for nearly five decades Krakow lost its multi-ethnic and multicultural profile in favour of a model which was relatively homogeneous. The last twenty years, starting with the world-changing year 1989, have brought social and cultural transformations that have re-opened the city to incomers. Multilingual and multicultural Krakow builds its cosmopolitan image by drawing on its traditions, recovering its own memory of its former multi-ethnicity and


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opening up to its European neighbours (including those closest to it: Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia and the Czech Republic). Concurrently, however, it is also exposed to the impact of globalisation due to the annual increase in the number of tourists and pilgrims coming to Krakow from all over the world, and also the continuous increase in the number of foreigners choosing Krakow as their place to live and work. These are mainly employed by companies from the creative industry, universities, research centres or branches of foreign companies located in Krakow or in the economic zones surrounding the city.

Multicultural Krakow is the subject of research being carried on by academic and cultural centres. JU offers cultural studies, and the chairs of ethnology, anthropology and ethnography are recognised. It is also worth mentioning the dynamic activity of the International Cultural Centre and the Malopolska Institute of Culture, which examine the place of Krakow in the context of the achievements of European civilisation, the multiculturalism of Central Europe, identity and remembrance, dialogue of cultures and societies, the protection of monuments and cultural policy, broadly understood.

Krakow is also home to the thriving Villa Decius Association, an institution organising numerous workshops and programmes aimed at the more effective integration of immigrants and improving their equality of opportunity in Polish society. For the last 7 years, the Krakow-based Villa Decius Association has honoured people with the Polish Sergio Vieira de Mello Prize commemorating the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2002–2003). This is one of the most important awards promoting human rights in Poland, given for activities promoting peaceful co-existence and cooperation between different societies, religions and cultures. The year 2011 will also see Krakow’s accession to the ICORN International Cities of Refuge Network. By doing so, Krakow seeks to emphasise its status as a city that offers literary asylum, especially for writers originating from the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Krakow had already acted as such an asylum in former times – by becoming a second home for scholars and artists who came here from Vilnius and Lviv after the Second World War. Krakow intends to develop its international and macro-regional status as a city of intellectual and literary dissidents and a literary Gateway to the East. Krakow’s cultural institutions also include two organisations focusing on Asian cultures, the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology and the Confucius Institute

(Centre for Chinese Language and Culture at the Jagiellonian University).

As in former centuries, Krakow is now home to many ethnic minorities, including Armenians (represented by the Armenian Cultural Association), Romani people, Jews, Slovaks (Association of Slovaks in Poland) and Lemkos. It is also worth pointing out that the presence and cultural activity of communities associated with national minorities (cultural festivals of other nations, including festivals for the Romanian, Romani, African and Jewish cultures) and sexual minorities (Days of Tolerance, LGBT film reviews, activity of clubs and theatres concerned with gender and LGBT issues) emphatically points to the co-existence of diverse cultures free from prejudice, and, thus, conducive to creativity.

In 2009 the John Paul II Institute of Intercultural Dialogue was established in order to disseminate the spirit of Christian personalism and tolerance among all who feel closely associated with the life and spirit of the Polish pope. In the same year, the International Congress for Peace People and Religions – Assisi in Krakow was held. Nearly five hundred religious leaders, heads of state and representatives of the political and cultural world arrived at Wawel, thus confirming the status of Krakow as a centre of multicultural dialogue.

European City of Culture 2000

The millennium year was approached by the Council of Ministers for Culture of the European Community in a special way. In 2000, the title of European City of Culture went simultaneously to 9 cities, including two cities from former Eastern Bloc countries about to join the EU on 1st May 2004: Krakow in Poland and Prague in the Czech Republic. This decision of the Council of Ministers was made due to the “turn of the century” and the idea that 9 cities representing the whole continent should jointly develop a European cultural programme and, symbolically, jointly enter the new millennium.

Krakow’s central concept was Thought – Spirituality – Creativity and the motif of seven religions and traditions. It is difficult to imagine a more beautiful description of Krakow’s multicultural contribution to the cultural heritage of Europe. The anniversary year saw more than 650 artistic and cultural events held. The quality and scale of cultural projects clearly showed the need to invest in culture, and as a result introduced an important element into the city’s policy making,


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crowned 10 years later with the 6 Senses series, a project bringing together events from different cultural spheres.

The brand of European City of Culture helped Krakow in its international presentation. To this day, the brand is used by travel agencies, hotels, restaurants and organisers of cultural life. The title showed us the direction for the development of modern Krakow, unleashing social energy, a sense of pride and joint responsibility among the city’s citizens. It was also a lesson in modern cultural project management: on that occasion, a network of municipal information points was established, and in hard times the festival itself prevented a drop in tourist traffic in the region. On that occasion, the Kraków 2000 Festival Office, a prototype for the Krakow Festival Office, the first institution promoting the city of culture in this part of Europe, was established. Two other fundamental priorities of the European City of Culture 2000 were “To stimulate Krakow’s artistic life, including stimulation of the activity of the existing cultural institutions” and to modernise the “the range of Krakow’s tourist opportunities in such a way promoting the city in the international arena” – and these priorities were completed.

One of central events of that time was the Meeting of Poets from East and West – poets who came to Krakow to read poetry together. At the invitation of Polish Nobel Prize winners, the first such event in 1997 was attended by 20 poets from Russia, the United States, Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland, including Paul Muldoon, Tomas Tranströmer, Natalya Gorbanevskaya, Tomas Venclova and C.K. Williams. The meetings were intended to allow the participants to share their experiences in the new environment of dialogue possible as a result of the fall of totalitarian regimes and of the wall separating East from West. The Miłosz Festival would emerge in 2009 from this tradition.

Education

In 2012 there were 327 kindergartens, 131 primary schools, 94 middle schools and 90 general education secondary schools in Krakow. Krakow’s educational institutions include secondary schools with centuries-old traditions, including the Nowodworski Secondary School No 1 (I Liceum), established in 1586. In the 17th and 18th centuries, graduates of this school included such famous Poles as King John III Sobieski, Wespazjan Kochowski, Wojciech Bogusławski,

Stanisław Trembecki, and Joseph Conrad (Józef Korzeniowski). Secondary schools that boast a long tradition and a high educational standard include the Stanisław Konarski Secondary School of the Piarist Order, established in 1909 and the August Witkowski Secondary School No 5, established in 1871. Polish and world classics for children and teenagers and major works of world literature are taught at the successive educational levels, which is aimed at educating open-minded people aware of the centuries-old tradition of European thought. This is why Polish youth read major works of Polish and world literature such as Sophocles, Horace, Homer, Medieval and Renaissance masterpieces, but also the works of modern authors, including: Shakespeare, Moliere, Goethe, Schiller, Byron, Dostoevsky, Zola, Kafka, Camus, Orwell, Dickens, Golding, Solzhenitsyn, Bulgakov, Tolkien and others.

Krakow is definitely a university city, as it boasts the country’s oldest, Jagiellonian University, and further 22 higher education institutions (altogether 10 public and 13 private ones), which employ 22,037 people (including approximately 1,427 professors) and educate 212,015 students.

Krakow is home to 22 institutions of higher education, which educate 204,000 students. The leading Polish institution of this kind is JU (Universitats Jagiellonica Cracoviensis), which was recognised as the best university in Poland in 2013. It is the oldest and most important Polish university. Founded in 1364 as Studium Generale, the Jagiellonian University was modelled on the University of Bologna. It was the second university, after the University of Prague, to have been established in this part of Europe. Krakow was famous for mathematics and astrology, and its students included Nicolaus Copernicus. According to the worldwide ranking published by The Times Higher Education Supplement, the Jagiellonian University is now the best Polish university. A very important university faculty is still the Faculty of Polish Studies, with alumni including many significant names in Polish humanities, literary criticism and literary studies. Today’s Faculty of Polish Studies consists of 17 chairs. Some of the famous graduates and professors of the Jagiellonian University associated with literature are the greatest Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski, an anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski, the columnist and translator of several volumes of French literature Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, Karol Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II), writer Stanisław Lem, poet and Nobel Prize winner Wisława Szymborska, and British historian Norman Davies. The Jagiellonian


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University has contributed to establishing a few other, important universities in Krakow including the Agricultural University (UR), University School of Physical Education (AWF), Pontifical University of John Paul II and the Academy of Fine Arts. This range of educational opportunities was further enriched with the later establishment of the Pedagogical University.

Krakow’s educational landscape is complemented by excellent art schools. The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts is the oldest (founded in 1818) and most important art school in Poland. Graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts include many major names in Polish contemporary art and the following outstanding figures from the arts world: Andrzej Wajda, Tadeusz Kantor, Józef Mehoffer, Wilhelm Sasnal, and Xawery Dunikowski. The Academy of Music dates back to 1888 when the Conservatory of the Krakow Music Society was founded. Its famous alumni and professors include Adam Rieger, Egon Petri, Jan Hoffman, Artur Malawski, Roman Palester, Ada Sari, Eugenia Umińska, and Bogusław Schaeffer. In 1972, the school’s famous alumnus Krzysztof Penderecki was appointed the Academy’s Rector. Another important artistic institution which trains outstanding Polish actors and theatrical directors is The Ludwik Solski State Drama School (PWST) established in 1946. Some of the school’s well-known alumni include Gustaw Holoubek, Jerzy Grotowski, Jerzy Stuhr, Krystian Lupa, and Grzegorz Jarzyna.

Krakow is not only a powerful centre of the humanities, but also a major centre for technical education. Research on technology and the technological sciences is conducted by the AGH University of Science and Technology and Krakow University of Technology. One of the most important Polish business schools, and the largest one in terms of the number of students, is the University of Economics. Economic studies are also available at The School of Banking and Management, School of Management/Polish Open University and School of Economics and Computer Science. The largest Krakow private university is the Frycz Modrzejewski Krakow University (KAFM). Another popular private university is the Tischner European University. Krakow is also home to such universities as the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow and the Bogdan Jański Academy of Management and its Krakow branch. Jesuit traditions are continued by the Ignatianum Jesuit University of Philosophy and Education.

Additionally, in 2010 Krakow saw the establishment of the National Science Centre,

an agency fully independent of politics and the central administration that administers grants for scientific research to academic centres throughout Poland. Krakow also includes a branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences – a state scientific institution embracing the most eminent Polish academics (like the French Academy of Sciences) and committed to research at the highest scientific level, and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, a corporation with the status of a scientific society that includes an elite of research staff.

For many years now, Krakow has seen an increasing number of foreign students thanks to international student exchange programmes as well as research and doctoral scholarships. Krakow has always been an attractive educational centre for young people from abroad: Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. Today, students from Western Europe and also the United States, Canada, South Korea and China account for an increasingly large share of Krakow’s university students. As Krakow is regarded as a city of students, it has the status of the academic and scientific capital of Poland and the region. That is why Krakow authorities, along with local universities, have carried out the Study in Krakow project aimed at promoting the city and Krakow’s universities in the international arena and attracting as many students from abroad as possible.

Science and education are supported by numerous Krakow foundations, associations and grassroots initiatives. The local business sector also contributes to meeting the growing needs of Polish education. Krakow is home to tens of language schools offering language courses, including the most exotic ones. For several years now, we have observed the growing popularity of Polish language courses for foreigners. The Jagiellonian University operates The Centre for Polish Language and Culture in the World and the School of Polish Language and Culture. It is also worth noting that virtually every Krakow bookshop offers major literary works in original language versions.

The knowledge-based economy

The Małopolska Region and its capital city – Krakow – have an unquestionable potential for the development of innovation. Good conditions for such development throughout the region are associated with the well-developed higher education sector, a high ratio of those employed in the R&D sector to the population, and


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a relatively high level of outlays on R&D activities (compared to other Polish cities). Krakow is a major Polish R&D centre. Investment in these activities in Malopolska is steadily increasing, and amount to PLN 645,000,000, i.e. 12.5% of the national total. In the same year 17,000 persons were employed in R&D centres in Małopolska, which accounts for 13.5% of the total employment in this sector in Poland.

Creativity is becoming the crucial type of economic capital in the local economy which uses human intelligence, knowledge and sensitivity to an ever greater extent. Krakow lives on the creative work of scientists, engineers, artists, filmmakers, musicians, designers and professionals in various fields of knowledge. There are around 50 companies providing services for business processes, which employ around 20,000 persons in Krakow and its neighbouring areas. Krakow houses the largest cluster of such companies in Poland, accounting for 40% of the employees working in this sector. Outsourcing centres provide a full range of services, from IT support to financial, accounting and legal services. The city is also home to enterprises from the high technologies sector and R&D development centres of large corporations.

The third Campus of the Jagiellonian University, which includes the modern buildings of the faculties of sciences, natural sciences and social communication, is a very important centre for science development. The development of the Campus is aided by the numerous investments of the Krakow Technology Park and the Krakow special economic zone. The Krakow Technology Park manages the special economic zone, established in 1997, which covers an area of 528.84 ha. and today comprises 19 sub-zones in 17 municipalities. Additionally, the Krakow LifeScience Cluster was established in 2006 on the initiative of the Jagiellonian University. The cluster incorporates 50 institutions and companies of the life science sector (biotechnology, pharmacy, medical sector, food and environment protection) and universities.

In Krakow, literature is entering into new and non-obvious relationships with media technologies, becoming a foundation for the development of the creative sector. Traditional skills in the humanities are combined with engineering knowledge, thus providing favourable conditions for the creation of innovative undertakings. One of the areas in which these ideas are implemented is the European Academy of Games – a school oriented towards educating creators of video games. Classes are held by

lecturers of JU and the AGH University of Science and Technology, as well as specialists from the industry. The school’s offering includes various specialisations, focusing on different stages of video game creation and production. The video game production specialisation is addressed to future programmers and includes issues such as the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and programming graphic processes. Students with visual skills will find the 3D modelling and animation specialisation attractive. An innovative combination of hard and soft competencies are studies in the video game design specialisation – advertised as “studies for specialists in the humanities”. They include designing video games, game creation workshops, gaming theory, the issues of social media, creating scripts, and an introduction to pop culture. Lecturers include not only specialists from the game industry, but also literary scholars, who teach future designers the basics of building narration and the rules of poetics and rhetoric.

The principle of combining competencies also applies to another innovative field of study offered by JU – Electronic Information Processing (EIP / Polish: EPI). These studies are intended to provide students with interdisciplinary knowledge of the theoretical and practical basics of information science and human mechanisms of linguistic, visual, and aural communication. The studies include elements of programming and the theory of computer systems, as well as the issues of cultural studies, poetics, and rhetoric. Due to the nature of this curriculum, EIP graduates may become specialists in designing interfaces for man-to-machine communication, but may also go on to design online tools and innovative marketing solutions. Graduates of EIP, the first major of this kind offered in Poland, also go on to work at creative and interactive agencies that are developing in Krakow.

It is also worth mentioning other important structures of creative economy: the Małopolska-Podkarpacie Pure Energy Cluster, the Polish Medicine South East Cluster, the Multimedia and IT Systems Cluster, MINATECH – Interregional Cluster of Innovative Technologies, Krakow Design Zone Cluster, INRET – Cluster of Culture and Leisure time Cultures.

The City Council has also established the Innovation Commission, consisting of scientists, rectors of Krakow-based institutions of higher education, local and regional authorities and representatives of the business world. Krakow wants to utilise its creative potential by creating a plan for a smart city in which modern data


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communication technologies are used for management. Funds for the development of the idea of the Smart City and the development of the idea of the creative city have been provided for in the Long-term Financial Perspective, with the amount of nearly PLN 22 million reserved for this purpose.

The employment structure is changing – the number of jobs is shrinking in the industrial sector and increasing in the service sector, including fields such as architecture, medicine, SPA centres, hotel, tourist traffic service and outsourcing services. Krakow is a fashionable destination for health, cultural and pilgrimage tourism. The number of tourists from Poland and abroad who visited Krakow rose from 8.6 million in 2011 to a record figure of nearly 9 million in 2012. This increase can be largely attributed to the recently established museums (e.g. the first Museum of Modern Art in Poland), cultural offerings, festivals, as well as Krakow’s charm and reputation of a romantic city.

According to the forecast presented by Jones Lang LaSalle, Krakow has the second largest market of office space for lease in Poland (after Warsaw), whose total area is currently approx. 500,000 sq.m. During the next few years it will increase by approx. 30,000 sq.m. annually and will reach 800,000 sq.m. in 2020.

Self-government authorities

The Krakow authorities consist of the Krakow City Council and the Mayor of the City of Krakow, elected directly by citizens in universal suffrage. By law, the City Council is the decision making and supervisory body. On 9th November 2002, Professor Jacek Majchrowski was sworn in as the Mayor of the City of Krakow, and was the first Mayor of Krakow in modern history to have been directly elected by citizens. Today, Professor Majchrowski is in his third term in office. The Mayor is the only person to exercise executive power, and he does so by enforcing resolutions adopted by Krakow City Council and managing the current affairs of the municipality.

Moreover, Krakow is also the seat of the Governor (Voivode) of Małopolska, the highest regional representative of state government (being head of the State administration and local authority bodies within the region, and representative of the State Treasury), the Regional Government Assembly (Sejmik), the Board and the Marshal (Speaker) of the Małopolska Region.

Culture and culture management

Strategies adopted for the development of cultural infrastructureThe Krakow Development Strategy of 2005, Małopolska Region Development Strategy for 2007–2013, and the Małopolska Regional Operational Programme 2007–2013 are the major strategic documents that provide consistency to the direction adopted by the city authorities. A municipal development plan for the years 2014-2020 is currently being prepared (keeping in mind the challenges of the KCL program) for the purpose of creating a development program for the creative sector and the leisure time industries sector, and with a view to giving priority to network creation and social inclusion. These documents guide the city’s activities designed to consolidate the role of Krakow as a European metropolis with important scientific, cultural, and sporting functions. Additionally, one of the priorities set forth by the documents is the preservation of cultural heritage, including the revival of historic built heritage and assuring the material and institutional conditions for the development of culture in combination with in innovative economy, tourism, business and leisure time industries.

The adopted Krakow Cultural Development Strategy (document No 1815, Krakow City Council, 2010) aligns development in this domain with the revival of degraded historic areas, cultural industries and the consolidation of the role of Krakow as a city of literature, Nobel Prize winners, writers and poets. An important item in the document is the Strategic Objective 3. Creative City of Krakow; operational objective 3.1. Krakow – the city of art and artists.

Implementation of strategies of culture – culture managementThe City of Krakow implements its culture development strategies via two specialised institutions: DCNH OCK and KFO.

DCHN OCKThis body supervises the activity of 28 municipal cultural institutions and is responsible for the creation of the City’s policy with regard to the sponsorship and promotion of culture. It carries out the supervision of municipal cultural institutions, museums, theatres and orchestras. It assigns grants in the field of culture under the program of co-financing of the creative activity of Krakow artists. It manages Artistic Scholarships for artists and scientists, including young Krakow


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artists, and a unique program enabling commercial art galleries to function thanks to preferential rent rates. The Department is also responsible for the co-operation of Krakow with the Association of Polish Cities and the international organisations, of which the City of Krakow is a member: the League of Historical Cities, National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), Organisation of World Heritage Cities (OWHC), and the EUROCITIES Culture Forum.

KFO and the festival policy of KrakowThe KFO is the main platform of development of the leisure time industry, the industry of meetings and cultural tourism in Krakow. It is responsible for the integration and communication of activities engaged in the culture of self-government and non-governmental entities. The Office was created in 1997 for the purpose of implementating the tasks connected with the proper organisation and promotion of the cultural program for the European City of Culture 2000. Several events that were organised at that time established the position of the Office as an important organiser of Krakow cultural events in the subsequent years. Today it manages the 6 Senses program, which engages the city in latest trends of artistic events in Europe and the world through cyclical projects and international festivals. The value of the 6 Senses festival program is nearly PLN 100 million. The City spends around PLN 35 million per annum for this purpose, whereas other costs are covered by partners and co-organisers. The most important projects of the program are festivals such as: Misteria Paschalia, Sacrum Profanum, Film Music Festival and Off Camera International Festival of Independent Cinema. The idea of promotion of art in public space is fulfilled by the Art Boom Festival, which is devoted entirely to contemporary art. Other important festival events include the Photomonth in Krakow, the Unsound Festival, the Festival of Polish Music as well as the Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival. The presence of the two largest literary events in Poland: the Miłosz Festival and the Conrad Festival emphasises the role of literature and other related artistic activities in the cultural promotion and brand strategy of Krakow.

Apart from the co-ordination of the festival policy, the KFO implements the city’s cultural policy and combines it with business, tourism and creative industries. In this way, it continues the idea of the European City of Culture 2000 program: Thought – Spirituality – Creation, which

are today understood as Knowledge – Creativity – Creation. Regarded as strategical, these areas are reflected in KFO’s scope of activity, work priorities and employment. The KFO manages also tourism infrastructure in the city, including tourist information centres, is an operator of city investments of key importance for the development of this sector, acts in support of the development of creative industries, cultural tourism, the industry of meetings and leisure time industries by building the awareness of this sector for the development and economy of the city. It strives for the development of creative industries, particularly the audiovisual sector (through the RFF mechanism and the Krakow Film Commission) and the literary sector (KCL Program). The KFO acts to the benefit of the local community by reinforcing actions aimed at fulfilling the needs of inhabitants and stimulating their activity. It supports other events in terms of production and promotion.

The KFO is also the main co-ordinator of literary strategies of the City. It organizes two international literary festivals: the Conrad Festival and the Miłosz Festival and manages Reading Małopolska and KCL programs.

Expenditure on cultureIn February 2011, the Mayor of the City of Krakow signed the Culture Treaty (Pakt dla Kultury), identifying the important role of the Polish Capital of Culture – Krakow – in the national debate on culture and culture-related funding. In Krakow, there is a constant discussion on the development of appropriate tools to measure the economic benefits generated locally by culture. In its reflection on the direction that cultural life should take, the city engages NGOs and specialists from other Polish cities.

Funds in the amount of PLN 5,685,000 were secured in the budget of DCNH OCK for events to be organised by non-governmental organisations in 2013 as a part of the open competition offer.

In connection with the strategic programme for the promotion of Krakow through culture, the Municipality has increased the funds allocated to culture. They amounted to PLN 125,998.000 in 2007 and PLN 229,369,700 in 2010, and in 2011 they rose to PLN 219,127.991. However, this clear increase in the funding does not satisfy all needs associated with the development of the cultural industries; a significant challenge is to increase the co-financing for the events essential for the creation of the city’s image that are organised by the non-profit sector, including those supported through the system of three-year letters of intent


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for cultural programmes. In this way, permanent financing in three-year cycles that is independent of the current political situation has been secured for events of key importance of the implementation of the image policy of the City.

In 2010 the City appropriated PLN 12,927,960.00 via DCNH for literature-related expenses (scholarships, financing of libraries, literary awards etc.).

As a part of the implementation of various cultural projects, including The Book and the Rose Małopolska Book Days, the Kazimierz Wyka Award funded by the Marshal of the Małopolska Region and the Mayor of Krakow, as well as on publications, including the illustrated books Extraordinary Małopolska and Małopolska. Human Time. The Self-Government of the Małopolska Region also appropriates significant funds distributed on a provincial scale. The Małopolska Region also supports the implementation of cultural projects related to literature as part of the open tender competition entitled Małopolska Patronage. In total, the Marshal’s Office planned funds in the amount of PLN 115,009,315.00 for cultural purposes in the budget for the year 2013, which accounts for 9.6% of the total budget.

