Poles • Wszystko co najważniejsze

Jolanta PAWNIK

From Wrocław to the Top of the World

On 16 October 1978, Wanda Rutkiewicz reached the summit of Mount Everest. She was the first person from Poland, the first European woman and only the third woman in the world to stand on the highest point on Earth. Yet her journey to the Himalayas had begun many years earlier, in Wrocław. It was there that she grew up, went to school and university, played sport and worked. And it was there that she discovered climbing, the pursuit that would come to define her life.

Michał KŁOSOWSKI

The Hands That Restore Wrocław

In carpentry workshops, stained-glass studios and clockmakers’ shops, Wrocław’s past is being carefully preserved.

Michał KŁOSOWSKI

Freedom of Speech. The Wrocław Way

‘When telling Wrocław’s story, it is easy to overlook a thread that has run through the city almost unbroken since the fifteenth century.

Andrzej JERIE

Ten years of telling Wrocław’s story

‘The Depot History Centre is a place that the people of Wrocław not only visit but also help to create.

Michał KŁOSOWSKI

Wrocław and its Church

‘Our image of Wrocław is usually shaped by its bridges, buildings, islands and layers of memory.

Jolanta PAWNIK

The Congress That Put Wrocław in the World Spotlight

‘It was intended to showcase post-war Wrocław and bring together leading figures from the worlds of culture and science in defence of peace.

Jolanta PAWNIK

L'épidémie qui coupa Wrocław du monde

À l'été 1963, Wrocław fut enfermée derrière un cordon sanitaire, tandis que ses habitants se retrouvèrent au cœur de l'une des plus vastes campagnes d...

Jolanta PAWNIK

The Epidemic That Sealed Wrocław Off from the World

‘In the summer of 1963, Wrocław was placed under a sanitary cordon, and its inhabitants became part of one of the largest vaccination campaigns carrie...

Jolanta PAWNIK

Wrocław’s Battle for the Airwaves During Martial Law

‘When recalling the history of the opposition in the 1980s, we most often remember strikes, demonstrations and the underground press.

Karol POLEJOWSKI

For Bread and Freedom

Seventy years ago, workers from the region’s largest factories, joined by the people of Poznań, courageously demanded a dignified life and independenc...

Prof. Michel WIEVIORKA

De Poznan-1956 à Gdansk 1980

En quoi le mouvement de juin 1956 à Poznan mérite-t-il d’être aujourd’hui commémoré ?

Jolanta PAWNIK

How Wrocław brought to life the most radical opposition movement in the Polish People’s Republic

‘The first issue of Fighting Solidarity: A Journal of the Underground Solidarity Movement was published in Wrocław in June 1982.

Jolanta PAWNIK

How Mediaeval Wrocław Survived One of Poland’s Most Devastating Earthquakes

At the beginning of June 1443, the inhabitants of Wrocław experienced an event that neither contemporary chroniclers nor scholars were able to explain...

Karol POLEJOWSKI

Pour le pain et la liberté

Il y a 70 ans, les ouvriers des plus grandes usines de Poznań et de la région, ainsi que la population locale, ont courageusement réclamé la dignité e...

Jolanta PAWNIK

Biuletyn Dolnośląski. Wrocław’s Voice of Free Speech

‘During the communist era, Wrocław was not only one of Poland’s most important centres of opposition but also one of the country’s strongest bastions ...

Magdalena OKULOWSKA

Radosław MICHALSKI

European Space Agency in Wrocław. Not merely an investment, but a development choice for Poland

‘As Europe grows ever more aware of the importance of technological sovereignty, the question of where to locate Poland’s office of the European Space...

Magdalena OKULOWSKA

Radosław MICHALSKI

Wrocław – au-delà de l’horizon

Ville universitaire, technologique et culturelle à la fois, l’un des centres urbains à la croissance la plus rapide d’Europe centrale, Wrocław reflète...

Jolanta PAWNIK

For Poland and for Wrocław – Celebrating Kornel Morawiecki on the 85th anniversary of his birth

Most of Kornel Morawiecki’s adult years have been spent in Wrocław, even though he was born in Warsaw, specifically in Kamionek in the Praga neighbour...

Jolanta PAWNIK

Helena Krzemieniewska – a pioneer of microbiology in Wrocław

At the age when most people think about retiring, she was embarking on a fresh start.

Jan ROKITA

The Katyn Lie

The Katyn lie was a primal falsehood, a kind of mother of all the lies Europe proved willing to accept under Russian pressure – and at times even with...

Karol POLEJOWSKI

The Katyń Wound

Eighty-six years have passed since the Soviets executed thousands of Polish detainees and prisoners of war without trial.

Karol POLEJOWSKI

Katyn – une plaie jamais cicatrisée

Il y a 86 ans, les Soviétiques exterminèrent sans procès des milliers de prisonniers de guerre polonais.

Ołeksandra MATWIJCZUK

Chaîne d’impunité

L’armée russe élimine désormais des citoyens actifs : maires, journalistes, bénévoles, prêtres, artistes, enseignants. Comme avant à Katyn.

Prof. John RINK

Notes from the Jury – Reflections on the 19th Chopin Competition

The International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition – held every five years in Warsaw – is one of the most prestigious events of its kind.

Marcin WĄSOWSKI

‘I do not know who is first, but second, beyond any doubt, is Lipiński.’

That is what Niccolò Paganini replied when asked who the greatest living violin virtuoso might be.

Stanisław LESZCZYŃSKI

Chopin and the Rest of the World

In August and September 2024, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute invites audiences to the jubilee twentieth edition of the International Music Festival ‘Ch...

Artur SZKLENER

The History of Fryderyk Chopin’s Heart

In 1879, on the 30th anniversary of Chopin’s death, the Warsaw Music Society arranged for the urn holding his heart to be entombed in the first pillar...

Michał PIEKARSKI.

Lwow – Centre of Polish Musical Culture in the Long Nineteenth Century

Lwow came to be known as ‘the most musical of Polish cities’ not only because of its official concert life but also owing to its vibrant salon culture...

Artur SZKLENER

The Polish Dimension and Universality

What makes the Chopin Competition so remarkable is the unprecedented level of audience interest, this year exceeding even the boldest expectations.

Ewa BOGULA-GNIAZDOWSKA

Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński - A Remarkable Talent

The only tangible trace of a link between the two composers is Dobrzyński’s Funeral March on the Death of Fryderyk Chopin, Op.

Silvia BRUNI

Italians’ Love for Chopin

The Polish composer has always held a special place in the hearts of the Italian people, cherished as an intimate secret whose veil of mystery is occa...

Magdalena OLIFERKO-STORCK

Chopin without white gloves. The hidden dimensions of Chopin’s relationship with Fontana

Fontana’s relationship with Chopin held layers of factual, psychological and artistic depth, only recently brought to light.

Prof. David FANNING

Was Chopin an Important Influence on Weinberg?

On the day of his 75th birthday (8 December 1994) with only 15 months to live, the already bedridden Mieczsyław Weinberg received numerous telephone c...

Prof. Magdalena DZIADEK

Chopin’s Music and the Upper Classes

After 1918, public reverence for Fryderyk Chopin flourished in Poland, rooted in particularly firm ground.

Jan ROKITA

« Le jour de la marmotte » européen

Zelensky a comparé l’attitude des Européens au fameux « jour de la marmotte » où Bill Murray reste prisonnier d’une boucle temporelle grotesque, reviv...