The Future of the Past. How Krakow celebrates 45th anniversary of its inscription on the World Heritage List?

FROM THE RUINS

UNESCO was founded in 1946 in a narrow historic context. According to its constitution, “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.” Kraków’s coat of arms shows an open gate, showing the city to be an antithesis of the very idea of war. Its sustainable development since ancient times until the present day, enduring traditions surviving even the devastation of the Holocaust and its authenticity, integrity and imposing beauty all comprise the “universal value” which is the main criterion of UNESCO’s list.

Kraków has over 1200 registered historic monuments and around another 7000 listed in myriad other records, while around a quarter of exhibits in all of Poland’s combined museums can be found in our city. But all this is our contemporary knowledge and understanding. Poland’s post-war authorities were shaping their own social reality with Kraków serving as ballast, while the rapid industrialisation led the city to an environmental collapse. The world was being taken by storm by the US-centric ideal of a car-centred city.

According to Prof. Bogusław Krasnowolski, at the time when Kraków was added to UNESCO’s list, “the city was in a sorry state”. Many of us still remember the statues by the Church of Sts Peter and Paul damaged by acid rain, the near-deserted Kazimierz under an all-too-real threat of demolition, and even the film Nights and Days whose sets featured several tenement houses being burned down especially for effect.

“KRAKÓW WASN’T RESTORED IN A DAY!”*

The story has many protagonists. Collectively, this includes Polish conservators, raised on the ideals of reconstructing Warsaw and perceiving heritage as an endangered public good. In Kraków, all we have to do is to recall the remains of the walls of the Old Town preserved by Feliks Radwański and the Society of Lovers of the History and Monuments of Kraków founded in 1896.

When the UNESCO commission started working on its first list in the 1970s, Poland’s delegation led by Prof. Krzysztof K. Pawłowski decided to gamble it all. At the summit in Washington DC in 1978, they submitted five applications: Kraków, Wieliczka (industrial heritage), Warsaw (restored heritage), Auschwitz (remembrance site) and Białowieża (natural heritage). Today, all these sites are on UNESCO’s list, but only Kraków and Wieliczka were given the privilege at the time. The inclusion of two Polish sites on the original list of 12 was soon discussed the world over. For Kraków it was of a similar importance as the election of the Polish Pope or the birth of the “Solidarity” trade union.

“We decided that aside from the traditional inclusion of (…) Planty Park and Wawel, we should also include Stradom and Kazimierz. It was a bold move, especially given the state Kazimierz was in at the time, but it’s fair to say that it had a major impact on its later fate”, wrote Prof. Pawłowski. The conservation campaign which followed and the foundation of the Social Committee for the Restoration of Kraków’s Monuments and its listing in the National Fund for the Restoration of Kraków’s Monuments were the result of the bold vision which saw the entire urbanist system as relevant to world heritage.

In spite of the fluid, constantly changing political realities, the committee provided a stable financing system, supplemented by municipal subsidies for the renovation of private tenement houses in the early 21st century. Prof. Jacek Purchla wrote, “While monuments belong to the past, heritage serves contemporary aims.” This is why many of the Social Committee’s original projects have new functions today, such as the Rynek Underground, the Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace, the former tram depot in Kazimierz and the main building of the Kraków University of Economics. Kraków has changed beyond all recognition.

CHANGING HERITAGE

Today we know that inclusion on heritage lists can have negative effects, such as a mass influx of tourists attracted by UNESCO’s prestige and depopulation of centres. Yet we also know that heritage is about far more than simply ancient walls; it’s also the concept of the “universal value” and its authenticity bolstered by the presence of local residents.

It is this drive for authenticity which has given rise to the creation of Kraków’s cultural parks bringing order to public space. This was the motivation behind the campaign for the title of UNESCO City of Literature and the creation of a programme of literary circles. This is supported by decentralising cultural events, promotion of places linked with traditions, protection of nonmaterial heritage (of which the Cracovian tradition of making nativity scenes has been listed by UNESCO) and initiatives such as the Małopolska Cultural Heritage Days. Although this is clearly not enough to reverse any negative trends, at least we are taking the first steps.