We can also observe an improving effectiveness in raising funds for literary projects from external sources. In 2011, the Municipality procured

a record-breaking grant of nearly PLN 1.7 million from central funds for the organisation of the Miłosz Year and the Miłosz Festival in Krakow. In 2011 the KFO acquired the total amount of nearly PLN 2 million for literary programs from city, ministerial and EU sources as well as from sponsoring and sale of services, using these and other sources for financing the Reading Małopolska project, under which Malopolska and its capital Krakow want to communicate their literary heritage and participate in the building of a network of co-operation of creative regions in the field of literature.

A challenge that remains is to build international literary programmes and raise funds in the context of the EU’s new financial prospectus for the years 2014-2020, from the Creative Europe Program as well as other programs of international financing of literary, publishing or reading promotion projects. The development of the UNESCO KCL depends on substantive and financial co-operation with the MCNH, the Book Institute, the Marshal of the Małopolska Region, on co-operation with foundations and sponsors, and on the acquisition of EU funds for the development of innovative and creative economy and the building of clusters and co-operation networks. In total, the KFO acquired the amount of PLN 1,796,346.07 in 2012 and PLN 1,974,951.06 in 2013 from national and international

Type of expense 2009 2010 2011 20122013

(PLAN for the 1st of January)

Total expenses of the City [PLN] im-plementation of the 2008-2012 budget 3,419,539,328 3,364,487,928 3,319,300,471 3,488,358,626 3,574,899,428

EXPENSES FOR CULTURE 191,887,447 218,203,166 185,490,998 174,993,086 229,114,070

Percentage share of expenses for culture in the City’s budget 5.61% 6.49% 5.59% 5.02% 6.41%

Expenses for culture without investment tasks [PLN] 135,616,590 127,127,811 138,697,282 125,185,802 110,309,302

Expenses for cultural institutions 151,199,330 160,172,089 153,046,135 161,485,106 107,606,573

Expenses for cultural institutions without investments: 120,611,567 113,774,633 124,369,250 113,208,413 99,299,446

Expenses for monument protection 27,445,663 47,004,746 18,398,554 2,940,550 10,367,127

Other expenses 1,328,373 286,120 3,050,563 598,050 500,000

Table. The structure of expenses for culture in the budget of the City of Krakow in years 2009-2013.


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programs (the Book Institute, MCNH) for the implementation of literary projects.

Another challenge is the raising of awareness of the benefits to be obtained from investing in culture and literature, e.g. through the development of sponsorship, corporate social responsibility and public-private partnership in the private sector. It is equally important to involve businesses and the service sector in the development of literature as a creative industry in synergy with other areas of the creative economy.

Infrastructural investments in the field of cultureIn 2010 the renovation and reconstruction of Sukiennice was finished and a unique architectural exhibition was created under the Market Square and in the cellars of Sukiennice, which documents in situ stages and former functions of the market (Archaeological reserve). A new division of the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow – the Underground Market Square was created there. In the Kazimierz district, the Museum of Urban Engineering was established at ul. Wawrzyńca in St. Lawrence’s Quarter, where concerts in old tramway depots, thematic exhibitions and other events are organised. Kazimierz is also home to the Library of Polish Song and an exhibition of collections regarding the traditions of printing and bookbinding in Krakow. In the postindustrial Zabłocie area, the Ghetto Heroes Square has been modernised, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCAK) and a new division of the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow (the so-called Schindler’s Museum) were created in the postindustrial space near the banks of the Vistula in a former power plant building, and Cricoteka, the Centre for the Documentation of Art of Tadeusz Kantor, is being established and in a historic inn. A gallery with works by Jerzy Duda-Gracz is being opened. Other interesting examples of the refurbishment of old buildings are investments by the Małopolska Region in Krakow, such as the construction of the Małopolska Garden of Arts, the construction of the Aviation Cultural Park (including the Main Building of the Polish Aviation Museum), the reconstruction and modernisation of the Krakow Opera or the refurbishment of buildings of the Podgórze Power Plant and the construction of a new multifunctional cultural institution: Cricoteka.

A challenge for urban planning and cultural policy is Nowa Huta – initiatives include the comprehensive modernisation of Plac Centralny [Central Market Square] and Aleja Róż [Avenue of Roses]. The Łaźnia Nowa Theatre was also created

in former vocational training buildings. At present, there are discussions on the renewal of other postindustrial areas in Nowa Huta as well. The city announced an international competition for a de-velopment plan of Nowa Huta industrial areas and neighbouring communes. It is anticipated that this will be an important new impulse for the city and an opportunity to create a new interesting cultural infrastructure and artistic activity. Once neglected, forgotten and often unconventional spaces are also revived thanks to artistic events being carried out there. Examples of such events are the Sacrum Profanum Festival, the Film Music Festival, or the Divine Comedy Festival, which are held in postin-dustrial factory spaces of Nowa Huta, currently the Tinning Plant of ArcelorMittal Poland.

Tasks for further years will include the adapta-tion of the Krakow Fortress – St. Benedict’s Fort, an old Austrian barracks, for artistic purposes and the old building of the former Salt Warehouse for the Literature Forum. Apart from that, the con-struction of the Congress Centre with a 2092-seat auditorium and two smaller halls has begun, and in May 2014, a modern multifunctional Exhibi-tion and Sports Hall at the recently established Stanisława Lema street, one of the largest facilities of its kind in Poland, will be opened. Plans for cultural development of the banks of the Vistula river include the creation of a complex of mu-sic institutions under the name Musical Forum. In this way, a modern ring of important cultural institutions is being created within the borders of 4 city districts: Podgórze, Zabłocie, Kazimierz and Grzegórzki. The recently established pedes-trian and bicycle bridge across the Vistula river that connects Kazimierz with Podgórze led to the rapid development of the other bank of the Vistula, new cultural cafes, bars and discos came into being, barges and floating restaurants moor on the Vistula, and in the abandoned Forum Hotel, one of the most fashionable cultural centres of alterna-tive culture, was created.

These are only some of the initiatives that place Krakow squarely within European trends to revive postindustrial urban spaces through the refurbishment and development of postindustrial areas and facilities for cultural purposes. Most of these investments – for instance, the ICE Conference & Congress Centre, the Łaźnia Nowa Theatre, MOCAK or Cricoteka – allow for literature- and theatre-related activities.

International co-operationThe City of Krakow is a member of several international organisations, including EUROCITIES, the League of Historic Cities, the


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National Committee of ICOMOS, the Organisation of World Heritage Cities (OWHC), the Association of European Cities of Culture of 2000, the International Union of Hanseatic League and the European Cities Tourism (ECT). It maintains contact with many Polish Institutes abroad and Polish diplomatic outposts, supports many projects financially and organisationally and presents Krakow artists abroad.

The group of Krakow’s partner cities includes: Leuven (Belgium), Milan (Italy), Nurnberg (Germany), Kiev (Ukraine), Curitiba (Brazil), La Serena (Chile), Quito (Ecuador), Bordeaux (France), Bratislava (Slovakia), Budapest (Hungary), Cusco (Peru), Edinburgh (Scotland), Fez (Morocco), Florence (Italy), Frankfurt on the Main (Germany), Göteborg (Sweden), Innsbruck (Austria), Leipzig (Germany), Lviv (Ukraine), Orleans (France), Pecs (Hungary), Rochester (USA), Rome (Italy), San Francisco (USA), St Petersburg (Russia), Sevilla (Spain), Solura (Switzerland), Tbilisi (Georgia), Vilnius (Lithuania), Zagreb (Croatia). Krakow maintains also informal contact with Dublin (Ireland), Moscow (Russia), Nankin (China), Strasbourg (France), Tartu (Estonia), Vienna (Austria) and Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria).

In 2011 Krakow joined the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) – an international organisation whose mission is to provide safe conditions for living and work to writers being persecuted for their artistic activity. Krakow’s accession to ICORN resulted in the stay of two foreign writers: Maria Amelie – a writer and journalist of Ossetian descent, who had been deported from Norway after publishing her autobiography, and Kareem Amer – an Egyptian student of law and blogger expelled from university, tried and imprisoned for his critical remarks about the regime of Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt. ICORN membership has become one of Krakow’s permanent priorities, and the city is getting ready to host another writer. Having ICORN-protected writers stay in Krakow helps not only those writers, but also increases the international dimension of literary life in the city. The meetings of ICORN writers with readers, contacts with literary circles and events organised in connection with their stays confirm the centuries-old tradition of Krakow being a city of open gates. In May 2013, Krakow was the seat of an internationally important event: the Biannual Meeting of ICORN and PEN International Writers in Prison Committee, in which 250 representatives and writers from 50 countries took part. The city is a regular centre of meetings of ministers and delegations of governments of the Visegrad Group

Countries and a place of many international conferences and congresses on various scales and subjects: from human rights and global policy to specialist scientific conferences in every field.

Most important cultural centresInternational Cultural Centre – a place of meeting and reflection on heritage, a research centre regarding the heritage of Central & Eastern Europe. Provides access to its library. A place friendly to art and architecture. The Centre’s activities are of an interdisciplinary character, and its mission is to popularise knowledge of the common European heritage and to foster attitudes promoting the cultural integration of Europe and the protection of its historical achievements. The building of the International Cultural Centre is also an example of combining historic architecture with modern spatial solutions and contemporary design.

The Małopolska Cultural Institute in Krakow is an institution supporting culture through activities designed to mould regional identity and promote contemporary art. The Małopolska Cultural Institute publishes its own magazine about good space called “Autoportret”, runs eight web sites, and presents in a unique way the art of young Krakow and Małopolska artists in a display case at ul. Karmelicka.

Cricoteka – the Centre for the Documentation of Art of Tadeusz Kantor takes care of a unique collection of several hundred items and costumes from the Cricot 2 Theatre’s performances, Kantor’s theoretical texts, drawings and designs, video recordings, photographic documentation, and finally thousands of multilingual reviews, magazines, and books. Thus, Cricoteka functions both as an archive, museum, gallery and academic institution. The refurbishment of buildings of the Podgórze Power Plant and the construction of a new building on the Vistula river is resulting in the formation of a multifunctional cultural institution, which houses the Tadeusz Kantor Museum with an exhibition of the artist’s works. The modern building will contain a modern exhibition centre, a theatre & conference centre prepared for the staging of guest performances, running of theatrical workshops, internships and apprenticeships giving an opportunity to learn the method of the artist’s work and, finally, a modern centre for the documentation of the history of the theatre and visual arts, which enlarges the collections of Cricoteka’s archives with materials concerning the most important phenomena in the 20th-century art that are of comparative nature for Kantor’s works and a documentation of current events.


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Nuremberg House – a very creative cultural centre in the city. Thanks to Nuremberg’s strong trade contacts with the East, economic relations between Krakow and Nuremberg go back as early as the 14th century. This vivid partnership was crowned by the establishment of the Krakow House in Nuremberg and Nuremberg House in Krakow (1996). They are economic and cultural showcases of the partner cities. The House hosts meetings of inhabitants, cultural events, and economic and scientific conferences and seminars.

Additionally, a very important role in the city is played by small cultural centres, which offer a range of opportunities for young people. They include the Nowa Huta Cultural Centre, the C. K. Norwid Cultural Centre, the Staromiejskie Youth Cultural Centre being an important element of local education, promotion of artistic creativity, and stimulation of social and literary activity.

In recent years, Kazimierz – the once Jewish district of Krakow – has again become a centre of Jewish cultural life. Jewish institutions based in Kazimierz include the Jewish Cultural Centre, and, for several years now, the Jewish Community Centre (JCC). In addition, the district is home to numerous publishing houses and – most importantly – hosts the annual Jewish Culture Festival.

Foreign cultural institutes actively participate in the promotion of culture and international relations, and in programmes promoting literature and Krakow festivals. The Goethe Institute is an institution with long literary traditions. Some of those who have read their own texts there include Günter Grass, Herta Mϋller, and Hans Magnus Enzensberger. The Institute runs its own Programme for the Promotion of Literary Translations and, as part of the Goethe-Institut’s Theaterbibliothek, supports translations of the latest German dramas for the purpose of dramatic reading (Rene Pollesch, Roland Schimmelpfennig, Dea Loher and others).

Guests of the French Institute have been Yannick Haenel, Alain Mabanckou, Michel Houellebecq, Pierre Assouline, cartoonists Frederik Peeters, Marjane Satrapi, Chantal Montellier, Cyril Pedrosa, Blutch (Christian Hincker), Sébastien Chrisostome and others. In addition, the Institute coordinates the Goncourt Prize – Polish selection – a local version of the prestigious French award. A contribution to the city’s literary life is also made by the Italian Cultural Institute and Instituto Cervantes. The latter is operated by Abel Murcia Soriano – a poet and translator of Polish and Iberian literature and a fellow of the Polish Writers’ Association. Krakow is also

home to a thriving branch of the British Council, an institution committed to promoting British culture, and the Confucius Institute (Centre for Chinese Language and Culture at the Jagiellonian University) – the 8th facility of this kind in the world and the first in Poland. The Confucius Institute is concerned with the promotion of knowledge of Chinese language and culture.

The Faculty of Polish Studies of the Jagiellonian University operates the Jagiellonian University Joseph Conrad Research Centre headed by Professor Jolanta Dudek. The Centre has an extensive library of the work of Conrad experts, the core of which were the books donated by a world-renowned Conrad expert, Professor Zdzisław Najder. The Centre maintains broad international contacts and organises meetings of Conrad experts from around the world such as the Joseph Conrad Conference – The Reception of the Work of Joseph Conrad: Readers Real and Implied, organised in 2007 on the 150th anniversary of Conrad’s birth.

The year 2010 saw the first Free Reading Zone event, a project promoting reading in public places such as coffee shops, squares, bookstores, and even trams. The Zone serves people, including places, prearranged events and spontaneous activities, publications, and blog entries. The project has the potential to grow as a literary element of Krakow promoting interesting places conducive to enjoyable reading, chatting about literature and “contracting the reading virus”. Today, Krakow has more than 70 places of this kind.

The Małopolska Garden of Arts – one of the most modern facilities constructed in recent years. It is based on the idea of synthesizing various fields of art within one space. Its offer is addressed to various audiences, including children, young people, the disabled, the elderly, as well as interested professionals, artists and creators. The activities of the centre are aimed at the development of culture, art and education in the region and the city. Equipped with the Arteteka, a mediatheque, an auditorium, a cinema room and gallery spaces, it is one of the most beautiful buildings of the city, which received, among others, the Architizer A+ Award of the American web site Architizer. Located in the MGA and functioning within the structures of the Provincial Public Library, Arteteka offers e-magazines, e-books, audio books, CDs and DVDs, and books and magazines in traditional form. Readers also have access to rich collections of Liberature and the Małopolska Comic Studio and in the future a digital collection of street art will be available, too.


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In 2012, the Self-Government spent PLN 17.30 million, including investments, for cultural centres, the John Paul II Institute of Intercultural Dialogue, the Małopolska Cultural Centre and Cricoteka. (Source: DCNH OCK, DCNH MOMR)

Cultural CentresThe City of Krakow runs 8 cultural centres, with 38 clubs functioning within their framework. Together they organise nearly 10,000 various events annually, in which nearly 1.5 million people took part in 2012. These are:

The Nowa Huta Cultural Centre functions dynamically in one of the most characteristic Krakow districts, and its scope of activities includes numerous theatrical events and publishing activity; The “Manor House in Prądnik Biały” Cultural Centre, encompassing a children’s theatre and the Literary & Artistic Cellar; the Podgórze Cultural Centre, which plays the role of a head office with 19 subordinated units, engages in educational and exhibition activities, organises many workshops and meetings as a part of the Podgórze Poetry Scene; the City Centre Cultural Centre, located on Small Market Square, is engaged in the promotion of artistic activity and cultural education. Meetings with authors are organised there on Mondays and Fridays and the Centre is also the originator of the idea to grant the „Krakow Book of the Month” award. Other cultural centres: Nowa Huta, Krakowiacy Song and Dance Ensemble, Library of Polish Song, C.K. Norwid Cultural Centre.

MuseumsKrakow is one of the largest and most beautiful outdoor museums offering a selection of architectural masterpieces of various periods of European art and culture in a most complete manner. As the capital of a vast country and crossroads of trade routes, it boasts impressive religious buildings, palaces and forts made in the styles of various periods. After the capital had been moved to Warsaw, the role of cultural centre returned to Krakow in the late 19th century. In 1879, during the period of so-called Galician Autonomy, the first Polish national art gallery was founded in the Cloth Hall. The period saw the emergence of Jan Matejko’s historical and monumental school of painting. Krakow yielded to the influence of Art Nouveau and became the Polish capital of the style. The eminent artists of that time included Józef Mehoffer, Stanisław Wyspiański, Jacek Malczewski, Leon Wyczółkowski, and Wojciech Weiss. The image

of the Polish artistic scene of the 20th century was also influenced by other artists connected with Krakow such as Louis Marcoussis, Moïse Kisling, Jerzy Nowosielski, Andrzej Wajda, Tadeusz Kantor, Wilhelm Sasnal, and many others.

Krakow is a city of tens of museums, including the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow (with 10 branches), Museum of the History of Photography, Museum of Urban Engineering, Home Army Museum, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (the first museum of contemporary art in Poland), Bunkier Sztuki (lit. Bunker of Art), Collegium Maius Museum of the Jagiellonian University, Ethnographic Museum, Museum of Archaeology, and many others. The collections and branches of the National Museum in Krakow constitute an important network that shows the exceptional rank of Krakow as a major museum centre. The museum boasts nearly 780,000 exhibits. Polish art is the essential core of the collection, but the museum also has West European items, an Orthodox art collection, a valuable collection of Far East art, library collections (including rare books, manuscripts and cartographic items), coins and old photographs. Opened in 2012, the new division of the National Museum in Krakow, the Szołajski House, presents works of visual arts and sculpture as well as documents of literary life at the turn of the 20th century. Apart from that, it includes the recently established Szymborska’s Drawer – a modern interactive exhibition, a three-dimensional collage in which items belonging to the poet are juxtaposed with quotations from her poems, photographs of persons, things and places. They lead the viewer into her private world of poetic imagination and intellectual inspirations.

The potential of another major institution, the Czartoryski Princes Museum and Czartoryski Princes Foundation, is provided by a collection of approximately 74,000 museum items. The Museum’s collection contains items of the highest historic and artistic value, including Lady with an Ermine – the painting that Leonardo da Vinci painted in Milan in the 15th century.

A special place is the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology located opposite Wawel Hill. Its architectural form alludes to traditional Japanese art. The museum was founded on the initiative of Andrzej Wajda, who has organised exhibitions, concerts, and literary events (among others, with Adam Zagajewski, Wisława Szymborska, and, earlier still, with Czesław Miłosz). Its collection is based mainly on items submitted by Feliks ‘Manggha’ Jasieński


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– a critic, art collector and traveller living at the turn of the 20th century. Since 2007 MANGGHA has functioned as a centre of Far Eastern culture. Its scope of activities goes beyond the traditional vision of a museum, as it includes lectures, academic sessions, presentations of music and dance. The institution contains a library offering books and magazines connected with the culture and language of the Land of the Rising Sun. Manggha also conducts Japanese language courses and focuses on the popularisation of Japanese literature.

MOCAK is not only engaged in activities promoting contemporary art, but also focuses on the promotion of events from other fields, including literature. The institution provides a bookshop offering a rich choice of publications and a unique book collection of Prof. Mieczysław Porębski, which encompasses nearly 4,000 volumes. The Museum is also engaged in publishing activity. These relations are shown adequately by a collection of interviews conducted by the outstanding critic Tadeusz Nyczek, entitled What is art for? Talking to writers.

The history of the Krakow printing and bookbinding industry is reflected by collections of the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow, which has gathered unusual items deposited by the Museum of Urban Engineering – often dating back many centuries ago – and offered by guilds of Krakow craftsmen and city institutions. The Museum also organises an exhibition of Krakow cribs, which astonishes the viewer with the artistic and craft traditions of the city.

An unusual collection of photographs and photographic equipment can be seen in the Museum of History of Photography; it currently includes 2,000 objects, out of which around 600 are various types of cameras produced between 1880 and 2005. The remaining part of the collection consists of historic lenses, various types of accessories, darkroom equipment and atelier props. Apart from photography-related objects, the Department of Technique and Technology of Photography collects objects connected with cinematographic technique.

In 2010, a new branch of the Historical Museum was commissioned under the Main Market Square of Krakow (i.e. Rynek Undergound). Equally important is the branch launched in 2010 in the Oskar Schindler Enamel Factory housing a permanent exhibition entitled Krakow – the time of occupation 1939–1945, which documents the period of German occupation of Krakow in 1939–1945 and the existence of a multicultural community. Shot in 1993,

Spielberg’s Schindler’s List won 7 Oscars and promoted the town leading, 20 years later, to the development of a district centred on the creative industry around the factory, in the immediate vicinity of a university, other museums, modern residential districts, and space for exhibitions and trade fairs.

The map of artistic Krakow is also defined by other galleries, especially the Gallery of Polish 20th-Century Art at the National Museum, the art gallery of the International Cultural Centre, Bunkier Sztuki (Bunker of Art) Contemporary Art Gallery and Starmach Gallery, the last working with such artists as Marcin Maciejowski, Wilhelm Sasnal, and Rafał Bujnowski – regarded as creators of a new language of art expressing the voice of the 1970s generation that grew up in the years of system transformation. Other equally respected private institutions are the Zderzak Gallery, founded in 1985, Krzysztof Dydo’s internationally recognised Poster Gallery (Galeria Plakatu) and Jan Fejkiel’s Gallery of Graphic Arts (Galeria Grafiki).

Apart from the aforementioned ones, Krakow is home to several other art galleries, including galleries of contemporary art, traditional art, portraits, Jewish culture, artistic craft, naive art, photography, graphic art, sculpture, caricature, ceramics, glass (including stained glass), Judaica and rarities. Individual clubs often create galleries and small publishing houses, organise concerts, meetings with literature and educational workshops. The activity of the gallery of contemporary art is often the most important source of income for a large group of Krakow artists (over 3,000 visual artists). Several festivals of visual arts are also held in Krakow. The ArtBoom Festival focuses on the best achievements of art presented in the public space. Another important event is the Photomonth in Krakow, which encompasses several dozen exhibitions by the most important photographic artists. However, one of the oldest European events in the field of visual arts is the International Print Triennial (established in 1966). The recognised International Architecture Triennial is also held in Krakow.

MusicKrakow’s musical traditions are as rich as its literature. Gregorian chant was performed at the Wawel as early as the 11th century, and the royal court was associated with the most outstanding personalities of Renaissance and Baroque music. Today, Krakow’s major music centre is the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic Hall, an institution


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with traditions going back to 1909. It is one of the leading music institutions in Poland, known for the performance of the works of its patron Karol Szymanowski and of Krzysztof Penderecki – an honorary patron of the ensemble.

The year 1958 saw the launch of the City Musical Theatre (Miejski Teatr Muzyczny), which, following many changes, has been renamed the Krakow Opera and has survived to see its own premises, a historic operetta building which served as a horse riding arena 100 years ago, being incorporated into the modern body of the theatre building. The magnificent interior of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre hosts the Opera Rara – a series of performances and reconstructions of Baroque operas performed by leaders of early music. It is a frequent place of performance for Capella Cracoviensis – an ensemble existing for 40 years, currently the best orchestra playing on historical instruments, which recreates musical and literary works of past eras. Krakow is also home to one of the finest chamber orchestras in Europe – Sinfonietta Cracovia., and of the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, a group of young instrumentalists from the Academy of Music in Krakow. Krakow also boasts a colourful choral life, with Krakow choirs including the Polish Radio Choir and tens of amateur choirs and choral associations, including the Cecylianum (a federation including many choirs) and the Pro Musica Mundi federation of choirs.

In addition, Krakow’s musical institutions include the Krakow Branch of the Polish Composers’ Union, established in 1953, and PWM Edition, the largest music-oriented publishing company in Poland, publishing scores, biographies of composers, and arrangements.

Krakow attracts outstanding musical personalities not only from Poland. Musicians living in Krakow include the world-famous violinist Nigel Kennedy; Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen-Pilch, a long-time leader of the famous Collegium Vocale Gent; Kevin Kenner – the winner of second prize at the 12th International Chopin Piano Competition; and the world-famous contemporary music composer Krzysztof Penderecki. His wife – Elżbieta – launched the famous Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival here in 1997. It is an event of European magnitude, today held primarily in Warsaw and ceremonially inaugurated in the Library of the Jagiellonian University. Another artist associated with Krakow is Zbigniew Preisner – a world-renowned composer of film music known for his music to the works of Krzysztof Kieślowski (Double Life of Veronique, Three Colours) and Agnieszka Holland

(Europa, Europa, To Kill a Priest, Olivier, Olivier, The Secret Garden). Krakow is the place where the world-famous composer Abel Korzeniowski studied, and it is also represented by legends of film and theatrical music such as: Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz, Zygmunt Konieczny or Adam Walaciński.

Krakow is famed for sung poetry and the presence of eminent bards of this artistic form. It is here that Ewa Demarczyk and Marek Grechuta once ran their theatres. It is also the City of Krakow’s bard Grzegorz Turnau, an artist who made his début at the age of 17 at Poland’s oldest Student Song Festival (held since 1962).

Jewish and Klezmer music is associated with the names of such famous Krakow cantors as Leopold Kozłowski and Yaakov Hollaender. Klezmer music is also the foundation upon which the Kroke trio draws, recording for the legendary Tzadik label (New York) and known for their work with David Lynch on the film Lost Highway. One of Krakow’s main cultural export products in recent years has been the famous Motion Trio – three award-winning accordionists.

An important area of promotion of Carpathian culture and music is the Rozstaje Festival – one of the oldest festivals devoted to music and ritual traditions of Central Eastern and Southern Europe.

It is also worth mentioning that the beginnings of jazz in Poland are inextricably linked with Krakow. The YMCA was launched in 1922 along with the Society of Modern Music Lovers (Koło Miłośników Muzyki Nowoczesnej). The Jazz Association (Stowarzyszenie Jazz) – Poland’s first jazz association and probably one of the first jazz associations in Europe – was established as early as 1926. However, a true explosion of jazz only set in after 1945. Today, the history of this genre is defined by such names of world renown and recognition as: Wojciech Karolak, Zbigniew Seifert, and Tomasz Stańko and dozens of other musicians associated with legendary jazz clubs, such as Helikon or Harris.

Jazz concerts are regularly held in Krakow clubs such as PiecArt, Harris, U Louisa, Pod Jaszczurami, and Stalowe Magnolie. The Alchemia club in Krakow’s Kazimierz enjoys not only cult status but also its own festival – the Krakow Jazz Autumn Festival. Krakow also hosts the JAZZ JUNIORS International Contest of Young Jazz Groups, Summer Jazz Festival in Piwnica Pod Baranami, The Old and the Young, or Jazz in Krakow and, last but not the least, the oldest jazz festival in Poland – the All Souls Jazz Festival established in 1954.


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FilmKrakow is a vibrant film centre offering spacious interiors and well-equipped studios that carry out all stages of film production. Due to the role of Krakow in Polish history, it was quite natural for Andrzej Wajda (Katyn) and Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List) to shoot their films in Krakow. And Petr Zelenka, who shot his The Brothers Karamazov in the Nowa Huta industrial complex, was impressed by the cool, industrial beauty of the factory, steel, and machinery. Krakow also “starred” in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Double Life of Veronique and a score of films about the Polish Pope. Polish filmmakers have always been attracted to capturing Krakow in the frame. A good example is the film repertoire of Wojciech Has: The Hour-Glass Sanatorium based on the oneiric story by Bruno Schulz, My city and the famous The Saragossa Manuscript.

Andrzej Wajda, an Oscar-winning director educated in and associated with Krakow, is an eminent representative of the so-called Polish Film School, which included a number of people working at the edge of film and literature. Many of Wajda’s pieces, including his theatrical performances, were created in Krakow. Let’s just mention Z biegiem lat, z biegiem dni (As the Years Pass, As the Days Pass...) – a drama composed of several Polish Modernist texts which became a several-hour dramatic portrait of Krakow townspeople in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wajda was also the first Polish director to have entrusted a woman with the role of Hamlet (on 29th June 1981). Both the show and the title role of Teresa Budzisz- Krzyżanowska went down in the history of world theatre. It was also Andrzej Wajda, who came up with the idea of founding one of the most interesting museums in Krakow, the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology.

Krakow cinemas were islands of freedom in the Communist period at its most oppressive; it was here that locals could secretly watch banned movies smuggled from western embassies. The city was visited by the greatest stars of the silver screen: Márta Mészáros (living in Krakow for a number of years), Darren Aronofsky, Aki Kaurismäki, Nanni Moretti, Jerzy Skolimowski, Wim Wenders and Andrzej Żuławski with Sophie Marceau. The Krakow film community hosted Agnieszka Holland, Terry Jones was greeted by Krakow’s Monty Python crew, and Bo Widerberg was taken on a cab ride around the city by Jerzy Stuhr. It was here that Marcel Łoziński, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Mike Leigh, Werner Herzog, Claude Lelouch, to name just a few, presented their works at the peak of their artistic careers.

Krakow also hosts a number of cultural events directed at film lovers, including one of Europe’s oldest festivals devoted to documentaries, animated films and shorts, the Krakow Film Festival (established over 50 years ago), Etiuda & Anima International Film Festival, and Silent Film Festival. Krakow now also boasts the recently established Krakow Screenplay School (Krakowska Szkoła Scenariuszowa), which brings the creative sectors of film and literature together.

The Krakow Festival Office is the producer of the Off Camera International Festival of Independent Cinema, an organiser of the Film Music Festival in Krakow and an operator of the Krakow Regional Film Fund (a pioneering project in Poland) and the Krakow Film Commission.

It is also worth mentioning that Krakow and its environs are home to tens of production and post-production companies recognised in the international market. The most interesting are Gremi Film Production SA and Alvernia Studios – a modern complex located close to Krakow that is capable of completing even the most complex productions. More and more frequently, the city has served as an open-air set for international productions, including: Aazaan and Yeh Jo Mohabbat Haii by Prashant Chadha, and Crulic – The Path to Beyond (Crulic – drumul spre dincolo).

In addition, many screen versions of literary works are made in Krakow. Among them, it is necessary to mention: Obława (Manhunt) (dir. by Marcin Krzyształowicz, 2012), Uwikłanie (Entanglement) (dir. Jacek Bromski, 2011) based on Zygmunt Miłoszewski’s novel, Mistyfikacja (Mystification) (dir. Jacek Koprowicz, 2010) based on Witkacy’s biography, or Wojciech Smarzowski’s film Angel, which is currently in production and is based on Jerzy Pilch’s novel Pod Mocnym Aniołem (Under the Strong Angel). In the summer of 2013, the shooting of a new biographical film telling the story of Der Geniale Pole – Stanisław Przybyszewski, one of the most important luminaries of Polish modernism, will begin.

The KFO is also the producer of a documentary entitled Widok Krakowa (A View of Krakow), which was directed by Magdalena Piekorz with the participation of Adam Zagajewski. In the film, constituting an episode of the international City (W)rites series, the poet talks about his connections with the city. Planeta Miłosza (The Miłosz Planet), directed by Katarzyna Gondek according to a screenplay by Andrzej Franaszek, author of the Nobel Prize winner’s monumental biography, talks about Czesław Miłosz. As part of the Krakow: the City of Literature project, a library of interviews


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with outstanding creators of literature – Writers in Motion – is also being created. It is an open project – a laboratory of young literary criticism and new media, which is organised in co-operation with literary festivals and libraries of the City. Literature is one of the priorities of development of the audiovisual market. The City supports, inspires and takes care of the selection of productions that it co-finances and that are screen versions or adaptations of literary works or have high literary value for film screenplays.

TheatreKrakow is regarded as the theatrical centre of Poland. It is home to several dozen theatres with a diverse organisational structure, which are maintained as cultural institutions by the City, the Małopolska Region, institutions being conducted together with MCNH and numerous private and impresario theatres. In 2012, the self-government appropriated, together with investment outlays, the total amount of nearly 44.62 million PLN for the activity of theatres (excluding the opera). Krakow’s theatrical traditions encompass several centuries. It was in Krakow, around 1570, that the first Polish folk mystery The Story of the Most Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord (Historyja o chwalebnym Zmartwychwstaniu Pańskim) was published by Mikołaj of Wilkowiecko. The first national stage in the city – the Stary Theatre – was founded in 1781. The Stary (Old) Theatre hosted such stars of Polish drama as Helena Modrzejewska (Modjeska), the world-famous icon of 19th-century drama. In 1994 the Stary Theatre was admitted to the prestigious Union of European Theatres. Krakow theatre maintained high standards even in the realities of post-war Socialist Realism. Krakow theatre in the 1960s and 1970s saw the most outstanding personalities of the Polish scene, including: Jerzy Jarocki, Andrzej Wajda, Konrad Swinarski, and also Tadeusz Kantor, the founder of the Cricot 2 Theatre, a director, painter, stage designer and graphic artist. In the 1970s, the STU Theatre marked its presence in the world counter-cultural and protest movement with such outstanding productions as: Spadanie (Falling), Sennik polski (Polish Dream Book) and Exodus. Founded in 1893, the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre occupies an equally important place in the cultural history of Krakow. The facade of the theatre features an inscription: “Krakow for the nation’s art.” The theatre staged premieres of Polish modernist drama, including pieces by Stanisław Przybyszewski, Lucjan Rydel, and Stanisław Wyspiański, and after the war the Polish premieres of Brecht, Dürrenmatt,

Gombrowicz, Beckett and Mrożek. In summer the theatre operates the Przy Pompie Stage, which presents poetic pieces, and the Theatre itself organises the famous Krakow Salon of Poetry, where, every Sunday at midday, well-known actors read poems of their favourite authors. The post-war history of theatre in Krakow is primarily the result of the activity of The Ludwik Solski State Drama School. What made the school unique was its close relationship with Krakow theatres, but more than that – in 1985, the alumni of the school founded the Stanisław Witkacy Theatre in Zakopane.

For over 80 years, Krakow has been home for the Bagatela Theatre, with a light and brilliant repertoire. Additionally, for some time, this nearly 100-year-old institution boasted one of the most elegant film screening rooms in Krakow. The year 1945 saw the launch of one of the oldest and most famous Polish puppet theatres – the Groteska Theatre.

It is also worth mentioning that for years now, the workers’ district of Nowa Huta has also been a thriving theatre centre. One of the major parts of Nowa Huta is even called Osiedle Teatralne (lit. the theatrical estate). In 1955, the Ludowy Theatre (People’s Theatre) was launched, which now stages shows in the Scena Pod Ratuszem Theatre located on Krakow’s Main Market Square, as well as the Stolarnia Stage, developed in a building of a former theatre workshop. The popularity of industrial Nowa Huta, emerging after the system transformation in Poland, resulted in other cultural proposals within that space. The year 2005 saw the launch of Nowa Huta’s Łaźnia Nowa Theatre – in the former electrical workshops, which still trained prospective employees of the steel mills a few years before. What passed into legend was the famous staging of Król Edyp (Oedipus the King), involving the local community and making the theatre an important part of the social dialogue. Łaźnia Nowa also hosts festival events such as performances of Genius Loci and the Divine Comedy Festivals as well as contemporary music concerts of the Sacrum Profanum Festival. Since 2005, the Łaźnia Nowa Theatre has been a member of Trans Europe Halles, an international network embracing European cultural institutions operating in European post-industrial spaces.

Debates on the condition of contemporary culture and presentations of various styles of thinking and aesthetics often dealing with gender and LGBT issues, are also undertaken by one of the youngest theatres, the Kazimierz-based Nowy Theatre (Teatr Nowy). KTO Theatre (Teatr KTO),


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by contrast, is “a travelling theatre” presenting its shows in different parts of the world. Nearly a million spectators all over the world have attended its productions. Its Director Jerzy Zoń, along with his group, organises one of the oldest street festivals in Central Europe.

Since 1975, Krakow has hosted Krakow Theatrical Reminiscences, an event focusing on the artists of alternative drama. It is the oldest theatre festival in Poland. Other ambitious theatrical projects include the Drama of the Nations Theatre Festival and the young, emerging annual festival – Divine Comedy, which brings together the elite of Polish theatre artists, actors, audiences, philosophers and theorists. In addition to the review of the best Polish performances competing for the title of the best show of the previous year (selected by a group of international qualifiers and theatre directors), the festival features performances by theatre groups from abroad.

Virtually every Krakow theatre has its own, larger or smaller festival, each reaches out to their audiences with their art, participates in international projects and works with foreign partners: The Shadows Festival, the Prima Materia Festival, Form Theatre Festival, organised by the Groteska Theatre. One of the oldest and most highly regarded regular series of events is the Genius Loci Festival, organised by Łaźnia Nowa Theatre. The Theatre Festival for Children is organised by the Nowa Huta Cultural Centre. Krakow also hosts such events as the International Festival of Francophone University Theatres, PROSCENIUM Festival of University Theatres, Non-institutional Theatre Festival, One-Actor Theatre Review, Krakow BaletOFF Meetings, and Krakow Theatrical Miniatures at the stage of the Ludwik Solski State Drama School. The Bagatela Theatre organises the EURODRAMAFEST International Theatre Festival. In addition, for the last nine years the Foundation of actress Anna Dymna and the Brother Albert Foundation have organized the Albertiana National Festival of Music and Theatrical Art of the Disabled.

TourismAs a popular tourist destination, the city boasts one of the most extensive ranges of hotel facilities

in Poland. Apart from the hospitality giants, Krakow also offers thriving, small, cosy hotels with long traditions. These include the Grand, the Stary, the Francuski and the Pod Różą (the last having been visited by Tsar Alexander I, Liszt and Balzac) hotels. The growth of tourism is supported by Poland’s most developed tourist information network, presently incorporating 9 points strategically positioned in Krakow. The network provides services to approximately 3.5 million tourists and Krakow citizens every year. Worth mentioning here is the Wyspiański Pavilion, an architectural novelty functioning as part of the network. An even newer investment is Powiśle Tourist Services Centre (CORT), attractively situated at the foot of Wawel Hill. The operation of the information network is integrated with the biggest tourist portal in Krakow: www.krakow.travel.

Krakow is a city that has earned its image. This is confirmed by results of the poll Seven dimensions of magnetism of Polish cities, which was conducted for the first time in Poland from May to July 2009 by Young&Rubicam Brands and KB Pretendent Research Agency. Respondents were asked about their impressions of 130 cities in terms of their attractiveness in the fields of tourism, business, comfort of life, nature, culture and sport. Krakow turned out to be the most cohesive and strongest brand. In the opinion of Poles, it is the city they want to return to, which offers top-level culture and provides intellectual inspirations – a city of interesting festivals and charming corners. As early as 1986, Krakow received the Golden Apple – the symbolic tourism Oscar awarded by the World Federation of Travel Journalists & Writers. After the city had been selected the European City of Culture 2000, Krakow observed growth in both individual and group tourism. In 2006, the city won the prestigious 5th place among European cities in the ranking by the American Travel & Leisure magazine; in 2006, the Irish tourism industry hailed Krakow as The Best European Destination, and Orbitz.com called it one of the seven trendiest tourist destinations in the world. In 2009, the city had been visited by a record number of 7.3 million people, and in 2010 this number increased to nearly 8 million.


http://www.krakow.travel

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The unique interior of the Tempel Synagogue

View of the Main Square of Krakow

Pauline Church with its Monastery

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Throughout is centuries-long history, Krakow has been and remains a significant academic and intellectual centre in European terms, the cradle of Polish language and literature, the city of the first scriptoria, libraries and printing houses, of masterpieces of literature, and, lastly, the place where the impact of the major modernism movements was the strongest. The most prominent Polish artists who worked in Krakow include Stanisław Wyspiański, Stanisław Przybyszewski, Józef Mehoffer, and such contemporaries as Karol Wojtyła, Tadeusz Kantor, Stanisław Lem, Sławomir Mrożek, Andrzej Wajda, Czesław Miłosz and Wisława Szymborska. To this day, Krakow is the capital of writers and artists, and this status was recognised with the title of European City of Culture 2000.

Poland’s most prestigious publishing companies have their branches in Krakow. The city hosts Poland’s largest Book Fair, and, since 2011, Poland’s only Book Fair for Children. Krakow writers visit the largest literary festivals, and Krakow directors have left a permanent impression on the history of European cinema. For years, Krakow has hosted meetings of translators, humanists and poets; it is here that residential scholarships are funded, and the city itself has recently become a place of important debate on democracy, human rights and freedom of speech. Thanks to the presence of the Book Institute and the Villa Decius, Krakow has been building the status of a city acting as a literary asylum for many years, especially for writers from Eastern Bloc countries. Krakow played a role as such an asylum in the past, though – when it became a second home for the scholars and artists who arrived in Krakow after the second world war from Vilnius and Lviv. And the paradox is that many of the famous people most associated with Krakow were not born here. They arrived in Krakow to study or to find out about the mysterious energy the city is famed for across the world – they settled here and became an integral part of the cultural landscape of Poland’s literary capital.

Krakow has its literary festivals, including the two newest ones related to the world-famous Polish artists Joseph Conrad and Czesław Miłosz. It is impossible not to mention the multitude of literary meetings, book promotion events, off scene and avant-garde initiatives, book swaps, poetry slams, campaigns of book discussion clubs, community centres, tens of libraries and reading

rooms and hundreds of small projects promoting books and reading. This is a city of literary cafés, reading-friendly places, historic libraries with collections unique on a global scale. Krakow archives contain treasures of European writing, including a wealth of manuscripts and incunabula. Krakow’s Main Market Square boasts a bookshop known all over Europe for its continuous operation at the same address since its opening, i.e. from 1610. Krakow is also the headquarters of the Book Institute, a national institution committed to promoting Polish literature in the world and supporting national literary programmes.

In 2010, extensive social consultations were organised in order to obtain an answer to the question: Why is Krakow a city of literature? The results show that both inhabitants of Krakow and tourists from Poland and abroad perceive the huge literary potential of the city resulting from its centuries’ long tradition and current activities. Most respondents stressed that Krakow is a city of Nobel prize winners – Czesław Miłosz and Wisława Szymborska – and candidates for this prize. Inhabitants remember Joseph Conrad, Stanisław Wyspiański, Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, Sławomir Mrożek or Stanisław Lem. Legendary weeklies Przekrój and Tygodnik Powszechny were mentioned. Inhabitants are proud of numerous publications, bookshops with traditions, or even a rich offer of foreign literature in original versions.

An important place is the Jagiellonian Library, the oldest university library in Poland. Inhabitants are generally convinced that Krakow is a friendly place both for readers and writers: “Literary life exists here not only in salons and at festivals, but mainly in cafes, clubs and pubs, where often the most interesting ideas having an impact on latest Polish literature come into being.”

Creators of literature

Krakow is associated with the fathers of Polish literature and language. Mikołaj Rey, Jan Kochanowski, Wespazjan Kochowski, Klemens Janicjusz, and Piotr Skarga. Henryk Sienkiewicz, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1905, had his works published in the pages of Krakow’s Czas; participating in the building of the atmosphere of Krakow, the city of poetry, was the great 19th-century poet Adam Asnyk. Krakow is, first

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of all, the capital of the Young Poland movement, the city where Stanisław Przybyszewski – Der geniale Pole, as Germans called him – advocated “art for art’s sake” and “pure poetry”. The great scandalmonger of the late 19th and early 20th century, known in the Scandinavian and German circle of artistic bohemia, a friend of August Strindberg and Edvard Munch, Przybyszewski was responsible for creating the phenomenon of a bohemian and decadent Krakow. At the beginning of the 20th century, Stanisław Wyspiański presented his contemporaries to themselves in a national drama The Wedding, which, ever since, has been staged on the occasion of major important national events. Krakow’s literary legend was built also by Leopold Staff, writer of some of the most important classics of Polish poetry, who stayed in Krakow for a short time. It is also the city of Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński – an unparalleled translator of French literature and author of the extremely popular Słówka (Little Words) – a piece ridiculing the conservative authorities, bourgeois prudery, and the decadent pose of bohemia.

Nowhere else but in Krakow did the Futurists organise their pranks and provocations. The year 1921 saw the opening of the famous Gałka Muszkatołowa, a meeting place of the Krakow futurists and formalist painters. The café was also visited by Witkacy and Leon Schiller, Jan Młodożeniec, Tytus Czyżewski and others; it was here that Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was entertained to dinner after his arrival in Krakow. In the 1920s, the ideal of rigorously disciplined poetry was pursued by the Krakow Avant-Garde – a group of poets and critics centred around the Krakow Zwrotnica magazine. Its members included Julian Przyboś, Adam Ważyk, and Jalu Kurek. The group was headed by Tadeusz Peiper, author of the famous “blossoming poems” – referred to as “the Pope of the Avant-Garde”.

The years of the second world war had a huge impact on the literary community not only in Krakow: the extermination of intellectuals and scientists, the closing of theatres and universities, and omnipresent terror and censorship. However, the year 1945 – the moment of liberation – left the city untouched and still open. Writers from all parts of the destroyed country arrived here in search of the world existing before the conflagration of the war. However, the year 1945 – the moment of liberation – left the city untouched and still open. It is no accident, then, that Czesław Miłosz found refuge in Krakow. The eminent poet, author of Trzy zimy (Three Winters), Ocalenie (Rescue), Gdzie wstaje słońce i kędy zapada (Where

the Sun Rises and Where it Sets), To (It), essayist, novelist (The Captive Mind, Native Realm, The Land of Ulro), thinker and promoter of the Polish language and literature to the world and a Nobel Prize winner (1980), Miłosz returned to Krakow in 1993 and settled at ul. Bogusławskiego. This place was transformed into the poet’s archive, now looked after by his long-time secretary, Agnieszka Kosińska.

Another artist to have tied her fate to Krakow is Wisława Szymborska, an outstanding poet and Nobel Prize winner (1996) Some of her volumes of poetry include Dlatego żyjemy (That’s why we are Alive), Wołanie do Yeti (Calling Out to Yeti), Wielka liczba (A Large Number), Koniec i początek (The End and the Beginning), Widok z ziarnkiem piasku (View with a Grain of Sand), Dwukropek (Colon), and Tutaj (Here). She came to Krakow to pursue Polish studies and study sociology. Her poetry is marked by simplicity and clarity as well as artistry and intellectual sophistication. Touching upon matters relating to the human condition today, the poet employs irony and will happily use paradox. The poet’s funeral in 2012 attracted thousands of Krakow residents, who expressed their strong attachment to her. In accordance with her last will, the Szymborska Foundation, an exceptionally large poetic award named after her and scholarships for young writers were established. For many years she had supported the idea of creating an institution promoting literature – the House of Literature; she had been the institution around which the literary life of Krakow had revolved.