Robert Piaskowski, Plenipotentiary of the Mayor of Kraków for Culture, recently wrote about the “deep awareness of Kraków’s community and the city itself as to the significance of the 1978 listing”. The 45th anniversary coincides with Nowa Huta being officially recognised as a monument to history, following efforts by residents and municipal authorities to acknowledge its difficult yet important 20th-century history. Works on a plan to manage the world heritage site are also coming to an end. Written by authors including Prof. Jacek Purchla, Prof. Bogusław Szmygin and Dr. Andrzej Siwek, the document aims to bolster the authenticity of the centre from the perspective of revitalising public services, investing in communal spaces and preventing “façade” renovations to supporting traditional professions. This plan is Kraków’s missing link and a new vision of the city’s heritage as a universal value.

All these activities have long been accompanied by Kraków’s presence on the international stage, highlighted by events such as the city hosting the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee (2017) and the 15th World Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC). This knowledge and experience are here to stay.

IN LIEU OF CONCLUSION

Not that many people are aware that in the early 1990s, the president of the Social Committee for the Restoration of Kraków’s Monuments was none other than Stanisław Lem. What better symbol of change and continuation in Kraków than this inspired author and futurologist heading a committee promoting heritage! It could be said that the challenges of managing the heritage of present-day Kraków require minds and sensitivities as great as that of the author of Solaris.

* Title of Prof. Franciszek Ziejka’s paper on the 30th anniversary of Kraków’s listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The text was written for the Krakow Culture quarterly (issue 2/2023, summer 2023). A pdf version of the issue can be downloaded at www.krakowculture.pl under the “Quarterly” tab.

KRAKÓW ON THE 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INSCRIPTION

• From June to September, an exhibition entitled Treasures of Krakow, introducing the circumstances of the inscription, was set up in several squares in the city. Currently (until the end of August) it can be found at Wolnica Square, and from 1 to 30 September it will be on display in Nowa Huta’s Avenue of the Roses.
• The celebrations will culminate on 7-9 September 2023. On 7 September at 10.30 a.m., the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub – a satellite of this distinguished international organisation for Central Europe – will be inaugurated at the headquarters of the Society of Lovers of the History and Monuments of Kraków.
• On the same day, at 3 p.m., an exhibition on the Social Committee for the Restoration of Kraków’s Monuments will be inaugurated in the Krzysztofory Palace. The opening will be accompanied by a screening of the film Stones have a voice to tell the past to the future directed by Marta Węgiel and produced by TVP Kraków.
• On the evening of 7 September at St Mary’s Basilica (8.00 p.m.), the European Heritage Award (European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award) will be given for the conservation work on the famous Veit Stoss Altar carried out between 2015 and 2021. The Veit Stoss Altar was awarded in the ‘conservation’ category.
• 8 September (from 10.00 a.m.) will be marked by a ceremonial symposium at the premises of the Krakow City Council. It will take the form of a public conference at which speeches will be delivered by, among others, the Mayor of the City of Krakow, the President of the Krakow City Council, the Director of the World Heritage Centre, the President of the Polish Committee for UNESCO, the Secretary-General of Europa Nostra and Krzysztof K. Pawłowski – one of the architects of the 1978 entry. Part of the symposium will be speeches by representatives of historic cities from all over the world, including Warsaw, Vilnius, Lviv, Vienna, Regensburg, Dubrovnik, Quito or Shiraz.
• The culmination of the programme for the 45th anniversary of the UNESCO listing will be the Copernicus Parade, which will march through the streets of the city on 9 September, linking the context of the anniversary of the listing with the 550th anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus’ birth. The event will begin at 5pm at the Florian’s Gate.
• A souvenir of the anniversary celebrations will be a bilingual publication entitled I See You, Krakow, which is a kind of notebook of thoughts on Krakow’s heritage and its future. The publication, prepared in cooperation with the International Cultural Centre, will be available from 6 September.
• We already know this point of the programme. It is the new boards with the inscription “Krakow City of World Heritage” at the entrances to the city, which have replaced the old ones with “City of Polish Kings”. After all, Krakow’s heritage is more than the (otherwise glorious) history of its native monarchy!