In the 1970s, the poetic revolution was initiated by Julian Kornhauser and Adam Zagajewski with their well-known Świat nieprzedstawiony (Unrepresented World). Krakow became a major New Wave centre, gathering rebellious young poets making their début in the mid-1960s. Zagajewski came to Krakow from Silesia in order to study philosophy here. After 1982, he emigrated from Poland to the West, but came back to live permanently in Krakow in 2002. Among the important artists of the New Wave movement is Ewa Lipska – a poet, columnist, and long-time editor at Wydawnictwo Literackie, a moving spirit behind many literary projects in Poland and abroad.

Another personality associated with Krakow was Jan Józef Szczepański – an author of profound reflections on lay sources of ethics (Przed nieznanym trybunałem / Before a Court Unknown), a writer unyielding to political pressures, the last President of the Polish Writers’ Union forced to close under martial law, since 1947 associated with Tygodnik Powszechny.


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Jerzy Turowicz was founder and legendary editor-in-chief of Tygodnik Powszechny. He was a journalist, columnist and activist of the Post-Vatican II lay movement. At a politically very difficult time, he turned “the Catholic socio-cultural weekly” into one of the major opposition titles in Poland. One of contributors was Father Józef Tischner – a philosopher and author famed for his eulogies about the nearby mountain region, and – after 1989 – publications on building a new social, political and ethical order.

Sławomir Mrożek – playwright, writer, graphic artist, columnist, born near Krakow, came to live in Krakow as a young boy. He studied architecture there, and it was also there that he began working as a journalist. He lived in Poland until the early 1960s, when he left the country for a few decades to return to Poland in 1996. Mrożek settled permanently in Krakow, in the district of Stare Podgórze, right by the River Vistula. He left Krakow again in 2008, though came back for the ceremonial birthday organised by the Łaźnia Nowa Theatre, the Ludwik Solski State Drama School and Wydawnictwo Literackie, which also involved Krakow citizens.

Stanisław Lem – a world-renowned philosopher, novelist, essayist and columnist. In the world of science fiction, Lem functions as the undisputed master and classic of the genre. He was also committed to commenting and interpreting contemporary political and cultural life. Major Lem’s works include Głos Pana (His Master’s Voice), Kongres futurologiczny (The Futurological Congress) and the storybooks Dzienniki gwiazdowe (The Star Diaries), Bajki robotów (Mortal Engines), and Cyberiada (The Cyberiad). His books have been translated into over 40 languages. The cult novel Solaris has been filmed twice – by Andrei Tarkovsky and Steven Soderbergh.

Ludwik Jerzy Kern – A long-time contributor to Przekrój, poet, satirist, journalist, famed for popular pieces for children and lyrics for Polish hits. For many years until his death in 2010, Kern was a patron of children’s literature.

Literary Krakow is also co-created by those who have spent only a few moments here, yet the city left an impression on their work, or the other way around, it was their presence that left a stamp on local literary life, and the memory of those visits is continuously cherished: Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Honoré de Balzac, Joseph Conrad, William Styron, Curzio Malaparte, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Elie Wiesel, Henry Miller. Many winners of the Nobel prize in literature have visited Krakow, including: Ivo Andrić, Heinrich Böll, Joseph Brodsky, John

Maxwell Coetzee, Günter Grass, Seamus Heaney, Mario Vargas Llosa, Herta Müller, Pablo Neruda, Orhan Pamuk, Jean-Paul Sartre, John Steinbeck.

Krakow is today home to a few hundred people committed to creating with words. They are active on many planes, get involved in a variety of literary genres. Our attention is drawn to the figure of Ryszard Krynicki, a poet and editor of the excellent poetry series published by the a5 publishing house. All of the most important Polish poets visited Krakow to celebrate his 70th birthday. Some representatives of the younger generation associated with Krakow that should be mentioned here are: Jack Dukaj (author of Lód (Ice), awarded the European Prize for Literature), Łukasz Orbitowski, Izabela Sowa (author of tens of popular books classified as middle-of-the-road literature), Marcin Świetlicki (poet, and also an author of detective stories), Wit Szostak (his popular novels have recently been adapted for the stage). Krakow has a thriving poetic life thanks to the presence of poets, bards and translators. The city also has a strong community of enthusiasts of comic books and illustrated books. The most prominent artists include: Rafał Szłapa, Filip Sułkowski, and Mateusz Kołek.

Publishers and the book market

More than 3,000 printed books are published in Krakow every year, the total number of copies published amounting to 6,000,000. The hallways of Dom pod Globusem (“the Globe House”) – the premises of Wydawnictwo Literackie (established in 1953) – were regularly visited by Czesław Miłosz, Wisława Szymborska, Stanisław Barańczak, Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Jan Kott, Stanisław Lem, Ewa Lipska, Jerzy Pilch, Tadeusz Różewicz, Jan Józef Szczepański, Dorota Terakowska, Father Jan Twardowski, Karol Wojtyła, and Adam Zagajewski. Literackie published numerous critical editions of brilliant works, including all the works of Witold Gombrowicz, at excellent editorial standard.

A similar climate of a house of writers prevails in the famous Dworek (i.e. Manor) of the Znak publishing house – a true literary salon in Krakow. Since 1959, Znak has published books that permanently entered the literary canon: works by Karol Wojtyła, Czesław Miłosz, Leszek Kołakowski, Norman Davies, Umberto Eco, Joseph Brodsky, Ryszard Kapuściński, and others. Editions of some of the books published by Znak reach 100,000 copies, and works by J.M. Coetzee, Wiesław Myśliwski, Eduardo Mendoza, Mario Vargas


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Llosa and Paweł Huelle became favourite titles for thousands of Poles. A very important person associated with Znak is Jerzy Illg – an editor, poet, friend of Nobel Prize winners, organiser of the Meetings of Poets from the East and West, Programme Director of the Miłosz Festival.

Wydawnictwo Literackie along with Znak have also prepared works of Czesław Miłosz for publication of collected works. Subsequent volumes have been regularly published since 1999.

In 1989, the exclusive Krakow a5 publishing house was established by Krystyna and Ryszard Krynicki: an interesting example of a publishing house run by an acclaimed poet. It publishes contemporary Polish poets, including some New Wave authors such as Stanisław Barańczak, Adam Zagajewski, Jerzy Kronhold, and Julian Kornhauser. Wisława Szymborska’s poems were published thanks to the efforts of a5. Moreover, a5 published Zbigniew Herbert’s Collected Poems, Psalms by Paul Celan (translated into Polish by Ryszard Krynicki).

The Ha!art publishing house was founded in 1998 on the initiative of Piotr Marecki, initially as an interdisciplinary magazine devoted to culture and art. Keywords associated with this publishing house are: born in the 1970s, liternet, gay/les (Lubiewo, the well-known novel by Michał Witkowski), deserters of a consumption society. Ha!art supports literary publications and promotes a new literary genre created by Zenon Fajfer and Katarzyna Bazarnik – liberature, whose content is not only contained in text, but also the form of a book. This series featured, amongst others, Herta Mϋller’s The Guard Takes his Comb.

We should also mention the Czarne publishing house, located on south-eastern outskirts of the region, but staying pretty much linked to Krakow. It specialises in contemporary Polish and Central European prose, essays, and reportages. Authors published by Czarne include: Yuri Andrukhovych, Bora Ćosić, Herta Müller, Dubravka Ugrešić, Jacek Hugo-Bader, Wojciech Tochman, and Andrzej Stasiuk. The works of Czarne authors are published in Central Europe, European Women, National Lines, Other Europe – Other Literature, and the Reportage series.

Other publishing companies operating in or near Krakow include Universitas – a publishing house founded in 1989 by researchers at the Jagiellonian University. This publishing house is famed for its series called Horyzonty Nowoczesności (Horizons of Modernity) – dedicated to the latest methodological trends in cultural research. Universitas is primarily committed to publishing scientific papers, but also promotes knowledge

about history and art by publishing photo books prepared to an excellent editorial standard.

Arcana specialises in historical publications of a conservative nature. In DodoEditor, books are published with special care, as if to oppose the belief that reality belongs only to the electronic media. Lokator – known to local authors as a place of meetings with writers – is a good place to find new publications, especially those from niche publishing houses. Likewise in Austeria – a publishing house, café, and bookshop specialising in publications devoted to the local Jewish tradition. One of the newest publishing houses is BONA, a bookshop combined with a café. Karakter is committed to publishing fiction, non-fiction (Z innej strony series), essays and books on architecture and graphic design. Authors published here include Tahar Ben Jelloun, Alain Mabanckou, Lyonel Trouillot, Yoko Tawada, Mia Couto, Hiromi Kawakami, Susan Sontag, Hooman Majd, and others. Homini publishing house mainly offers humanistic scholarly monographs in the field of classical philology, theology, history of ideas, philosophy and literary criticism, as well as certain domains of musicology and history – its books are quite often published for the first time in the Polish market. EMG focuses on crime, but its catalogue also includes the so-called “black” poetry series. The catalogue of Vis-a-Vis/Etiuda publishing house offers books by Anthony Burgess and others.

Poetry series are a highly prestigious part of the offering of Krakow publishing houses. An excellent poetry series is offered by the a5 publishing house. “The Poetic Library of a5” is edited by Ryszard Krynicki, and its catalogue includes, among others: Wisława Szymborska, Julia Hartwig, Zbigniew Herbert, Stanisław Barańczak and Adam Zagajewski. A bilingual poetry series –poems in the original version and their translations – has been published by Wydawnictwo Literackie for years.

Collections of poems by: Wisława Szymborska, Czesław Miłosz, Ewa Lipska, Tadeusz Różewicz etc. have been published within this series. A substantial selection of poetry is also offered by the Znak publishing house (e.g. poems by Seamus Heaney and Derek Walcott). Young authors’ poems are published by Ha!art, and the EMG publishing house, which specialises in crime fiction, offers also a black poetry series. Another series – Poets of Krakow – is a cycle of volumes issued since 1995 by the Cracovia Publishing House and the City Centre Cultural Centre. The cycle was initiated by selections of poems by Stanisław Stabro and Adam Ziemianin. Up to the


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present day, 16 volumes have been published with selected poems by authors such as Julian Kornhauser and Beata Szymańska.

Krakow also boasts numerous publishers which publish literature for children. ABM, offering educational books for the youngest ones, is a publisher of educational books and magazines for children. Aksjomat. Koba publishes books for five- and six-year olds, demonstration materials, multimedia publications while Post specialises in comic books. Skrzat publishes books of rhymes, colouring books, booklets with fairy tales while Zielona Sowa publishes books for children and young people. Occupying an area of a mere 8m2, Jaś Czytalski, based in the district of Salwator, is probably the smallest publishing company in the world.

Krakow also boasts the most important music-related publishing house: PWM Edition.

The city is also a strong centre for religious publishing. Wydawnictwo Apostolstwa Modlitwy (WAM) is the largest Catholic publishing house in Poland. It publishes more than 200 new publications and re-publishes about 150 titles every year. Another important publisher is Biały Kruk, one of the leading companies publishing photo books. Publishers such as M, eSPe and Esprit publish a variety of spiritual literature, including psychological guides. Some religious publishing houses are strictly linked to individual orders, e.g. Discalced Carmelites and Benedictines.

The Book Institute

January 2004 saw the establishment of the Book Institute, a national cultural institution promoting reading in Poland and Polish literature abroad. The Book Institute is committed to preparing literary programmes for Polish presentations at national and international book fairs and as part of literary festivals and programmes promoting Polish culture throughout the world. The Book Institute also publishes catalogues covering new literary publications in the New books from Poland series, offers studies and training courses, organises meetings and seminars for translators of Polish literature and stays in touch with translators.

In the international arena, the main tasks of the Book Institute include the promotion of the contribution of Polish literature to European culture through joint projects with European partners (Literature across Frontiers), cooperation within the European network of translators’ centres); providing further support to translations of Polish literature into foreign

languages (©Poland Translation Programme, Translator’s Collegium, national stands at international book fairs, the Trans-Atlantyk Prize granted to outstanding ambassadors of Polish literature abroad, the New Culture of New Europe Prize); working with foreign publishers in the organisation of meetings promoting and providing information on Polish literature, preparing current information on Polish literature and information materials on Polish writers.

Domestically, the Institute is committed to the intensification of cooperation with regional governments and NGOs in the promotion and dissemination of the Polish literary heritage; furthering of cooperation with artists’ associations; organisation of anniversary events promoting the Polish literary heritage; organisation of the 4 Seasons of the Book Festival (Poetry Season, POPLIT, Prose Season, and Crime Season) and educational campaigns carried out jointly with Centre for Civic Education (Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej) (Literary Atlas of Poland, Author on Request). They also carry out research on the size of readership and the more precise definition of target groups in programmes promoting reading; launch projects improving the editorial quality of Polish publications; promote literary magazines through the Polish Cultural Periodicals Festival; implement projects designed to facilitate access to books by marginalised reading groups and work on the use of the structural funds to improve the competitiveness of Polish publishing houses and the implementation of projects in line with EU guidelines.

Literary associations

The Krakow branch of the Polish Writers Union (ZLP) has operated since the late 1940s as the second largest and most significant branch in Poland. The history of the Union is also a symbolic history of political tensions. After 1945, it embraced both writers who belonged to the Party and those who did not, as well as persons distanced from current political affairs. Members of the Union included Wisława Szymborska and many other Krakow authors. In the days of martial law in 1981, the premises of the Union were sealed and closed. The organisation was dissolved and a new board was set up under the auspices of the communist government. Only 60 out of 160 members from before the transformations remained in the new Union. At that time, the Polish Writers Association was established, and after illegal operation with opposition writers, it was legalised after 1989. Both


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organisations – the Union and the Association – operated in Krakow to this day.

Historic Villa Decius, the Renaissance palace of the Alsatian diplomat Jost Ludwig Dietz who came to Krakow in 1508, has for centuries operated as a literary and cultural salon for Krakow. Today, the palace houses the offices of the Villa Decius Association, an organisation including personalities from the world of science, economy and culture, including Andrzej Zoll – a former Human Rights Ombudsman; Krzysztof Penderecki and Andrzej Wajda. Writers and translators occupy an important place in the Villa’s programmes, but so do social dialogue, European integration, preservation of cultural heritage and human rights. Some of those who spoke in Villa Decius include John Ralston Saul, President of PEN International, Frederik Barth, a writer of anthropology classics, Paul Berman, Timothy Garton Ash, Norman Davies, and Shevach Weiss. Each year the Villa hosts the Visegrad Summer School, an international educational project addressed to young people from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. For the last 12 years, Villa Decius has organised residential scholarships for young writers and translators. So far, dozens of writers from Poland and abroad (including Jula Zeh and Serhiy Zadan) have used the Homines Urbani and Dagny programmes. The Villa’s guests have also included the most outstanding Polish writers of the younger generation, Dorota Masłowska and Michał Witkowski, and the most outstanding young poets from Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia. From 1998 to 2011, in 2010 the Villa hosted over 100 writers and translators from around the world during residential scholarships.

The Znaczy się New Art Foundation aims to support young talented artists, facilitate their coming into a relationship with the audience and to create an independent space for new art. The organisation manages creative writing courses, typographical and editorial workshops, promotes talent and helps authors to become known. The Foundation, along with Gazeta Wyborcza, Krakow Festival Office and the Book Institute, organises a project by the name of the Free Reading Zone. The idea is to promote literature and reading-friendly urban places and spaces, create a kind of fashion for reading and raise Krakow inhabitants’ awareness of how important their city is for literary culture. Its most interesting campaigns have included, among others, book swaps, reading at the footbridge over the River Vistula and reading in such urban spaces as squares, streets and junctions.

Coming from a perspective of the feminist claim for the presence of women, too often overlooked in mainstream history, the Women’s Space Foundation seeks to restore the memory of the achievements and heritage of women associated with Krakow – women from various groups and communities who have co-created this city and fought for equality. With this idea in mind, the Foundation has published Krakowski Szlak Kobiet. Przewodniczka po Krakowie Emancypantek (Krakow Women’s Route. A guide to Krakow’s emancipated women) – where various authors describe the fates of forgotten Krakow women. A similar initiative was launched by the Ha!art publishing house, which in 2011 published the Przewodnik szlakiem kobiet po Krakowie (Guide to the Krakow women’s route). The gender reflection defines the direction for activities that the city will develop in relation to literature.

The Wisława Szymborska Foundation was called to life in April 2012 in accordance with the last will of the famous poet. It provides aid to authors in a difficult financial situation and grants the international award named after the poet. One of the more interesting ideas of the Foundation was the joint opening of an interactive exhibition entitled Szymborska’s Drawer together with the National Museum and the organisation of a competition and a festival of films inspired by poetry together with the Pod Baranami Cinema.

Translators of literature

The tradition of translating Polish literature into other languages dates back to the 16th century. At that time translators worked on the poems of the Polish Renaissance poets; the later period saw the popularity of the 17th- and 18th-century novels. The Book Institute is very active in the field of literary translation. For many years, it has organised special scholarship programmes for translators of various languages. It is also no coincidence that it is in Krakow that the Trans-Atlantyk Prize is granted to outstanding ambassadors of Polish literature abroad. Its purpose is to promote Polish literature in the global market and integrate the translators and promoters (literary critics, literary historians, culture organisers) of Polish literature into a community. The prestigious status and the extensive promotional campaign of the Trans-Atlantyk Prize are designed to encourage translators to take an interest in Polish literature and publishers to publish it and to attract the attention of foreign audiences.


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Since 2006, the Book Institute has run the Translator’s Collegium programme addressed to professionals translating Polish literature into other languages. Each year, the Collegium accepts about 8 translators. The assessment of candidates focuses on the project that the author wants to work on in Krakow, and previous achievements. The scholarship stay is creation-oriented, however translators also give lectures to students at the Jagiellonian University. Over the first four years, the Translator’s Collegium accepted 31 translators from 23 countries. Translations produced in Krakow include, for example, Pen Lan Wu’s Chinese translation of Podróże z Herodotem (Travels with Herodotus); Ambrosi Grishikashvili’s translation of Kapuściński’s Imperium (Empire) into Georgian; Andras Palyi’s Hungarian translation of Gombrowicz’s Dzienniki (Diaries) and Nguyen Thi Thanh Thu’s translation of Lubiewo (Lovetown) into Vietnamese. Translator’s Collegium also involves the organisation of translation workshops. During the Miłosz Festival and Miłosz Year, nearly 30 translators from 4 continents came to Krakow and took part in scholarships of the Book Institute and the City of Krakow.

The Book Institute and the Polish Cultural Institute in London, the Polish Cultural Institute in New York and WAB publishing house have also established a new FOUND IN TRANSLATION AWARD, granted annually to the translator(s) of the best English translation of a Polish literary piece published in book form. Previous winners of the prize have included Bill Johnston (2008) for the translation of poems by Tadeusz Różewicz, Antonia Lloyd-Jones (2009) for the translation of Paweł Huelle’s Ostatnia wieczerza (The Last Supper), and Danuta Borchardt (2010), for her translation of Witold Gombrowicz’s Pornografia (Pornography).

A number of eminent literary translators were trained at the Jagiellonian University (the UNESCO Chair for Translation). Translation activities are supported by other international institutions Pro Helvetia, Goethe Institut, Austrian Cultural Forum, French Institute, Italian Cultural Institute, Instituto Cervantes, and others. The translators themselves play an important role in the literary landscape of the city. They live and work here, and participate in publishing activities, as well as activities of a popularising, academic and promotional character. Each year, the Faculty of Philology of the Jagiellonian University trains experts in tens of languages and cultures – British, German, Romance, and also Greek and Turkish. Translation activities are also supported by such publishing houses as Wydawnictwo Literackie and

Znak, both known for high-quality translations for many years.

In June 2013, in co-operation with the Krakow City of Literature project, the Book Institute organised the World Congress of Translators of Polish Literature for the third time, in which 200 translators of Polish books into other languages took part. It is the largest event of its kind in Poland, which is attended mainly by translators, but also Polish writers, poets, critics and historians of literature.

Education for creative writing

The richest selection of literature-related studies can be found at JU, particularly the Faculty of Polish Studies. In the field of Polish philology, students can choose from a number of specialisa-tions, such as teaching, literary criticism, anthro-pology & culture or the culture of Lithuania. Other interesting proposals include cultural studies with a specialisation in cultural texts, postgraduate studies – knowledge on literature, culture and art, and the Literary and Artistic Study Centre (School of Writers). The UNESCO Chair for Translation Studies and Intercultural Communication is found at the Faculty of Philology. Another Krakow university that educates Polish philologists is the Pedagogical University of Krakow. Apart from that, future Krakow students can choose from a wide range of fields of study offered at other institutions of higher education that are connected with literature in its broad sense, such as journalism, library science, cultural studies, electronic information processing or editing. The aforementioned academic fields not only provide students with a solid base for their own creative activity, but also help them find a job in professions such as: a journalist, librarian, spokesman, PR specialist, copywriter, editor, literary critic, translator, interpreter or cultural institution employee.

A thriving centre of the Jagiellonian University is the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. The principal aim of the Centre is to cross the boundaries between disciplines, countries and languages. Its Director, Professor Michał Paweł Markowski, is one of the greatest humanists, professor of literature, and a literary critic awarded the Kazimierz Wyka Award in 2011. The Centre seeks to contribute to the changes necessary in the development strategy for Polish arts and culture and bring it into a broader international circulation. It also aims to put more emphasis on educating an international elite of humanists


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in Poland, to build a globally recognised centre for research on culture, and launch a modern doctoral curriculum that will meet the needs of the youngest generation of students.

The Jagiellonian University also includes the Creative Writing School (Studium Literacko-Artystyczne), the first Polish school for writers, founded in 1994 on the initiative of Gabriela Matuszek, Professor of the Jagiellonian University, President of the Polish Writers’ Association. The teachers at the School have been eminent representatives of the literary community, including some from Krakow, e.g. the poet Ewa Lipska. Those who taught at the Creative Writing School have included Czesław Miłosz, Stanisław Lem, Maciej Słomczyński, Dorota Terakowska, Wisława Szymborska, and, currently Olga Tokarczuk, Jerzy Stuhr, Andrzej Wajda and Adam Zagajewski, to name just a few. In the 1990s, alumni of the school published the literary and artistic magazine Studium. The school is a member of the European Network of Creative Writing Programmes.

An interesting element forming a foundation of the creative literary and film industries is the thriving Krakow Screenplay School (Krakowska Szkoła Scenariuszowa), whose objective is to teach scriptwriting according to the latest standards of the film world. An equally important task of the Krakow Screenplay School is to motivate scriptwriters and filmmakers to take an interest in new Polish literature. The training programme puts a considerable emphasis on the history of modern literature and the possibilities of adapting it to the screen. The school refers to the idea of Krakow Film School, that is the post-war Youth Film Workshop (Warsztat Filmowy Młodych), founded by Antoni Bohdziewicz, and also the subsequent Screenplay School.

“Reading Lessons” is a social campaign of Tygodnik Powszechny, aimed at the popularisation of reading. As part of the event, meetings for secondary school students are organised, during which they learn to talk about literature from critics and writers. The campaign was also extended to include reading lessons for the little ones. Meetings are held not only in Krakow – for the purpose of extending the scope of operation and reaching the largest audience possible, lessons are organised in all Polish cities, including the smaller ones that declare their will to participate. In 2013, the activities of the KCL will include campaigns promoting the creation of a NaNoWriMo novel and writing courses run by middle-generation writers: Marek Krajewski, Sylwia Chutnik and Szczepan Twardoch.

Literary and theatre awards

There are many important and prestigious distinctions and awards in literature granted in Krakow.

Transatlantyk – an award granted by the Book Institute, aiming at the promotion of Polish literature abroad. It may be awarded to a translator, lecturer, literary critic or animator of culture. The previous winners of the award include: Henryk Bereska (2005), Anders Bodegård (2006), Albrecht Lempp (2007), Ksenia Starosielska (2008), Biserka Rajčić (2009), Pietro Marchesani (2010), Vlasta Dvořáčková (2011) Yi Lun (2012), and Karol Lesman (2013). The award, granted annually in the amount of EUR 10,000 was first awarded during the Congress of Translators of Polish Literature in 2005.

The Jan Długosz Prize for the best book of the year in the field of the broadly defined humanities is awarded during the Book Fair in Krakow. Previous winners of the Prize include: Jan Błoński (2002), Jerzy Strzelczyk (2007), and Andrzej Friszke (2012).

The Kazimierz Wyka Award is granted for eminent achievements in essay writing and literary and art criticism. This award, commemorating an outstanding Polish critic, was first received by Jerzy Kwiatkowski in 1980. Its winners include eminent Polish literary critics and literary histori-ans, such as: Professor Jerzy Jarzębski (1991), Zbig-niew Herbert (1993), Professor Maria Janion (2001), Professor Henryk Markiewicz (2010), Professor Michał Paweł Markowski (2011), Krystyna Czerni (2012), and Andrzej Franaszek (2013).

The Stanisław Vincenz New Culture of New Europe Award of the Economic Forum – is awarded by the Council of the City of Krakow for outstanding achievements in popularising the culture of East-Central Europe. Its winners include: Tomas Venclova, Emil Brix, Tatiana Tołstoj, Krzysztof Czyżewski, Agnieszka Holland, Martin Pollack, and Andrzej Stasiuk.

In 1998, the Goncourt List: the Polish Choice award was established on the initiative of the French Institute in Krakow and with the consent of the French Académie Goncourt. The winners are selected by a Polish jury made up of students of Romance studies from all over Poland based on the official list of nominated novels announced by the Académie Goncourt. The winners of the award who have visited Krakow include: Pierre Assouline, Jean-Pierre Milovanoff, Frédéric Beigbeder, and Sylvie Germain.

Another form of literature promotion is the monthly award of the Krakow Book of the Month.


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The distinction has been awarded since 1995 by Śródmiejski Ośrodek Kultury (the Śródmieście Cultural Centre), one of the most thriving local centres of culture and literature in Krakow.

The Wisława Szymborska Foundation began awarding the Wisława Szymborska Poetry Award in 2013 – for the best volume of poetry published in Poland. The Wisława Szymborska Poetry Award is an international prize awarded annually for a poetry volume published in Polish in the preceding year. Volumes of poetry originally published in Polish or translated into Polish are eligible to take part in the contest. The prize will include a statuette and a cash prize of PLN 200,000. If the winner is a foreign-language author, the translator of the winning volume will also be awarded, with a prize of PLN 50,000. The award will be the most important distinction in the field of poetry in Poland.

The Stanisław Wyspiański Award for outstanding achievements in the field of theatre has been awarded since 2011 and it may be received by directors, stage designers, musicians, and actors. As part of the Divine Comedy International Theatre Festival, awards are granted in individual fields of theatre art. The highest prize, the Divine Comedian, goes to the producer of the best play staged during the festival. In 2012, the Divine Comedian went to the Nowy Theatre from Warsaw for the drama “Opowieści afrykańskie według Szekspira” [“African Stories According to Shakespeare”] directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski. What is interesting is the fact that the financial equivalent of the award is invested in the winner’s new theatre productions.

Literary scholarships

One of major scholarship projects in Eastern Europe was the Homines Urbani programme, the project of the Villa Decius Association implement-ed in cooperation with the Book Institute. The aim of the project was to create an international forum for writers, translators and critics of literature. Run from 2005 to 2009, the project consisted of two annual events (held in autumn and spring) consist-ing of joint three-month stays of young writers from Belarus, Germany, Poland and Ukraine in Krakow’s Villa Decius. Homines Urbani turned out to be not only a successful artistic project (the result was an anthology of texts by the writers enti-tled Ludzie, miasta (People, cities), but it also helped establish intercultural dialogue in practice.

After completing the Homines Urbani programme, the Villa Decius Association – in

cooperation with Solvberget KF Stavanger Cultural Centre – has developed a new programme of residential visits called Dagny. This two-year, international programme of residential scholarships and literary events is addressed to young artists and audiences from countries inhabited by Dagny Juel-Przybyszewska, a muse of European modernism. Scheduled literary events include: authors’ soirées in Krakow, Leipzig and Berlin and held as part of literary festivals and book fairs in Lviv and Stavanger (Norway). The programme will be concluded with an international literature festival held in autumn 2011 in Krakow.

Another form of recognising young artists – including writers – are the Creative Scholarships of the City of Krakow, awarded since 1994. Creative Scholarships are intended for extremely talented artists under thirty years of age. They enable scholarship recipients to implement their artistic plans and use individual scholarship programmes.

In order to commemorate the figure of Albrecht Lempp, translator and organiser of culture, great advocate for the Polish-German dialogue, and founder of the Book Institute, a translation scholarship was funded in his name in 2013. It is granted jointly by: the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, the Book Institute, and Literarisches Colloquium Berlin. Beneficiaries of the scholarship may be translators and writers from Poland and Germany.

Residential scholarships for writers who are persecuted because of their work are organised in Krakow as part of the ICORN- programme – the International Cities of Refuge Network that the city joined in 2011. After the scholarship stay of Maria Amelie, a writer of Ossetian descent, Krakow became a safe haven for Kareem Amer – an Egyptian student of law and blogger expelled from university, tried and imprisoned for his critical remarks about the regime of Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt.

Libraries

Krakow has four libraries financed from the city budget (including 62 branches), 1 regional library, libraries under the control of municipal cultural institutions, research libraries (Regional Teaching Library), libraries at universities and research institutions (e.g. Jagiellonian Library, Scientific Library of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences in Krakow), as well as libraries at other cultural institutions (the Princes Czartoryski Library).


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The number of books in 2012 in municipal libraries alone was 1,746,265, and 3,014,623 volumes were borrowed from these libraries that year (source: DCNH OCK and DCHN MOMR). The data do not include books borrowed from scientific, private, institute, and school libraries. Altogether, in 2012, the municipal government provided PLN 23.10 million for library activity (including investments).

The most important library in Krakow is the Jagiellonian Library. It holds the most important monuments of Polish language and literature, including a copy of Bogurodzica, the solemn anthem sung by of Polish nobles dating back to 1407; Jan Długosz’s manuscripts; as well as Liber Magnus, i.e. Księga Dwudziestu Sztuk with the alleged Satan’s footprint. The library also has a manuscript of Nicolaus Copernicus’ De revolutionibus... dating back to 1543; Chopin’s famous Scherzo in E major; a manuscript of Wyspiański’s The Wedding; as well as works of Ignacy Paderewski and Stanisław Moniuszko. The period following the second world war saw a dynamic increase in size of the collection of the Jagiellonian Library (up to approximately 40,000 volumes per annum), mostly new publications. An archive of Polish prints was launched in 1969. One of the two obligatory copies deposited by publishing houses was allocated for this purpose, and 1996 saw the launch of an archive of audiovisual and electronic documents. The total library collection of the Jagiellonian Library amounts to 4,851,214 items. In 2010, 530,964 volumes and units were made available in reading rooms and outside, and the number of people who visited reading rooms was 74,187.

The central institution related to books and literary life is the Regional Public Library in Krakow. In 2011, the Library had 83,182 readers and recorded 613,282 visits. The Regional Public Library collects, develops and provides access to collections and exercises the main oversight over the local network of public libraries in Małopolska. The collection of the library amounts to almost 487,000 inventory units; the library also runs Małopolska Digital Library (mbc.malopolska.pl), with almost 57,000 digitalised inventory units. Since 2010, it has coordinated the activities of 85 Book Discussion Clubs throughout the region, which have 1009 permanent members (43 clubs for adults, 42 clubs for children and young people). In 2010 alone, 31 new clubs were established (including 6 for kindergarten pupils). In 2010, 663 meetings were held. The library is known for its “Book for Book” campaign, organised annually in cooperation

with the Book Fair in Krakow, Radio Kraków and Gazeta Wyborcza, with which it procures nearly 8,000 volumes a year. The library conducts an extensive reading promotion campaign, operates literary clubs for children and seniors, has launched a special Library for the Homeless – the socially excluded – which provides access to the collections without requiring a proof of residence, as well as an innovative Bibliopathic Zone in which readers have free access to the collection without registration and can exchange their book for one of the specially marked copies.

An important point on the map of Krakow is the reading room and library of the International Cultural Centre, where one can find publications on European and world cultural heritage. The abundance of libraries is complemented by a network of school libraries at every level of edu-cation, as well as institutional and faculty libraries.

Local, national and literary media

Support to the literary sector is also provided by the media: Internet, television, radio and newspapers – all widely take up cultural themes. The public Radio Kraków, which airs in Małopolska, participates in a number of projects related to the promotion of ambitious culture – including literature. As part of the Reading Małopolska programme, in cooperation with the KFO and Dziennik Polski, the Radio carried out the Reading Małopolska campaign in the summer of 2012. It involved preparing broadcasts from places connected with literature across the region of Malopolska. The campaign’s aim was not only to inform about the region’s heritage, but also to involve local communities, revive cultural memory, and create an offer in the field of literary tourism. The local division of Polish Television also dedicated some of their programmes to literature.

Commercial media have huge offices in Krakow. TVN Television, founded in Krakow, is Poland’s second television in terms of number of spectators. The Kościuszko Mound harbours the offices of the RMF radio station whose RMF Classic channel is entirely dedicated to culture. Cultural participation is also promoted by TOK FM, Radio Plus, Radiofonia (addressing its programmes to the student community), and Radio Złote Przeboje (oldies goldies).

The most popular regional newspaper is Gazeta Krakowska; however, Krakow’s best-selling paper is Dziennik Polski and the local issue of Gazeta Wyborcza. They regularly feature reviews of major books and reports on


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meetings with authors. Every Thursday’s issue of Dziennik Polski features the Magnes cultural supplement. On Friday, Gazeta Wyborcza offersa 20-page magazine “Co jest grane?” featuring recommendations on major cultural events in the days to come.

A significant role in informing the audience about culture is that of Karnet. It is a bilingual cultural monthly with hundreds of accounts, reviews and promotions of events. The magazine also has a web version. For the first time ever, Karnet’s editorial team has also developed its first bilingual magazine, Literary Krakow, describing the abundance of literary phenomena in Krakow.

Krakow is also home to the editorial offices of many periodicals concerned with literature. The major ones are the nationwide research journal Ruch Literacki, the magazine Fragile, published under the patronage of the Śródmieście Cultural Centre, and Radar – an international literary journal published by the Villa Decius Association in German, Polish and Ukrainian. Ha!art magazine, originally published as a student magazine, gradually evolved into an important platform for discussions about socially committed literature and social issues. Zadra, in which literature occupies one of the most important places, takes up gender and feminist issues. Four titles deserve particular attention:

1. Tygodnik Powszechny. The magazine was founded in 1945 as a Catholic socio-cultural weekly and its publication was inspired by the Diocesan Curia of Krakow. For many years, the editor-in-chief of the magazine was Jerzy Turowicz, the late legendary editor and cultural organiser. It was here – at a time when the Polish press was affected by raging censorship – that Nobel Prize winners published their poems. The magazine was the first to publish translations of major novelists. It was here, too, that controversial topics and polemics on new phenomena in the world of literature were taken up. Those who were featured in Tygodnik included: Wisława Szymborska, Sławomir Mrożek, Władysław Bartoszewski and Jerzy Pilch. Tygodnik Powszechny has awarded the St George Medal “for the struggle against evil and the persistent building of good in social life, for those who express particular sensitivity to poverty, injustice and express this sensitivity in their deeds” since 1993. Some of the winners include Jacek Kuroń (1994), Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek (1998), Marek Edelman (1999), Vaclav Havel (2003), Anna Dymna (2006), Professor Jerzy Jedlicki (2011). Tygodnik Powszechny is a publisher of the only Polish literary supplement today.

2. Dekada Literacka. The magazine has been published continuously since 1990 and is edited by Professor Marta Wyka and a team of literary scholars associated with the Jagiellonian University and Krakow’s writers and critics. Although Dekada Literacka is devoted to contemporary Polish and foreign literature, it also features theatre and film reviews and materials related to fine arts. The magazine comes out in the form of monographic issues devoted to the literature of specific countries (Russia, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Ukraine) or specific themes (the end of the century, Jewish Diaspora).

3. Znak. Znak is a socio-cultural Catholic monthly published in Krakow by Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy ZNAK. The first issue came out in 1946 on the initiative of Jerzy Radkowski. In addition to religious themes, the magazine also takes up scientific, cultural, social, philosophical, ethical and political topics. Much space is devoted to literature, as well as to reviews and cultural news. Contributors to the magazine have included, among others, Karol Wojtyła, Father Józef Tischner, Anna Świderkówna, Ryszard Kapuściński, Leszek Kołakowski, Czesław Miłosz, Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Antoni Słonimski, Władysław Bartoszewski, Zbigniew Herbert, Antoni Kępiński, Timothy Garton Ash, Norman Davies, Zygmunt Kubiak, Jan Józef Szczepański, and Tadeusz Różewicz.

4. Przekrój. A legendary Polish socio-cultural weekly. Founded by Marian Eile and Janina Ipohorska, the magazine has been published since 1945. Since 2005, the weekly has granted the Fenomen Przekroju award to people of culture, writers, musicians, filmmakers and theatre people. Contributors to the weekly have included the most eminent Polish writers K.I. Gałczyński, Leopold Tyrmand, Sławomir Mrożek, Ludwik Jerzy Kern, Stanisław Lem, Janusz Minkiewicz and Dorota Masłowska, to name just a few.

Bookshops

The database of Cylex Polska includes 76 bookshops registered in Krakow. Krakow boasts one of the oldest bookshops in Europe, located by the Main Market Square in building No. 23 (Kamienica Kromerowska). In 1610, a merchant Franciszek Jakub Mercenich from Cologne, after having been granted citizenship of Krakow, opened here – as old documents put it – “a shop with an entrance from the street, where


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he sells books”. The bookshop organises meetings with writers, with visitors including Stanisław Lem, Carlos Fuentes, Clive Cussler, Jerzy Pilch, Andrzej Stasiuk, Amos Oz, Herta Müller. The walls of the bookshop are covered with autographs of eminent guests.

Krakow is also home to specialised technical, medical, musical and philosophical bookshops as well as shops selling comic books. Very popular bookshops run by publishing houses are Znak, Gazeta Café, Bona, Ha!art and Lokator, the last two bookshops combining the functions of a bookshops, cafés, and publishing houses.

Besides all the above-mentioned bookshops, there are also the huge bookshops of the large chains (Empik, Matras) and cosy bookshops scattered throughout the city. And although the majority are located in the centre, many of them still successfully operate in the suburbs, within estates and shopping centres. Besides, the city has thriving cheap book outlets and centres. Throughout the year, bookshops organise numerous promotion campaigns for students. The widest selection is that of Główna Księgarnia Naukowa in Podwale. Numerous small bookshops located around the universities have specialist books on offer that are unavailable elsewhere.

Massolit is a one of a kind bookshop. Founded by Americans, it offers a wide selection of English-language books that one can read on the spot, buy or discuss over a coffee. Unique places where the customer can buy an ambitious or illustrated book and have a coffee are the bookstore cafés: Bona, Cheder Café, and Lokator.

A challenge for the city is to maintain the diversity and richness of bookshops and second-hand bookshops in the era of e-books, audiobooks and competition from large bookshop chains. There is a need to support places of particular stature and tradition, by methods including involving bookshops in the organisation of festivals, the organisation of bookshop meetings with writers, as well as a programme for the promotion of bookshops through tax allowances, refurbishment grants, etc.

Antique and second-hand bookshops

The area within the first ring road of Krakow features a number of important second-hand book centres. Cylex Polska’s database includes 30 second-hand bookshops registered in Krakow. The charming and vibrant places at ul. Bracka, ul. Stolarska and ul. Sławkowska attract

intellectuals from nearby university centres – both professors and students. Rara avis and Bibliofil are important places on the literary and cultural map of the city. Recently, the district of Kazimierz emerged as a unique centre for second-hand bookshops. Józefa, Miodowa and Brzozowa streets and Nowy Square are prime destinations for enthusiasts of antiques, bric-a-brac, and books. Kazimierz also retained the tradition of antiques fairs where books can be found alongside unique clocks, records, postcards, and even historic weapons. Second-hand bookshops wind around the streets of the historical city centre, books are sold on mobile carts, in Krakow’s covered markets and at flea markets. For several years, Krakow has also witnessed the growth of trade in foreign-language books. In addition to philological texts, places like Massolit (the American bookshop) offer fiction and guides. Foreign-language bookshops are a favourite destination of exchange students and foreigners living in Krakow or staying there for a prolonged period of time.

Cyclical literary events and events promoting reading

Krakow is a place of literary meetings. Virtually every publisher in Krakow organises meetings related to books for children, thrillers, meetings with fantasy lovers, aficionados of high literature. Krakow hosts reviews of comic books, young literature, poetry tournaments and contests, book swaps and literary campaigns.

Conrad FestivalOrganised by the Tygodnik Powszechny Foundation, the City of Krakow and the KFO since 2009. Its founders’ idea is to create an event promoting world literature, an event of the broadest scope possible, widely recognised in the world, and contributing to the introduction of readers to previously little known areas of literary work. Hence the Festival’s patron – Joseph Conrad, a writer who succeeded on the international arena, writing in a foreign language. Every year, the event provides the opportunity to meet writers from various countries who use different languages on a daily basis, and belong to different cultures with varying world views. The interrelationships of literature with fields of art such as film, theatre, music, and art are also promoted as part of the Festival. The previous central themes of the Festival include: “Other Worlds, Other Languages” (2010), “In Search of Lost Worlds” (2011), and “Think Literature!” (2012). In 2013, under the


Conrad Festival

Miłosz 365 Lyrical Trams, part of the Miłosz year celebration in Krakow, were filled with Miłosz’s poetry P. Ulatowski

Photo: P. Ulatowski

Photo: A. Rubiś

Photo: The Virtual Library of Publishers

Orhan Pamuk at Conrad Festival 2012

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Zadie Smith at Miłosz Festival

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High heels Project - Women from Schulz’s circle - exhibition launch

Photo: G. Ziemiański, www.fotohuta.pl

Photo: The Virtual Library of Publishers



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theme of “The Perfect Medium”, nearly 100 events, exhibitions, and concerts will take place, blurring the lines between genres. As part of the cooperation of the UNESCO Cities of Literature Consortium, a presentation of literary Reykjavik will be held, with the participation of poets, musicians, and writers from Iceland.

Milosz FestivalIt was founded on the basis of the Krakow Meetings of the Poets of the East and the West, organised in 1997 and 2000 by Czesław Miłosz and Wisława Szymborska. The festival is comprised of poetry soirées, panel discussions, film screenings, and a number of accompanying events: concerts, exhibitions. Individual editions of the festival take place under various themes, the names of which are titles of the Nobel Prize winner’s essay works, including: “The Captive Mind”, “Native Realm”, and “The Land of Ulro”. In connection with the poet’s 100th birthday anniversary, 2011 was announced the Milosz Year. Most of the events took place in the multimedia Pavilion on Plac Szczepański. Each edition of the festival is an opportunity to meet guests from various cultural circles – writers, poets, translators, and experts on Milosz’s work from different continents. It is also a chance for young creators to confront the poet’s legacy and an exceptional attraction for all the enthusiasts of the work of the author of “The Captive Mind”. A novelty and a great success were editions and translations of poetry of the festival’s poet guests prepared in cooperation with national poetry publishers and the Book Institute. In 2013 alone, poetry and prose by authors such as Juan Gelman, Duo Duo, Michael Krüger, Mark Danner, Richard Lourie, Philip Levine, Vera Burlak, Gary Snyder, and Tomaž Šalamun, was published and translated.

Reading MałopolskaA large-scale project as part of which Malopolska and its capital Krakow want to promote their literary heritage and take part in the process of building a network of creative regions in literature. As part of the programme, many promotional activities that focus on emphasising the literary potential of the region have been planned. In cooperation with the local and regional media, campaigns promoting tourist trails following the tracks of writers and literary characters, documentary films and programmes, as well as interactive online maps are initiated and created. The development of campaigns based on new technologies and game strategies is planned, including locating applications such as geocaching

and foursquare. As part of the programme, over a dozen workshops for the City’s and region’s librarians were organised in order to involve them in the creation of literary content and the animation of local literary life for the development of the Reading Małopolska portal and programme, and two international conferences were organised: a conference of the Creative Cities and Regions in Literature attended by representatives of the UNESCO Cities of Literature and a special ICORN and PEN International WiPC conference – “Writing Freedom”.

The Book Fair and the Children’s Book Fair The Book Fair in Krakow is one of the leading cultural-commercial undertakings, constituting a great form of literature promotion. It has been taking place continually since 1997 and attracts crowds of visitors annually. Each year, nearly 500 exhibitors present their offering here, and the fair is accompanied by interesting meetings with authors and cultural events. The Fair grants the Jan Długosz Prize, and the Award of the Minister of Science and Higher Education and the Krakow Fair Award are granted here. The New Media Salon also operates as part of the Fair, presenting new forms of books and new technologies for accessing them. Thanks to the combination with the Conrad Festival, both events constitute an extremely interesting whole, carried out on a grand scale and contributing not only to the promotion of literature, but also to the establishment of cooperation between publishing houses, institutions, and the media, positively influencing the development of this sector and all the book-related industries. In 2012, the Book Fair in Krakow was visited by 34,000 literature fans. Since 2011, around the first of June, the Children’s Book Fair has been organised, constituting not only a presentation of the latest publications, games, and educational programmes, but also a three-day playground organised with the youngest readers in mind. In 2014, the Book Fair will take place in a new space for the first time – at the EXPO Kraków International Fair and Congress Centre, which will be one of the most modern fair and congress centres in the country. Its chief assets are great location and multifunctionality. Thanks to a large floor surface (13,000 m2), it will be possible to organise almost any event there.

Night of PoetryOrganised as part of the Krakow Nights cycle since 2011, the event gathers the most important poets, lyric writers, and authors of sung poetry from Krakow. It involves actors, musicians, and


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cultural centres in campaigns popularising poetry in unusual interiors and in the public space. Theatrical events in the public space with the participation of artists, mimes, street theatres, and an audience of many thousands that crown the Night of Poetry enjoy great popularity. Moreover, as part of the Night of Poetry, recitals, poetry salons, meetings, concerts, and performances involving cultural centres, reading rooms, theatres, bookstores, and libraries are organised.

Krakow Poetry SalonOn the initiative of film and theatre actress Anna Dymna, in January 2002 for the first time actors read their favourite poets’ works before an audience during a special, open meeting. Since then, the Krakow Poetry Salon has been held every Sunday midday without break. Krakow has hosted over 300 poetry meetings so far, attended by actors of the younger and older generations, who read texts by some of the greatest Polish authors, including Juliusz Słowacki, Adam Mickiewicz, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Stanisław Wyspiański, Zbigniew Herbert and Tadeusz Różewicz, and also poetry by Rilke, Pushkin and Shakespeare. The idea spread to other Polish cities, similar salons were established in many urban centres in Poland, but also abroad – in Dublin, Stockholm, and Montreal. It turned out that poetry is admired by many – it often happens that the halls of Krakow’s Słowacki Theatre, where poetry readings are held, cannot hold everyone. The Salon is financed with private funds, with active support from the Municipality. One of the most successful events was the one held in September 2011, attended by Ewa Lipska, Urszula Kozioł, Julia Hartwig, Janusz Szuber, Bohdan Zadura, Leszek A. Moczulski, Jan Polkowski, and Ryszard Krynicki.

The “Book and Rose” Malopolska Book DaysThe event, organised in Krakow continually since 2002, is modelled on the traditional Catalan holiday of San Jordi. Like everywhere else in the world, it takes place on the 23rd of April, on the UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day. The central idea is to promote reading and encourage the inhabitants to visit bookstores. Hence, numerous meetings with authors, discounts at bookshops, book collections, and literary events. A rose is added to every book purchased on that day and it is supposed to remind buyers that a book may also be a beautiful gift. The campaign enjoys great popularity and integrates the activities of Krakow bookstores, publishers, and libraries.

The Second Life of a Book“The Second Life of a Book” project is a large book swap campaign organised by the Bookeriada portal and the KFO as part of the KCL programme. The event takes place every month at the Wyspiański Pavilion. Special editions of the campaign also take place in other places in Krakow, also in shopping centres. “The Second Life of a Book” accompanies great literary events, such as the Conrad Festival, the Milosz Festival, and the Book Fair. Participants also exchanged music albums, games, films, and audiobooks at Arteteka of the Regional Public Library and cookbooks during the Najedzeni Fest! culinary festival. Each time, the campaign attracts about 1,000 participants.

One Poem TournamentThe One Poem Tournament was initiated in Krakow by Krzysztof Miklaszewski in 1966. Jerzy Pilch writes in Dziennik that it was “the most important and the most prestigious” tournament that took place at Klub Pod Jaszczurami. Participants competed to win the Jaszczury Laurel. “Once a month, the room was filled with crowds of poor wretches trying to write, or even print”. Anyone who presented one poem of their own authorship publicly could take part in the tournament. Winners of the Jaszczury Laurels included: Julian Kornhauser, Adam Zagajewski, and Marcin Baran. At the beginning of the 21st century, the One Poem Tournament was resumed, and later, it was continued by the Ha!art Portal as a cyclical Online One Poem Tournament.

Poetry Slam at Magazyn KulturyAn event taking place every month as part of Magazyn Kultury at the Kolanko No. 6 pub in the Krakow district of Kazimierz. During the poetry slam, each of its participants has three minutes to present their work to the audience that may loudly express their support or dissatisfaction in the course of the performance. Registration to the slam takes place directly before the beginning of the meeting. Anyone who is bold enough may enter the competition. The winner, who takes the entire prize, is selected by the audience. During more than 2 years, the stage of Magazyn Kultury has hosted poets (also aspiring poets) both from Poland and abroad.

Free Reading ZoneThe Free Reading Zone (Strefa Wolnego Czytania) is above all a network for joint promotion of reading-friendly places. The Znaczy Się Foundtion animating the network seeks out and promotes literature-friendly places (by issuing the


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Free Reading Zone Certificates) that were included in the Literary Guide to Krakow. It administers the www.strefawolnegoczytania.pl portal, i.e. the Literary Side of Krakow, and organises events broadly referring to literary subject matter, e.g. Typomural – Literary Graffiti and the mural organised for the Conrad Festival, dedicated to Stanisław Lem, under the theme of: “Think: Literature!”.

Tischner DaysThe Tischner Days were created to commemorate and popularise the person and the thought of Józef Tischner, who connected his professional life with Krakow. The event has been taking place continually since 2000. During the event, philosophical disputes, lectures, meetings for the youth, and accompanying cultural events are organised. Every year, the Rev. Józef Tischner Award is granted in three categories: religious and philosophical writing; social journalism/essay writing; and pastoral and social initiatives forming “the Polish shape of dialogue”.

Norwid DaysThe Norwid Days in Krakow are an event organised by the Nowa Huta Cyprian Kamil Norwid Cultural Centre since 1995. The aim of the project is to propagate the works of this eminent Romantic, to present not only his poetry, but also his paintings. The event is directed to high school students and includes exhibitions, performances, competitions, and workshops, and is supposed to show that the issues addressed by Norwid in his works are still valid today.

Talking DogA spoken magazine taking place at the Piękny Pies club. The editorial team includes: Maciej Piotr Prus, Piotr Bikont, Marcin Świetlicki, Edward Pasewicz, and others. The subject matter of the performances is not limited in any way, and each invited guest has 5 minutes for their presentation. As part of the “Talking Dog”, poetry and prose works are often presented, and new publications promoted, and literature enters into marriage with other fields of art. Feature articles are also a permanent element of the meetings. Participants of more than 20 previous editions of the event include: Marcin Baran, Marcin Sendecki, Krzysztof Varga, Gaja Grzegorzewska, Ryszard Krynicki, and Kamil Sipowicz.

E-multipoetryE-multipoetry is a social campaign carried out via the Internet, engaging creators and translators

of literature from all over the world. Poetry texts created as a result of their cooperation are displayed every day on the wall of a building on ul. Bracka in Krakow. This is the only permanent project of all-year-round poetry projections in urban space in Europe, awarded in international competitions dedicated to the promotion of literature and poetry.

Literary tourism

Literary tourism is an important aspect of cultural tourism. Krakow is a destination for school trips from across Poland. As the historical centre of the Polish language, Krakow is a unique location where the history of the language meets Polish statehood, and the presence of luminaries of Polish culture is conspicuous everywhere. Very popular cultural trails are related to Stanisław Wyspiański, Józef Mehoffer, Joseph Conrad, Czesław Miłosz, and in recent years, Stanisław Lem. Krakow attracts enthusiasts interested in painting, the collection of Judaic art and the unique history of pre-war Kazimierz. Other popular routes include the thriller route, a route related to Social Realism (People’s Republic of Poland in Nowa Huta) or cinema (e.g. In the Footsteps of Roman Polański and Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List).

Thanks to the “Reading Małopolska” web site, tourists may find some suggested routes. Moving along the suggested trails, visitors will find places close to outstanding figures such as Czesław Miłosz, Stanisław Lem, Sławomir Mrożek, and Jerzy Turowicz, not only in Krakow, but in the entire region of Malopolska. There are objects, places, and landscapes related to their lives, as well as those they described in literature. The trails also provide the opportunity to get to know the most current phenomena by way of the young literature and contemporary reportage trails. A thematic extension of this are trails of women and Jewish literature. The youngest readers (and not only) may also enjoy the children’s literature trail, while the older ones may like Krakow’s pub realism – the presentation of popular Krakow clubs that appear in contemporary literature.

Summary

The above very brief description of the current literary reality shows a city that lives and breathes literature, has major publishing houses, the largest number of nominations for leading literary awards, the largest number of free reading zones,


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the largest number of translation programmes and poets, and at the same time the most populous literary audience taking part in literary events – on a national scale. Such diverse literary life – including private undertakings and industry events, publisher meetings and activities, book fairs, institutions and organisations supporting readership, and such impressive and broad thematic and factual variety in the publishing activity – constitutes a challenge for the creation of a permanent development strategy for this sector in combination with all the sectors of the creative industry. Krakow’s literary initiatives have official support from the government and

municipal authorities, it is here that programmes supporting literature and scholarship stays for writers and translators function successfully, and Krakow’s literary image is co-created by European and international scholarship undertakings. Literary Krakow also includes international festivals gathering creators of various generations. This diversity, seen nowhere else in Poland, makes it possible to create a completely new quality in the form of strategies developed for Literature with relation to the granting of the title, supporting creativity in the field of literature and contributing to the development of this creative industry.

Krakow Book Fairfot. W. Wandzel, www.wandzelphoto.com


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The preparation of the application was preceded by an evaluation of the current condition of Krakow’s literary life and the analysis of applications of cities holding the title: a UNESCO City of Literature. An important reviewing aspect was the meeting of the representatives of the current UNESCO Cities of Literature and of cities applying to the network (Krakow, the 25-27th of October 2012). On the basis of experience exchange and also based on local talks with the representatives of various milieus and social consultations, it was concluded that although Krakow is undoubtedly a creative city in the field of literature, its literary potential is not fully used and it is not duly co-financed. The reason is, first of all, the lack of sufficient programme coordination and the lack of a legible strategy in relation to literature. The abundance of initiatives and the fact that a number of entities, especially NGO’s, coped well with initiating programmes and activities on their own is erroneously identified with an effectively operating system. Meanwhile, in the face of missing clear management criteria, scattered criteria, no organising mechanisms, and the lack of legible criteria of financing, addressed to the development of literary initiatives – we rather had to do with creative chaos. That is why, the application authors, together with the update, present the operating programme supporting the development of literature and readership in combination with all sectors of the city’s creative economy.

Therefore, the procedure of applying for the UNESCO City of Literature title orders and sanctions the activities undertaken for years, leading to the formulation of a strategy aimed at the development of literature being an important component of the creative economy in the city. Krakow has decided to reinforce internal and inter-sectoral cooperation; it intends to develop an efficient mechanism of organising management among different participants to cooperate with the residents’ network. They are invited not only as recipients, but also as important actors, who may take part in the development of the cooperation network and its management. By supporting ideas based on literature and taking care of Krakow’s literary capitals, the city wants to promote itself and act on an international scale as an active network participant.

Krakow treats being granted the title of a UNESCO City of Literature as an obligation. That title will: 1. strengthen the activities in the area of the city’s literary heritage; 2. inspire new initiatives; 3. help in creating and promoting the presence of literature in the residents’ everyday life; 4. help in further dynamic development of that part of creative economy on the local, regional, macro-regional and international level.

Key issues relating to the strategy of a city of literature

The strategy of developing the city’s literary life is based on 10 key areas, including both the reinforcement of the city’s literary identity and the existing initiatives, as well as the creation of conditions for the development of new projects:

1. Integration of diversified literary life2. Creation of links: literature, new media and

creative industries3. Creating readers’ attitudes4. Organisation of literary events and festivals5. Supporting the development of book

industries6. Creation of conditions for the presence

of literature in the public space7. Development of scholarship programmes8. Developing the connections of literature with

human rights9. Developing the connections of literature with

human rights10. Literary education

Integration of diversified literary lifeThe area of integrating the literary life includes two fundamental interdependent challenges facing the City of Krakow:

1. Integration and putting order in budgets allocated to literary initiatives by setting up the Regional Literature Fund (RLF). The management of the RLF by the City of Literature Council (CLC), appointed for this purpose, will take place by means of a dedicated legal model and competitions resembling the hitherto collection of cultural proposals coordinated by the Department of Culture of the City of Krakow.

5. LITERARY STRATEGIES – VISIONS OF PARTICIPATION – VISIONS OF DEVELOPMENT


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2. Integration of literary entities operating in the city around common programme goals and the brand: Krakow City of Literature (KCL);

3. Legible division into events financed by 2 main city agendas: the Department of Culture and City of Literature Krakow, a unit operating within the KFO’s structures.

4. The City is also considering providing support and partial transfer of the city brand management to specialist non-governmental entities. Due to legal aspects, this is a long-term perspective, but it is the RLF and the CLK’s priority to gradually transfer CLK capitals and brand management to the third sector.

Regional Literature Fund (RLF)The model for the RLF being set up is the activities of the Regional Film Fund (RFF), operating since 2011 within the KFO structures. RFF funds constitute a contribution of the City of Krakow and the Malopolska Region and they allow co-financing the projects carried out in whole or in part in the city and the region. A body supplementing the RLF activities will be a KFO’s unit operating successfully for two years, namely the Krakow City of Literature (KCL), which will support the co-financed projects promotionally, organisationally and logistically. The transfer of film-related experience to the literary capital management perspective seems to be legitimate and useful. By co-financing events and projects, the city will also have an opportunity to partially obtain rights to the effects created in this way. Further on, an essential partner of the mechanism can be also MCNH, co-financing the fund from the funds of the Reading Promotion programme.

The integration of the City’s literary budgets and legible division of funds, according to clearly outlined programme lines aims at gathering funds disposed of by self-government authorities of the commune and the region, which have been distributed so far in several institutions and cultural programmes, without any connection with any development plan of that sector. Thus, it is about separating a pool of funds allocated to literary projects from the existing budgets and setting up a consolidated literary budget, distributed based on a competition. The goal of such activities is the clear separation of literary projects as priority ones in the cultural policy of the city and the region, as well as the reinforcement of transparency in spending. This solution will also make it possible to combine the literary projects performed in Krakow and Malopolska under the

joint brand: Krakow, a UNESCO City of Literature, which will strengthen their identity and marketing impact. The criteria of granting funds from the integrated literary budget of the City of Krakow will comply with the above-described ten strategic areas of the City of Literature development, and also in connection with development objectives of the Malopolska Region.

Co-participation in financing the RLF and the CLK by the city and the region will lead to the extension of the activity range into the region. In this way, the effect of sustainability of the Reading Malopolska project initiated in 2012 will be achieved, and additionally, Krakow will affect smaller towns in the region.

City of Literature CouncilA body responsible for managing the integrated literary budget will be the City of Literature Coun-cil, consisting of 10 representatives of the most important literary entities operating in the city, both self-governing bodies (Department of Culture of the City of Krakow, Department of Culture and National Heritage at MOMR, KFO, self-governing libraries), central governmental entities (the Book Institute), NGO’s (associations and foundations) and commercial institutions (publishing houses).

Simplified rules of the CLC operation: ● the CLC shall be appointed jointly by the

Mayor of the City of Krakow and the Marshal of the Malopolska Region;

● 4-year term – members are elected in the mid-term of self-government authorities in order to ensure that the Council is neutral and continues its operation independently from the ruling political options;

● the CLC formulates opinions, determines development directions and takes care of the implementation of the CLK strategy, as well as lobbies in favour of a continuous increase of funds aimed at the achievement of programme objectives.

● by recognising the needs of the city and the region on a yearly basis, the CLC divides the budget into priority tasks, but each Council member, responsible for one of key city programmes invites independent experts (20 in total), whose tasks will be to evaluate the projects presented for a given competition.

● The CLC composition will take the representa-tives of particular creative sectors related to lit-erature into account, which will allow for har-monising diversified interests and assumptions of particular interest groups and developing a coherent strategy of the city’s development.


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At the same time, the CLC operation will serve the achievement of another key challenge regarding the integration of literary entities.

Integration of literary entities around the Krakow City of Literature programme (KCL)The setting up of a representation body, comprising representatives of particular interest groups, and at the same time, constituting the forum of a citizens’ dialogue, will enable coordination – mainly by means of financial resources, but not only – of the activities undertaken by numerous literary entities operating in the city. A tool at the CLC’s disposal will be, first of all, the Strategy of Development of the City of literature, specifying the key challenges and proposed ways of achieving them. The CLC’s competencies will include the supervision of the strategy performance and its formulation, modification and evaluation. Such a concept based on the process, competencies and flexibility will allow for preserving the proper balance between the coherence of assumptions and the creative diversity of new unexpected undertakings. The challenges recognised at the moment regarding the integration of literary entities include the following:

● Creation of a coherent system of public libraries operating in Krakow

The need to create a coherent system of public libraries operating in Krakow stems from their scattered structure, divided between 4 main libraries, including Krakow’s historic districts, together with a dozen branches reporting to each main library. The existing system, although it makes is possible to really anchor the libraries operation in local communities, generates difficulties in the area of coordination and implementation of a coherent library policy of the city. Libraries, not having concentrated budgets, do not sufficiently use the possibilities of applying for external funds, e.g. for the digitalisation of collections. As a result of consultations with the circles of Krakow’s librarians run by the KFO, fundamental assumptions of the first stage of integration have been created, including the following: setting up a consultation and information platform, as well as an integrated borrowing system, combined with a unified Krakow Reader’s Card. A challenge for the consecutive years will be the extension of the coherent borrowing system, also based on school libraries’ collections.

The consultation and information platform consisting of directors and particular library

employees and representatives of the Department of Culture, supervising over the above-mentioned institutions, will enable the preparation of a joint library development programme and the coordination of information about projects carried out by the libraries. In turn, a coherent borrowing system will be the effect of the integration of the systems operating in particular main libraries, which will allow for the standardisation of book collections catalogues, and thus a more complete identification of needs in the area of buying new books and publications, as well as the more effective monitoring of the books borrowed. The introduction of a uniform Krakow Reader’s Card will enable using the services of all main libraries and their branches on the basis of one document. In the future, the Krakow Reader’s Card will entitle its holder to participate in ticketed literary events free of charge or with a discount or to have discounts in Krakow’s bookshops, as it will constitute an element of identifying residents with the city’s literary identity.

Completion of the performance of the coherent library system programme is planned at the end of 2016.

● Education of the representation for two interest groups in the area of book industry, i.e. publishers and booksellers

The task regarding the education of the representation of Krakow’s publishers and booksellers will be performed owing to regular meetings held for the representatives of both sectors and organising joint projects serving the promotion of the book industry in Krakow. The Virtual Publishers’ Library, being an innovative undertaking, which for the very first time has led to the cooperation between publishing houses operating in Krakow, which on a daily basis compete for the readers’ interest, is a pilot project in this area. A joint offer, covering free-of-charge parts of new books and other publications, used to be promoted at bus and tram stops in Krakow by means of posters with QR codes referring to a joint website. That campaign, also being a form of promoting readership and new technologies and access to literature, was possible owing to wide cooperation among publishing houses, coordinated by KFO. Selected Krakow’s bookshops, which additionally promote the items exposed on posters, have also been involved in the project. The consequence of that project performance was shaping the awareness of common interests among publishers and booksellers, and making it possible to attain them by means of a consultation platform created on a short-term basis. In consequence, the project has enabled the determination of the


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assumptions of the future cooperation among publishers and booksellers.

20 publishing houses and 7 bookshops have become involved in the project. It covered ca. 20,000 persons throughout the city with its range (the numbers were estimated on the basis of the number of visits to the website). Project financing came from self-government funds and subsidies from the MCNH. This campaign will be continued in the years to come.

● Inspiring cooperation of literary and theatrical circles

An equally important challenge is reinforcing Krakow’s image as an important theatre centre by coordinating repertoires, inspiring adaptations of literary texts, and especially debutants and scholarship owners of the City of Krakow, supporting workshops for young playwrights and stimulating cooperation between literary, theatrical and opera circles. The tools include theatre festivals and theatre schools gathering the milieu.

● Literature Forum A flag project aimed at integration is the Literature Forum (LF). Its creation, together with the brand lending its name, which is recognisable in Poland and in the world, is a necessary condition for the creation of a proposal meeting the standards set by a UNESCO City of Literature. The LF will be created with strategic cooperation with a government institution, namely the Book Institute. It constitutes the development of the idea proposed in the first version of the application submitted to UNESCO, which referred to the creation of the Krakow House of Literature. The LF, as an institution belonging to the Minister of Culture, will cover a whole range of literary initiatives, create favourable conditions for their development and promote Krakow through literature with its umbrella. The LF’s own programme is supposed to be based on statutory activity of the Book Institute, including two basic items: the promotion of Polish literature abroad and the promotion of readership in Poland. Furthermore, the goal of the LF will be to create a new kind of programme supporting books and readership, with the following assumptions: 1. interdisciplinary nature (educational elements such as scholarships and workshops, both creative and sectoral); 2. diversity (Polish and foreign literature) and 3. wide base of partners (i.e. authors, publishers, recipients, with equal partnership of local and foreign partners). The LF will be also a literary umbrella integrating the circles and institutions operating in the city or cooperating with the city in the area of literature

popularisation, giving a possibility to rent the space, use of interactive rooms, book laboratories, cinema halls, lecture theatres and the Literature Garden. LF is to also support social programmes in order to popularise literature and use it as an animation tool (the book presence, e.g. in hospitals and nursing homes, bringing books to socially marginalised persons, workshops for children and young people in local communities). The LF is housed in a former salt warehouse and, at the same time, barracks of Austrian troops from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries – it is a historic building designated for reclamation. It is located very close to the MOCAK Contemporary Art Museum, the Vistula Boulevards and the Cricoteca Centre. It is supposed to give an essential impulse to the creative development of a post-industrial district called Zabłocie, by introducing a group of contemporary institutions, relying their activities on the participation and social inclusion. This is an important combination of two creative districts: Kazimierz and Zabłocie, and also strategic turning of the city’s policy towards management of the Vistula Boulevards and the urban trend of “turning towards the river.”

The performance of the LF is planned for years 2014-2020. A key source of financing will be European funds obtained from Malopolska Regional Operational Fund for the years 2014-2020. An important contribution of the City of Krakow will be the former salt harbour estate at the crossing of two creative districts, together with an attractive plot of land, with the total value of several million PLN. This investment project will also be supported from the central budget funds, contributed by the Book Institute, and the contribution of the City of Krakow. An estimated total budget for the investment project amounts to PLN 36 million. An estimated number of persons participating in the programmes performed by the LF in the first year of its activity will be 45,000.

Creation of links: literature, new media and creative industriesEmphasis on literature as the basis of Krakow’s cultural development results from the possibilities offered by this medium to inspire different links with other spheres of art, its significance for the development of new media and the key role in inspiring creative industries in the city. Literature is thus treated as a dialogue platform between tradition and modernity, as well as a strong impulse for shaping innovative projects at the interface of culture and business. The city will try to establish the Festival of Cultural Industries to create the conditions for popularising industries in the understanding of a survey run in 2006 by


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KEA (Kern European Affairs). Hence, the festival will integrate the book and press industries, music, video games, television and the radio, film and video. The goals would be as follows: 1. mutual interference, experience exchanges among artists, culture producers and recipients; 2. pointing out and utilisation of the potential rooted in the cultural industries both for individuals (artists and recipients) and the economy (stimulation of the development of culture industries in Malopolska), realising the strategy included in the United Nations Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions of October 2005 and in the document of the European Commission: “Green Paper on Unlocking the potential of cultural and creative industries” (Geneva 2010).

Film and literatureKrakow is a thriving film centre, having excellently equipped studios, performing all stages of film production, and rich infrastructure, including institutions supporting productions and proper logistic backup. The management of the film capital of the city and the region has been entrusted to the KFO, with the above-described KFC and RFF in its structures. In Krakow, with the participation of that mechanism, a number of literature film adaptations and documentaries concerning literature are created. The KFO is also the producer of the documentary entitled Widok Krakowa (A View of Krakow), which was directed by Magdalena Piekorz with the participation of Adam Zagajewski. The city’s development strategy assumes underlining the role of literature in programmes and film projects being realised. The priorities of competitions organised under the RFF include film adaptations of literary texts and documentaries regarding the literary life of the city and the region. Furthermore, during several film festivals taking place in the city each year, literary bands are being designed to expose the links between literature and the film medium. The Krakow Screenwriters School plays the role of a platform to combine literary and film competencies, educating screenwriters based on excellently developed backup of literary studies. A challenge is also inspiring production in the area of literary radio dramas, developing the form of an audio book towards cultural products with high aesthetic quality. Support for this sector is developed successively. Investments in the audiovisual industry constitute an indisputable priority both for the city and for regional authorities. Links with literature are shaped naturally by means of mutual institutional and thematic connections.

Video games and literatureKrakow is also becoming a strong centre of the computer games industry. The Digital Entertainment Cluster operating within the Krakow Technology Park is an initiative aiming to support the game market in Poland. The main tasks of the cluster include the creation of favourable conditions for the operation of the game industry by providing suitable infrastructural resources, building international cooperation networks, and also educating specialists in the area of game designing and performance. Linked to the cluster is the European Academy of Games, being Poland’s first professional school profiled in terms of complex education of video game producers (the Association of Malopolska’s Communes and Poviats has granted the title of “The Best Project of the Year in Małopolska: 2012 Malopolska Leader” for the European Game Academy) to the AGH University of Science and Technology and JU.

The offer of studies covers various specialisations, dedicated to different stages of video game creation. The future programmers will select the specialisation called video game production. An innovative combination of hard and soft competencies is the studies with the specialisation: video game designing, advertised as “studies for humanists”. They cover, among other subjects, video game designing, game creation workshops, game studies, social media issues, the creation of screenplays and introduction into pop culture. The lecturers include not only specialists in the game industry, but also literary scholars, who teach future designers the fundamentals of building narratives and rules of poetics and rhetoric. The most important challenges comprise inspiring links between the computer games industry and the literary circles in the area of creating innovative entertainment products. A direct effect of such activities would be computer games based on literary texts relating to the city. To this end, consultations with the most important producer companies and literary circles are in progress. An indirect effect, but with long-term consequences, would be to create permanent inter-sectoral connections and a new area of employment for graduates of academic humanistic studies. In 2014, a full-year programme will be created in cooperation with Krakow Technology Park and Goethe Institut, showing merging of the video games world with other cultural zones.

The projects are performed regularly within the frameworks of the activity and budget of the cultural institutions. The Play Krakow project financed from the federal sources of the FRG, the Goethe Institut, the KFO and the MCNH. Duration: 2014-2015.


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New media and literatureKrakow is also undoubtedly a centre of development of new media literature. The new media literature, including its variations such as cybernetic poetry, hypertext literature, and video-poetry, is promoted and developed by the Korporacja Ha!art Foundation. Kraków is a major centre for reflections on the materiality of the book and its links to the new media. The permanent exhibition of liberature, a literary form emphasising the materiality of the medium, is located at the Arteteka of the Małopolska Garden of Arts, with the Arteteka itself being a mix of traditional access to literature and the possibilities offered by modern technologies. The programme of the Arteteka, which is equipped with state-of-the-art computer equipment, projectors, tablets, and broadband Internet access, allows for carrying out innovative projects, including those that combine literary and technological competences.

Inspiring and supporting initiatives combining literature and the new media is one of the priorities of the city’s development strategy. For this purpose, not only platforms of inter-industry and interdisciplinary communication (conferences, meetings) are established, but also pilot projects intended to make various circles meet are carried out. One such project is Writers in Motion, an audio-visual library of interviews with writers, carried out as a joint project of the KFO (project coordinator), JU (responsible for the subject matter of the project), companies from the film production industry, libraries, and other cultural institutions and literary circles. Interviews with outstanding writers connected to Krakow or visiting the city during literary events, prepared by students of JU with assistance from experienced academics, are carried out in places made available for this purpose by libraries and cultural institutions. The visual side of the interviews is taken care of by commercial entities: experienced companies producing film materials. Interviews produced as part of the project, prepared in two language versions, in English and Polish, are made available under an open licence and published online. This way, a broad platform for cooperation of academic, literary, institutional, and film circles that often remain far away from one another is being established.

So far, four films have been produced under the Writers in Motion project, with eight more to be produced by the end of the year. However, the project is a long-term undertaking. Its implementation is financed from public (the university), local self-government (KFO), and contest (MCNH) funds, with support from commercial partners (producers).

Carrying out undertakings in literature and the new media would not be possible without the intensive use of online tools. The KFO itself has five websites on literature, including the Krakow City of Literature website, which is an integrated guide through the city’s literary life and an informational and promotional platform for literary life entities. Social media are used for similar purposes, introducing a new, interactive quality in communication with the city’s residents. The Jagiellonian Digital Library and the Malopolska Digital Library, two large projects carried out in Krakow with the intention to digitalise library collections and make them available online, are a great example of the possibilities offered by new technologies. The challenge for 2014 and 2015 will be to create an interactive literary guide through the city and the region using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and involving residents in creating online content and participating in urban games with the use of new technologies.

The projects are carried out cyclically as part of the operations and the within budget of cultural institutions.

Literary tourismLiterary tourism is an important area requiring the use of city and regional funds and the creation of a large platform for inter-institutional cooperation. The initiatives taken so far, such as the Malopolska Literary Route or the trails offered as part of the Reading Małopolska project, have set the potential directions for the development of this industry. Building a complete database of information on objects related to literature in Krakow and in the Malopolska Region, as well as the creation of modern tourist products, require immediate completion. For this purpose, guidebooks will be published, compiling the existing information and enabling the creation of new information. Co-operation with associations of tourist guides will also be established. Academic support will be of importance, as well: JU is planning to launch literary geography as a field of study. This innovation will allow for strengthening the knowledge base of the industry. Cooperation with local commercial entities (restaurants, cafes, pubs, hotels, holiday centres, designer stores) in terms of creating an offer adapted to the requirements of literary tourists is equally important. The Krakow Pub Trail offered by the readingmalopolska.pl web portal is a pilot project in this respect. Ultimately, special mobile applications will be created in cooperation with the technical universities of Krakow, allowing for and


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facilitating discovering the literary assets and the heritage of the city and the region, and enabling independent and unexpected creation of literature, e.g. in the form of collages of quotes, fragments of photographs, or elements of computer graphics and animation.

Museums and literatureKrakow is also a strong museum centre, especially in terms of the links between the visual arts and literature. Krakow is home to museums such as the Szołayski Family House that offers the Forever Young exhibition presenting the literary artistic life at the turn of the 19th and the 20th century and the innovative Szymborska’s Drawer, an intimate presentation of the poet’s everyday items, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (MOCAK) that runs a rich library collecting the works of historians and theoreticians of art (the Porębski Library) and organises exhibitions on book art. The city’s task is to strengthen these tendencies and support the museums with proper infrastructure. Still in 2013, KCL will support the organisation of an exhibition of Bohdan Butenko’s book illustrations and Max Ernst’s book designs at the Conrad Festival.

The projects are carried out cyclically as part of the operations and within the budget of cultural institutions.

Creating readers’ attitudesThe social dimension of the KCL development strategy, covering many various needs of the city’s residents, is based on creating readers’ attitudes and using literature as a medium of civic dialogue. Campaigns that have already been implemented in this respect (Free Reading Zones, The Second Life of a Book, or Give Way to the Reader) have defined the good practices in this area. The undertakings planned to implement the objectives in this respect include second hand book fairs, painting literature-themed murals, contests for readers organised through social media, collective reading in the public space etc. It is important that the city is not planning to run these campaigns alone, but rather act as a patron and provide financial funds and organisational support to the third sector in this respect.

Apart from the book industries, the identity of contemporary Krakow is also shaped by the landscape created by street vendors of books. In an effort to meet the needs of second-hand booksellers and readers looking for rare books, a campaign called Book Street is planned in the form of local rare and old books fairs organised every month in various places across Krakow. Krakow is probably

the only city in Poland where the people arriving at the railway and bus station are welcomed by such a rich offer of second-hand booksellers. The city intends to turn this concentration of book vendors into an asset and help them create aesthetic and well-communicated stands.

The project is consistently carried out and financed from local self-government and sponsorship funds. The Book Street project is scheduled for launching in the summer of 2014. The project will be financed from the funds of the local self-government and the relevant ministries.

Reader of the YearAs part of the Reader of the Year campaign, the four major public libraries and the web sites promoting readership, such as Lubimyczytac.pl, will keep collective records of borrowings that will be the basis for selecting and awarding the most active user of public libraries. The purpose of the project is to increase the number of registered users of public libraries to 200,000 (from the current level of 140,000) and boost readership across the city. The award will be a trip to one of the European literary festivals sponsored by the city, a possibility to keep a blog with book recommendations, and becoming an expert on good literature and a local hero.

The project is scheduled for launching in January 2014. The project will be financed from the funds of the local self-government.

NaNoWriMo: the National Novel Writing Month. A social campaign encouraging getting involved in writing. The direct objective of the campaign is to write a novel of 50,000 words within one month. Indirect objectives include creating readership attitudes, building literary identity of the city community, and promoting literature as a medium of free self-expression. The campaign will be carried out in cooperation with numerous entities: publishing houses, schools of writing, universities, and libraries. Campaign ambassadors will be young Polish writers, including Szczepan Twardoch and Sylwia Chutnik.

The project is scheduled for launching in October 2013. The project will be financed from the funds of the local self-government and the relevant ministries.

Long-term project of creative writing courses for various social groupsIn terms of courses the project in creative writing for the residents of Krakow will serve a similar purpose, but in a long-term perspective. Following the example of Iowa City, a wide range of courses in creative writing will be offered in Krakow to various social groups: children, young people,


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seniors, hospital patients, entrepreneurs. This way, writing and literature will get a deeper sense, as activities that are not only aesthetic, but also social and existential in nature. Thanks to expanding the literary competences of the residents, their involvement in cultural and civic life will also be strengthened. The project will be carried out in cooperation with universities, schools, libraries, and schools of writing (such as the Literary and Artistic School of JU). It is expected that each year, the campaign will cover approximately 2,000 people.

The projects will be carried out cyclically, as part of the operations and within the budgets of the literary festivals, from the funds of the local self-government and the relevant ministries.

Promotion of readership through media campaignsCampaigns drawing on the potential of the traditional media and new technologies. Image campaigns promoting literary-related attitudes (reading journalists, sportsmen, actors, musicians) will be reflected in the media, allowing campaign addresses to identify themselves with the promoted attitudes. The first edition of the campaign organised together with the Polish Radio, TVN, and the MaleMen magazine and promoting various forms of access to literature through new technologies is planned for launching in the Autumn of 2013.

The project will be financed from local self-government funds and by the Polish MCNH.

Organisation of literary events and festivalsThe two largest Polish literary festivals that take place in Krakow (the Conrad Festival and the Miłosz Festival), as well as the numerous independent and academic festivals, are a basis for building a separate sector of festival-related creative industries. It is not a coincidence that the Conrad Festival takes place at the same time as the Book Fair, and that particular meetings with the guests of the Miłosz Festival are organised in cooperation with translators and publishers. The challenge is to intensify this cooperation and build a solid framework for its functioning.

For this purpose, the aspects of the festival programmes that promote participation from book dealers, publishers, and agents will be strengthened: industry presentations and meetings organised as part of the festivals will also enable contacts with foreign representatives of the industry attending the festivals. The engagement of the private sector that is not directly involved in literary life is of equal importance – not only through fundraising, but also through aspects

of corporate social responsibility and discovering new areas of cooperation between culture and business.

Literary festivals are an effective platform for building and continuing international cooperation in terms of literature. For this purpose, the future editions of the Conrad Festival and the Miłosz Festival will be organised in close cooperation with the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, with each of the cities being invited as a special guest permitted to propose its own programme. The UNESCO Creative Cities will also be presented during the Book Fair. In 2013, Reykjavik will be the first such guests.

Another challenge the Krakow literary festivals are facing is the need to change the profile of their programmes from being traditionally based on presentation to being socially involving and activating. To this end, they will be enriched with numerous workshops and other participative events. During the festivals, workshops on contacts with the book market (publishers, the media, audiences) will be held for young creators. The festivals will also be the crowning of the process of building the image of social and educational events carried out during the year in the city (courses of creative writing, promotion of readership).

The key festivals will be organised thanks to securing funds for this purpose in the KFO budget every year. The MCNH has also issued a subsidy promise with respect to the Conrad Festival for the years 2013–2016.

Supporting the development of book industriesIntegrating, developing, and promoting book industries in Krakow is one of the fundamental conditions for the success of the city’s literary life development strategy. Combining symbolic and social values with economic values guarantees a comprehensive nature of the proposed activities.

The first area of supporting the book industries in the city is developing the competences of their participants: publishers, book dealers, designers, illustrators, agents, and distributors. Establishing a platform for exchanging information and good practices and a centre for book market research and analyses is of crucial importance in this respect. Holding workshops based on comprehensive data will strengthen the industry and transform it in accordance with the on-going events.

For this purpose, organising events that could support the integration of the industry (conferences, meetings, fairs – some of the projects in this respect are presented in section 4)


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is important. Developing fairs and congresses infrastructure also helps achieve this objective: the ICE Congress Centre and the new building of the Book Fair, two facilities allowing for organising industry meetings at the international level, are under construction in Krakow. Krakow has already commenced negotiations regarding the organisation of the European Publishers Congress, the first edition of which took place in Madrid.

It is equally important to support good publishing practices and promote high quality book projects. For this purpose, numerous projects are to be carried out in partnerships between local self-government institutions, NGOs, and publishers. A long-term typographical project organised in cooperation with the Znaczy się New Art Foundation, with an annual contest for the design of a font inspired with a selected Krakow writer, will be the flagship undertaking here. The first edition of the project took place in 2011, and the Miłosz font designed in the contest is currently used in many artistic publications. Works on designing the Szymborska font are under way.

On the initiative of Krakow curators, Anna Bargiel, Mateusz Okoński, and Kuba Woynarowski, in cooperation with the Bunker of Arts and the City of Literature, the Mini-Institute of Book Illustration will be established in order to commemorate the major achievements of the Polish school of book illustrating. Since 1965, UNESCO has been pointing to Poland as the model country in terms of creating art intended for children, especially in terms of book illustrating, and since 1967, the UNESCO Bureau of Education in Geneva has been presenting books published by “Nasza Księgarnia” as worth emulating by all UN members. The Mini-Institute will collect and reprint the works of the masters of illustration, including Bohdan Butenko, Zbigniew Rychlicki, Janusz Stanny, Andrzej Strumiłło, and Józef Wilkoń. It will also organise exhibitions of illustrations in cooperation with the Krakow libraries and workshops for designers and illustrators.

The project is scheduled for launching in 2013 and assumes the establishment of a Foundation to manage the collection in 2014 and 2015. The project will be financed from the funds of the local self-government and the relevant ministries.

Creation of conditions for the presence of literature in the public spaceThe literary identity of Krakow is also reflected in the daily functioning of the city. Involved attitudes of the inhabitants and creators of literature find their reflection in the public space, where the literary potential of the city manifests

itself through various fields of art – painting, sculpture, street art, performances, street theatres, and multimedia projections. These activities are particularly intense and visible during literary festivals, when the urban space is filled with manifestations of the given literary celebration – flags, projections, and murals. Also as part of other festivals organised in the city, especially the Grolsch ArtBoom Festival, projects inspired by literature are carried out, e.g. a spectacular projection of Wisława Szymborska’s poems on Wawel Hill prepared by famous artist Jenny Hill. All of these activities contribute to the building of the literary identity of the city thanks to the clear identification of the public space. An additional result of this process is the transformation of the post-industrial city districts (Podgórze, Zabłocie) into cultural centres in which a particular development of creative industries begins.

The activities planned by the City of Krakow that are aimed at intensifying and developing the presence of literary values in the public space include, among others, the 4P project, literary projections in the urban space and an integrated system of marking of Krakow’s literary heritage by means of information on buildings, pavements and squares and with the use of QR and GPS technologies.

The project will be carried out in years 2014-2016 and financed from self-government funds.

4P – Pen | Poetry | Prose | Public SpaceThis project is addressed to artists who will carry out their own projects with the use of new media in plastic arts (video art, photography, installations, street art) to permanently change the urban space of Krakow. The project will be carried out as a permanent part of the annual ArtBoom Festival. It is planned that at least two 4P installations will be created every year. Funds for the implementation of the project will be provided from self-government funds and subsidies of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (MCNH) as a part of the reading promotion programme. Due to the wide reach of the ArtBoom Festival, we can expect a large audience of at least 50,000.

The project will be carried out regularly as a part of the ArtBoom Festival and financed from KFO’s funds and ministerial funds.

Projections of poetry in the public spaceProjects ensuring the daily presence of poetry in the urban space will be developed and multiplied not only in the context of important literary events, but also during the entire year. The most recent


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trends in the new media art will be used for this purpose. One of them is kinetic typography – an animation technique combining film and text that is gradually gaining popularity and recognition.The authors of the Krakow projections interpret poems visually on the basis of dynamic changes of the content in time and space, using rhythm and light as mediums. An example of such an interpretation is Wisława Szymborska’s poem Metafizyka [Metaphysics], which was carried out by the KFO in co-operation with the Znaczy Się New Art Foundation and the Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology at the 3rd Miłosz Festival in 2013. Projections of fragments of prose and poetry and literary visualisations in the city take place at literary festivals and in the context of the promotion of books of Krakow publishers. A regular year-round projection of poems written by participants logged in to a special platform occurs every year at the corner of Bracka street and the Market Square. Poems in Polish and English are read by thousands of pedestrians every day. The project is run by cultural institutions in Poland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Greece. It was originated by Michał Zabłocki, a lecturer in the Literary & Artistic Study Centre at JU in Krakow (the oldest school of creative writing in Poland) and the author of many poetic volumes, popular blogs, song lyrics and multimedia poetic initiatives.

An integrated system of marking Krakow’s literary natureThe functioning of the system assumes the identification of places connected with the city’s literary heritage and contemporary literary life. Information plates with QR (Quick Response) codes, NFC (Near Field Communication) chips and AR (Augmented Reality) identification will provide inhabitants and tourists with immediate access to web sources describing a given place. There are two primary aims of the project: firstly, the first complete information base about literary places in Krakow will be built, which will not only allow inhabitants to discover the literary identity of their neighbourhood, but also – thanks to close co-operation with academic staff – will inspire historical research on the literary heritage of the city; secondly, this will lead to the creation of a modern tourist product (see pt 2), which will contribute to the enlargement of the city’s tourist offer and the development of enterprises in the tourist industry (restaurants, cafés, pubs, hotels etc.).

The implementation of the integrated system of marking Krakow’s literary nature will commence

in 2015. Projections will be carried out regularly and cyclically as a part of literary events. The project will be financed from self-government and ministerial funds.

Development of scholarship programmesThe implementation of scholarship programmes is one of the most important factors of development of literary life in Krakow. The presence of foreign artists in the city and the facilitation of local artists’ visits to partner cities results in an intercultural exchange, which not only favours dialogue and openness to other cultures, but also, which is important from a local perspective, broadens the forms of literature and literary life. A number of permanent scholarship programmes in literature is carried out in Krakow, most of which are connected with the activity of the Villa Decius Association and residential stays of writers who arrive there under various programmes.

Krakow is planning to strengthen existing programmes, e.g., through their financial reinforcement and their integration with other literary activities in the city (the presence of scholarship holders in programmes of literary festivals, the co-organisation of creative writing workshops). There are also plans to create a number of new scholarship programmes.

The scholarship programme for translators of Polish literature, which creates an opportunity to work in the literary centre of a country having a huge library and archive base, will reinforce the position of Polish literature abroad and will contribute to an intercultural exchange through the transfer of knowledge.

The implementation of the scholarship programme for translators will commence in 2014 in co-operation with the UNESCO Chair for Translation Studies and Intercultural Communication and cultural institutions functioning in Krakow (Cervantes Institute, Goethe-Institut, British Council etc.). The project will be financed mainly from self-government funds, with the financial participation of partners and commercial entities (publishing houses and literary agencies) as well as the international HALMA network.

A challenge for the co-operation of UNESCO Cities of Literature is the creation of a joint scholarship system enabling an exchange of experiences and a transfer of knowledge. Apart from a residential scholarships for writers, an exchange on an institutional level is important, because it helps integrate local strategies of the development of literature and creative industries connected with it. For this purpose, the implementation of the programme of exchange of young literary managers within the UNESCO Cities of Literature network is being planned.


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The programme assumes annual cyclic study visits of managers and promoters during the most important literary events that are organised in a given city. Participants of the programme will be recruited from among cultural institutions and non-governmental organisations functioning in cities. The selection of candidates will be carried out on an international level.

The implementation of the programme will depend on the acquisition of funds from the EU Creative Europe programme and additional funds acquired by each participant.

Developing the connections of literature with human rightsDue to its membership in ICORN and its special geopolitical position, which allows it to function as the centre of cultural transfer between the East and the West, Krakow attaches particular importance to engagement in international activities for the protection of the freedom of speech as a prereq-uisite for the functioning and creation of litera-ture. In this respect, conclusions drawn from the sessions of the International Conference of ICORN and PEN International WiPC “Writing Freedom”, which took place in May 2013 in Krakow, are of key importance: the freedom of expression is a fundamental and necessary requirement of lit-erary life; literature plays a crucial role in the democratisation processes; it is necessary to take the development of Internet media into account in activities aimed at the protection of human rights; the protection of the freedom of speech can be effective only in international co-operation net-works. For the aforementioned reasons, Krakow plans to undertake actions that will help enlarge the scope of the freedom of speech in the world and to promote and strengthen initiatives that serve this purpose.

Krakow wants to play a significant role as a city promoting the ideas and activity of ICORN and to extend global solidarity by spreading these ideas among the Polish and regional cities whose heritage encompassing many centuries and current identity are built on values of freedom, tolerance and respect for human rights. Thanks to Krakow’s diplomatic engagement, the subject of the incorporation of two cities: Wrocław and Bratislava into ICORN is currently being negotiated.

Krakow’s engagement in the context of the region of Central and Eastern Europe is equally important. Due to the specific political situation of countries from this region, the creation of an appropriate platform for consultations and co-operation on the self-government level will be necessary. For this reason, there are plans

to strengthen joint initiatives of the Visegrad Group, in which the Villa Decius Association is engaged, and to enlarge this platform and create an extensive coalition for the freedom of speech, which would encompass the following cities: Krakow, Bratislava, Prague, Budapest, Vilnius, Lviv and Minsk. Excellent relations of Krakow with self-government authorities and literary institutions (e.g., PEN) in the aforementioned cities allow us to hope that a joint strategy will be developed and implemented to that extent.

In addition, Krakow wants to act as an important centre of animation of discussions on human rights, the freedom of speech and literature on a global scale. For this reason, a campaign is being conducted in close co-operation with the Polish PEN Club for the selection of Krakow as the organiser of the World Congress of PEN International in 2016.

The implementation of the aforementioned ideas is a long-term process. The project will be carried out with a wide group of partners, including the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, PEN International, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Culture Centre and Villa Decius. The KFO will also apply for funds under EU programmes for the years 2014-2020 – Building the Position of Małopolska in International Co-operation Networks.

Tightening of international co-operation in the field of literatureKrakow’s identity as a city of literature is founded on many centuries of cultural exchange with European countries and numerous relations with non-European countries, which are possible due to the tradition of open gates being cultivated in the city. There is no doubt that the development of Krakow within the UNESCO Network of Cities of Literature would constitute a natural consequence of activities carried out so far and would open many new opportunities for the city.

The co-operation with the UNESCO network of Cities of Literature that began in 2010 after the commencement of preparations for the submission of an application to UNESCO had its culmination in 2012 during the “Creative Cities and Regions” conference which was attended not only by representatives of UNESCO Cities of Literature, but also by representatives of cities applying for this title and many other urban centres with a strong literary identity. Conclusions from conference discussions not only stressed huge possibilities of development of international co-operation in the field of literature, but also raised the awareness of significant obstacles that should be considered in the preparation of joint


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projects (political and social differences, different administrative systems and legal standards, the diversity of organisational structures).

In this connection, an exchange of information and a transfer of knowledge between centres should undoubtedly be the most important elements of co-operation of the UNESCO Cities of Literature. These aims can be pursued through regular meetings of representatives of cities during conferences and working meetings, the creation of a joint platform for the exchange of information about activities under progress and mutual support in the area of literary tourist products. Among projects being planned by Krakow with a view to pursuing these aims, the programme of exchange of young literary managers (cf. point 7) and the programme of slots of UNESCO Cities of Literature during literary festivals (cf. point 4) should be mentioned.

International co-operation in the field of literature also encompasses the aspect of human rights (cf. point 8) and intercultural exchange (cf. point 7). Krakow plans to pursue its aims in these fields also in co-operation with partner cities. Mediation between international co-operation networks, in which Krakow already functions, and Polish and regional cities having a cultural potential, is equally important. For this reason, the city provides conceptual support for efforts of cities such as Katowice, Wrocław or Lviv in the creation of cohesive culture development strategies that may result in an application for membership in the UNESCO Network of Creative Cities.

The implementation of the aforementioned ideas is a long-term process. The project will be carried out with a wide group of partners, including the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, PEN International, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Culture Centre and Villa Decius. The KFO will also apply for funds under EU programmes for the years 2014-2020 – Building the Position of Małopolska in International Co-operation Networks.

Literary educationA key element of the development of literature in Krakow is the reinforcement of literature-related educational resources on the level of primary, secondary and academic education. The strong connection of the literary identity of the city with curricula and the use of the existing educational potential for the creation of the literary offer of the city are both sides of this relation.

On the level of primary and secondary education (kindergartens, primary schools, middle schools, secondary schools) campaigns are planned to supplement curricula with elements of local

literary heritage and competencies related to literature. Within the framework of close co-operation between the Board of Education, the Department of Education of the Office of the City of Krakow, academic centres and selected non-governmental organisations, an integrated offer of extracurricular courses for children and young people will be created, taking the history of literature of Krakow, the issue of contemporary literary life, literary and reading competences, etc. into account. Additional activities in the form of regular workshops will be conducted in co-operation with public libraries and district cultural centres.

A challenge on the level of academic education is the co-operation of institutions of higher education with self-government authorities and business entities in the creation of innovative curricula of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral studies for the training of staff for literature-related creative industries developing in the city. The model of editing – the flagship field of studies offered at JU, which combines historical knowledge, theoretical knowledge and professional skills and is implemented with the participation of both academic staff and employees of Krakow publishing houses and printing houses, will inspire further specialisations enabling students to acquire practical skills necessary in professional work, such as literary geography (cf. point 2).

Creative writing programmes will also be developed in co-operation with universities and other institutions of higher education. The Literary & Artistic Study Centre functioning in Krakow has the status of postgraduate studies at JU. A challenge that requires co-operation between universities, other institutions of higher education, the self-government and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education is the creation of a curriculum and opening of master’s studies in the field of creative writing (on the example of programmes functioning at universities in Iowa City and Norwich). The emergence of this field of studies, which would allow students to acquire not only literary competencies, but also linguistic, writing and rhetoric competencies, would constitute an important part of the creation of a background for development of literature-related creative industries in Krakow.

Under the eMultipoetry project, an international multilingual space has been created on the Internet for poetry, which means not only “elevated” and renowned poetry. Users can write and translate poems systematically on their current level, having an opportunity to improve their own


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skills, to establish co-operation and to take part in an international exchange. The project is addressed both to individual users irrespective of their age and to persons running classes in creative writing and translation courses. By means of available tools, users can create their profiles, publish and translate poems, comment on and evaluate the works of other persons, write poems in specially designed Internet games, participate in the creation of group poems online under the supervision of moderators in special chatrooms. It is also possible to create interest groups and exclusive student groups that improve writing techniques in various genres of poetry and prose under the supervision of lecturers. The portal became a basis for the creation of poetic workshops run by Michał Zabłocki and a big project entitled “School of Poets”. The City will regularly support this initiative promotionally and financially.

A Literary Incubator will also be established as part of the Krakow Literature Forum being created. This programme stimulates the activity of debutants and young authors, prepares them for the writer’s profession by organising creative writing courses and young critics’ clubs and makes future writers aware of the need of self-improvement also in the context of functioning on the book market (contacts with publishers, the writer’s techniques and style in contact with the media, communication). These activities will be supplemented by cyclic writing workshops for debutants and young authors conducted by Polish and foreign writers and workshops for animators of literary activities.

These projects will be financed from NGO funds and supported by self-government authorities by means of cultural offer projects, long-term financial commitments as well as RFL and MLK programmes.

Multipoetry - projections of poems on the walls of houses, pavement poems, poems written on-line and poems screened all year round in Bracka Street

Photo from the collection of Multipoetry


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Prospects of the implementation of the program

● March-July 2013: updating the UNESCO application and simultaneous negotiations concerning the integration of the budget;

● 31st of July 2013: submission of the application update to UNESCO; ● Waiting for UNESCO’s decision; ● September 2013: establishment of the Board of the City of Literature by the Mayor of Krakow and

commencement of work on the strategy of the city of literature and the KCL program for the years 2014-2016;

● March-December 2013: work on the creation of the functional study of the Literature Forum, creation of an advisory group and lobbying in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (MCNH) and the Ministry of Regional Development;

● November 2013: Establishment of the Regional Literature Fund; ● December 2013: Announcement of the strategy of the City of Literature along with competition

programs; ● January 2014: Conclusion of the 1st tender competition and the implementation of projects selected

in the program.

Proposed financingDue to annual work on the budget of the City and the Małopolska Region, it is assumed that the following model of financing will be maintained in the perspective of the years 2014-2016.

PROGRAM OF THE CITY OF LITERATURE AND REGIONAL LITERATURE FUND – financing in 2014

● PLN 600,000 – earmarked funds of the KFO for the performance of literary festivals; ● PLN 300,000 – KFO’s funds acquired in competitions of MCNH, mainly from reading promotion

programs; ● PLN 500,000 – additional funds of the City of Krakow to be appropriated for the Regional

Literature Fund; ● PLN 500,000 – funds of the Marshal’s Office of the Małopolska Region (MOMR) to be

appropriated for the Regional Literature Fund; ● PLN 500,000 – MCNH’s funds to be appropriated for the Regional Literature Fund; ● Total: PLN 2,400,000 for the implementation of the KCL program in 2014 ● Total amount: PLN 7,200,000 for the implementation of the KCL program in years 2014-2016

ADDITIONAL FUNDS AT THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE AND NATIONAL HERITAGE OF THE CITY OF KRAKOW

● PLN 200,000 – co-financing of publications ● PLN 11,261,000 – activity of self-government libraries of the City ● PLN 2,187,000 – activity of the City Centre Cultural Centre ● PLN 600,000 – to be appropriated for the activity of the Villa Decius, including ICORN ● PLN 200,000 – to be appropriated for the Night of Poetry ● PLN 528,000 – to be appropriated for the Library of Polish Song ● PLN 100,000 – total amount of expenses for the payment of awards ● PLN 48,000 – creative scholarships of the City of Krakow

● Total: PLN 15,124,000

ADDITIONAL FUNDS AT THE DISPOSAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE AND NATIONAL HERITAGE OF THE MAŁOPOLSKA REGION

Approx. PLN 13,000,000 PLN, of which approx. PLN 10,300,000 for the activity of the Provincial Public Library in Krakow (data for the years 2012-2013)

The above list does not include costs of launching of the Literature Forum, i.e., investment funds of the MCNH and the City of Krakow related to the creation of the Literature Forum.

The estimated value of investments: approx. PLN 40,000,0000 in years 2014-2020.


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Historical outline

Wawel Hill was inhabited already in the Old Stone Age. The Old-Slavic mounds of Krakus and Wanda – the legendary rulers of the settlement inhabited by the Vistulan tribes at the time – presumably date back to the 7th century. The first documented mention of Krakow can be found in the account of Cordovan merchant Abraham ben Jacob dating back to 965. It mentions a rich town situated at the intersection of trading routes, surrounded by forests. In the pre-Piast period, two dates related to the city’s history appear. Between 876 and 879, Prince Svatopluk I of Great Moravia occupied the area that was later to become Malopolska, and after 955, Boleslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, brother of Wenceslaus I, introduced Czech rule. In the 10th century, Krakow was incorporated into the Polish state. In the 10th and 11th centuries, an impressive royal city already existed here and the first stone buildings were erected – the castle and Romanesque churches. In 1000, the Krakow Bishopric was established in Krakow, and since 1150, a cathedral school operated at the church. Apart from religious literature, a rich library stored works of classical literature, such as Terence‘s comedies, Ovid’s elegies, and Sallust’s historical monographs. Having been moved from Skałka, the body of St. Stanislaus and the relics of St. Florian were ceremonially placed at the stately Wawel Cathedral. In 1138, Krakow’s castle gained significance, becoming – in accordance with Bolesław III Wrymouth’s will – the seat of the sovereignty and, in a way, the capital of Poland. Destroyed after Tartar incursions in 1241, the buildings were replaced by new Gothic ones. The city’s location on the basis of Magdeburg Rights in 1257 outlined a new urban layout with a centrally located market square and a regular chequered pattern of streets radiating from the square. In 1320, the first coronation (of Władysław I the Elbow-High) in Krakow took place here, and in the following five centuries – 35 further coronations. The cathedral also became the royal necropolis. The rule of Casimir the Great, patron of the arts and sciences, turned out to be of extreme importance to the city. The king founded two new towns: Kazimierz and Kleparz, closely connected with Krakow. The Gothic churches of the Franciscans and the Dominicans

were erected, the construction of St. Mary’s Basilica, as well as the Corpus Christi Basilica and St. Catherine’s Church in Kazimierz was under way, the cathedral and castle at Wawel, as well as the medieval market hall – Sukiennice (the Cloth Hall), the town hall, and other public utility buildings were being rebuilt. In 1364, Casimir the Great founded the Krakow Academy which later became JU.

The Jagiellonian era and the 17th centuryJogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło), the Grand Duke of Lithuania, crowned king of Poland in 1386, initiated the greatest Polish dynasty, which ruled the country for more than 200 years. Krakow became the capital of a monarchy comprised of ethnically Polish lands and Lithuanian-Ruthenian areas. The royal court played an important role in shaping the cultural and artistic life. Eminent humanists, scientists, and artists came from Italy, Germany, and other countries. In 1477, Veit Stoss came from Nuremberg in order to carve a great altar for St. Mary’s Basilica, commissioned by the burghers. After another conversion in the years 1499-1536, the castle at Wawel became a gem of Renaissance architecture. The castle, decorated with a collection of Flemish tapestries (arrases), duly functioned as the residence of the ruler of a modern and strong country.

When in the late 16th century the capital was moved to Warsaw, Krakow lost its previous significance, retaining only the formal role of a place of royal coronations and funerals. The 17th century saw a slow decline in the city’s significance. In the mid-17th century, smallpox decimated the city’s inhabitants. Soon after, the Swedish army destroyed and robbed the city. After these ravages, Krakow did not regain its position for a long time, becoming a provincial centre of small-scale trade and craft. Artistic patronage was only maintained by the Church. Rebuilt from the damage, churches and monasteries gained new Baroque robes. The greatest architectural achievement of the time is the Church of St. Anne, erected according to Tylman van Gameren’s design.

The 18th and the 19th centuriesIn 1702, the city was occupied and ravaged by the Swedish army yet again. The castle at Wawel burnt down then, and a bit later, Prussian and

5. ADDITION


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Russian armies completed the work of destruction. After the partitions of Poland in 1772-1795, Krakow was given to the Austrians. Incorporated into the Duchy of Warsaw for a while in the Napoleonic period, after the French emperor’s failure at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, it received the status of a free city. After the fall of the November Uprising that aimed at liberation from the partitioners’ rule, Krakow was the only city to retain autonomy. During this time, Krakow became a symbol and a centre of Polish national identity and a spiritual capital of the country. Scientific and cultural institutions developed: the Krakow Scientific Society was turned into the Academy of Learning, the Academy of Fine Arts was established in 1818, and in 1854, the Society of Friends of Fine Arts was founded. Anniversary events attracted thousands of Poles from all the annexed territories to Krakow, and Krakow regained the position of the spiritual and identity centre of the Polish culture.

The 20th centuryWorld War I contributed to the intensification of the activity of independence movements. After regaining freedom in 1918, Krakow became an important centre of administration, art, and literature. It was the period of the city’s most dynamic cultural and industrial development. Not only the best architecture of the time, but also the best traditions of Polish theatre, music, and literature come from the interwar period. Although it did not destroy Krakow’s historic architecture, World War II wreaked havoc among Polish intellectuals and the Jewish population. On the 6th of November 1939, several dozen JU professors and the most eminent representatives of the city’s intellectual elite were taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The extermination of the Jewish population, which constituted nearly 25% of Krakow’s population, in the nearby Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps became one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, leading to irreversible demographic and cultural changes in the city. After the war, as a result of the Soviet authorities’ policy, the previously privileged position of Krakow changed. The intention of the authorities of the time was to curb the role of Krakow and the influence of the intelligentsia on the nation, and these efforts were reflected not only in repressions, the ubiquity of censorship and social realism, but also the construction of the perfect proletarian City – Nowa Huta and the influx of a huge number of labourers to Krakow. In spite of these attempts,

Krakow remained the main centre of intellectual and moral resistance to the communist system. Underground publishing activity developed here, translations of banned literature came out, and the opposition environment was very active. After martial law, the Polish Round Table Talks, and the fall of the communist system in 1989, the title of the European Capital of Culture in 2000 and the fact of Poland joining the European Union in 2004 re-established Krakow in the family of European cultural centres and connected it to the bloodstream of intellectual and artistic exchange.

History of literature and printing in Krakow

966 – The first historical written record about a town named Krakow („Krak” “Karako”) by Abraham ben Jacob.

1112 – A foreigner living in Krakow, later called Gallus Anonymous (the Anonymous Gaul), begins working on the first Polish chronicle – Chronica Polonorum

1220 – Iwo Odrowąż becomes the Bishop of Krakow. Iwo Odrowąż was the owner of the oldest private library in Poland, which he willed to the Wawel Cathedral

1364 – Establishment of the Krakow Academy (later Jagiellonian University) and its re-foundation in 1400. Krakow became the centre of literary life. Its political and cultural rank at that time is reflected by the 15th century proverb: “If there were no Rome, Krakow would be Rome.”

1453–1455 – Queen Sophia’s Bible, the first translation of the Bible into Polish

1473 – Kasper Straube’s Krakow printing company publishes an astronomical calendar, the first printed publication in Poland. Thanks to Straube, print reaches Krakow earlier than England (1476)

1475 – The same printing company creates the first book printed in Poland – it is Juan de Torquemada’s Explanatio in Psalterium

1489 – Konrad Celtis, a German humanist associated with the Krakow Academy, establishes Sodalitas Litteraria Vistulana – the first literary association in Poland, modelled after Roman academies and embracing Renaissance humanists (including women). Its members were ‘Latin Renaissance poets’, also foreigners, including: Korwin, Celtis, Callimachus, Ursinus and Aesticampianus

1503 – A printer Kasper Hochfeder, brought from Metz by a merchant and bookseller Jan


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Haller, sets up the first permanent typographical workshop. In the years 1505–1525, he publishes around 250 prints, including the first excerpt in Polish – Bogurodzica (Mother of God, 1506) in Jan Łaski’s Statute. The first book printed in Polish is Historia umęczenia (History of Passion), published by Hochfeder in 1508. As early as the first half of the 16th century, Krakow has major printing houses: Haller’s, Ungler and Lern’s, Wietor’s, and Scharffenberg’s. In the second half of the 16th century, the number of printing houses increases to nine. Karol Estreicher, sr., the eminent historian of Krakow, argues that 10,000 texts had been published in Poland by the end of the 16th century, and, by the end of the 18th century – Poland had 500 printing houses.

1530 – In Kazimierz, which, at that time was not a district of Krakow but a separate town, Central Europe’s first Hebrew printing press is established by the Helicze brothers

1561 – Scharffenberg’s press publishes Biblia Leopolity (Leopolita’s Bible), the first complete Polish translation of the Bible to be printed. It is the height of the Renaissance: the court of King Zygmunt August (Sigismund Augustus) hosts the most prominent Renaissance poets: Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, Łukasz Górnicki, and Jan Kochanowski who wrote his Fraszki while staying at court.

1698 – Publication of Poland’s first literary-poetic monthly entitled Mercurius Polonicus

1781 – First play staged by Krakow’s first and Poland’s second permanent, public, professional theatre operating in Polish, over time evolving into today’s Stary Theatre

1791 – Jan Antoni Maj opens his “Open Reading Room”, the first library and reading room (600 works, mostly in Polish and magazines)

1890 – A great patriotic event, the funeral of Adam Mickiewicz on Wawel Hill – anniversaries related to the creators of Polish literature and language were to unite writers living in all the three partitions of the fragmented country

1901 – The Municipal Theatre publishes and stages Stanisław Wyspiański’s drama Wesele (The Wedding), and a few years later his other great dramas Wyzwolenie (Liberation), Sędziowie (The Judges), Achilles, Bolesław Śmiały (Boleslaus the Bold), and Noc Listopadowa (November Night). Krakow’s Palace of Art (Pałac Sztuki) is erected in Szczepański Square

1922–1927 – Activity of the Krakow Avant-Garde (Jan Brzękowski, Jalu Kurek, Tadeusz Peiper, Julian Przyboś and Adam Ważyk), who found the magazine Zwrotnica.

Kierunek: sztuka teraźniejszości (lit: Points. Direction: Art of Now). Contributors include: Tzara and Marinetti; the magazine also features translations of Cendrars, Mayakovsky and Yesenin.

1933 – Establishment of the Prize for Literature of the city of Krakow

1945 – House of Writers (Dom Literatów) is established on ul. Krupnicza. The institution will become the “second-home” to the most famous Polish writers, including: Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, Wisława Szymborska, Sławomir Mrożek, Stanisław Dygat; the first issues of Dziennik Polski, Tygodnik Powszechny and Przekrój are published, and PWM Edition established

1956 – Foundation of Piwnica Pod Baranami – Vaults (or Cellars) under the Rams, a legendary literary cabaret of Piotr Skrzynecki

1975 – The first Krakow Theatrical Reminiscences International Theatre Festival: it is Poland’s oldest such event, gathering together alternative theatres and their fans every year

late 1980s and early 1990s, Krakow emerges as a centre of the alternative literary movement focused around Brulion magazine (published since 1986) – its contributors include Marcin Świetlicki and Marcin Sendecki; these are years of extraordinary development of literary research and criticism; at the Jagiellonian University, the impact of political changes and the transformation of consciousness on literature is analysed by Stanisław Balbus, Aleksander Fiut, Jerzy Jarzębski, Stanisław Jaworski, Ryszard Nycz, Stanisław Stabro, Marian Stala, and Marta Wyka

1993 – Having returned from exile, Czesław Miłosz chooses to live in Krakow. He becomes an Honorary Citizen of Krakow; in the second half of the 1990s, Ryszard Krynicki moves the a5 publishing house to Krakow. GREG Publishing House is established. Tygodnik Powszechny awards the St George Medal for the first time, given to Father Arkadiusz Nowak.

1996 – The Nobel prize in literature is bestowed upon Wisława Szymborska, a Krakow poet; Sławomir Mrożek returns from exile and settles in Krakow; the Book Fair in Krakow is held for the first time. The Jagiellonian University founds its own publishing house

1997 – Poetry Year – the festival is organised as part of the Kraków 2000 Festival Programme: the event is brought under the patronage of two Polish Nobel Prize winners, Wisława Szymborska and Czesław Miłosz; the Meeting of Poets from the East and West is held


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2002 – The first The Book and the Rose Małopolska Book Days. The first Dedications International Theatre Festival, every year devoted to one author or an important phenomenon in the history of theatre, presenting the most famous European theatre productions. After twenty years of life abroad, Adam Zagajewski returns permanently to Poland. He settles in Krakow, where he had studied.

2004 – The Book Institute, a national cultural institution, is established. Villa Decius hosts the first presentation of the Polish Prize of Sergio Vieira de Mello – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2002–2003); the prize was granted to Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first Prime Minister of the restored Republic of Poland (1989–1991), columnist, social activist and politician

2005 – Przekrój weekly awards the Fenomeny Przekroju Prize for the first time: the first winner is Sławomir Mrożek; Krakow’s Book Institute launches the 4 Book Seasons campaign – a series of festivals held throughout the year (Time of Poetry, Popular Literature Festival, Prose Season, and the Crime Festival); the first edition of the National Dramas Theatre Festival biennial; in May, Krakow hosts the 1st World Congress of Translators of Polish Literature, attended by nearly 180 professionals from around the world; the Book Institute grants the first Trans-Atlantyk Award, the prize for the greatest promoter of Polish literature abroad, and the first prize goes to Henryk Bereska

2006 – Sacha Pecaric finishes the first post-war translation of Torah from Hebrew into Polish

2009 – The first International Czesław Miłosz Literature Festival and International Joseph Conrad Literature Festival are held

2010 – Krakow begins working towards obtaining the title of UNESCO City of Literature. In June, the city hosts the Ha!wangarda Literature Festival, which promotes non-commercial projects that are continually changing the image of the latest literature: liberature, hypertexts, cyber-poetry, story-art, poesiography, and literary remixes. In September, the Mrożek for the 21st Century Festival is held; a special issue of Gazeta Wyborcza features a Literary Guide to Krakow; the launch of two campaigns: Free Reading Zone (Strefa Wolnego Czytania) and A Place for the Reader (Miejsce dla czytelnika) in Krakow’s public transport

2011 – Krakow’s accession to ICORN; Czesław Miłosz Year; a historic edition of the Miłosz Festival on the 100th anniversary of the poet’s birth, attended by nearly 130 poets, writers,

translators and scholars. Five leading Polish composers (Paweł Mykietyn, Agata Zubel, Jagoda Szmytka, Aleksandra Gryka, Wojciech Ziemowit Zych) invited to participate in the Sacrum Profanum Festival compose music inspired by Czesław Miłosz’s texts for the project called Miłosz Sounds.

2012 – Wisława Szymborska dies on the 1st of February; the poet’s funeral attracts thousands of people; the Wisława Szymborska Foundation is established – it announces the Wisława Szymborska Poetry Award and launches the “Szuflada Szymborskiej” (”Szymborska’s Drawer”) exhibition at a branch of the National Museum in Krakow; the two-year “Reading Małopolska” project is launched, as part of which Krakow and the entire region promote their literary identity all over the world; in October, representatives of the UNESCO Cities of Literature and many other cities basing their identity on literature come to Krakow to take part in the “Creative Cities and Regions” conference.

2013 – the “Writing Freedom” international conference with the participation of the representatives of ICORN and PEN International; the 3rd edition of the Milosz Festival is held under the theme of “The Land of Ulro Today” – almost 100 poets and writers meet, and 8 new volumes of poetry are published on the occasion; the 3rd World Congress of Translators of Polish Literature attended by nearly 200 guests; the Krakow Meetings of Poets organised by Adam Zagajewski and Edward Hirsch; Ryszard Krynicki’s Jubilee with the participation of writers and the poet’s friends from all over Poland.

Index of abbreviations:

DCNH MOMR – the Department of Culture and National Heritage at the Marshall’s Office of the Malopolska RegionDCHN OCK – Department of Culture and National Heritage of the Office of the City of KrakowICORN – International Cities of Refuge NetworkJU – Jagiellonian UniversityKCL – Krakow City of LiteratureKFO – Krakow Festival OfficeMCNH – Ministry of Culture and National HeritageOCK – Office of the City of KrakowR&D – research & developmentRFF – Regional Film Fund


Muzeum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (MOCAK)

Photo: From the collection of M

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New Krakow Arena Krakow Technology Park and the Tree of Innovation and Investment

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Visualisation of the ICE congress centre

Project: © Ingarden & Ewý − Architects, Kraków and Arata Isozaki & Associates, Tokyo

KRAKOW 2013 - Kraków Miasto Literatury UNESCO

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