It’s autumn - and the lengthening nights wrap themselves around us ever closer. All Saints’ Day, 1st November, will soon be upon us: the perfect time for a moment’s reflection and introspection. All across the land, in cities, towns and villages, Poles will make pilgrimages to place thousands of multi-coloured candles on gravestones, family tombs, mausoleums, graves of unknown soldiers, victims of communist oppression as well as poets, priests and painters. In the larger cemeteries, such as Krakow’s Rakowicki, you are arrested by the sight: spectral lights of red, white, yellow and green, conjure up shadows which dance and flicker like wood nymphs in the night as, in a forgotten corner, the branch of a willow gently drapes across a sleeping sarcophagus, ‘Here lies Jaciek’, long since gone. And in a ceremony repeated throughout the land, from the middle of it all, a church is overflowing, its open doors bathing the quick and the dead alike with kind and holy words, as mysterious and beautiful as an Arab call to prayer.
On a dry, warm night I walk slowly around the cemetery: cutting quickly off from the main avenues, finding quiet delight in discovering ever-smaller paths, which become quickly clogged with autumn leaves and roots of trees. I trip, regain my balance and check the unlit candle in my pocket. It’s still there, waiting for that empty grave. It’s a tradition to place a candle on an empty grave and say a prayer for its owner. But, as you could warm your hands by the candle heat from most graves, finding an unlit one is no mean feat. Still, it is good fun looking, all the same.
Most graves and tombs have several carefully and tastefully arranged candles in shaped glass jars, reverently placed by family members. Fresh pots of flowers, too, are provided, in remembrance of the dearly departed. And lest you think my picture a little too rosy, I’ve heard all about the Joneskis next door. You know, the ones you need to keep up with, especially in the village, where appearance is all. It gets like a competition, apparently: the biggest and most impressive candles, wreaths and flowers. But beneath the surface lies something deeper, pagan almost. In the villages especially, every square inch of a grave may sometimes be covered with candles and flowers in the firm and solemn belief that such an over-abundance of familial love and good wishes will itself ensure the soul’s ascent to heaven. Christianity of course, like all religions and cults before it, supplanted and suppressed pre-existing festivals, labelling them inferior, or ‘pagan’. And yet our intuition lives on: throughout the long dark days of clerical, communist and now capitalist oppression, we cannot but feel the occult pull to recognise, if only once a year, the need to connect, either with our ancestors or some part of ourselves, hidden deep within the rest of the year.
It is not surprising that human beings should light fires at this time of year, pause and turn away from the maelstrom of everyday life. It feels right to stop for a moment and reflect as we settle down for the long winter night. But why can similar scenes be found repeated across the world, not just in the autumn, but also on the very same day, 1st November? Is there indeed some truth to the mystical belief that, on this day, the worlds of the living and of the dead draw close, overlap, even?
I once blithely informed an inquiring Pole that, in England, we have only Halloween, a modern, American-influenced, tradition to our name. Of course I was wrong: both All Saints’ Day, 1st November, and All Souls’ Day, 2nd November, were once celebrated in Britain just as much as in the rest of Europe and many other parts of the world besides. All Saints’ Day remembers all the saints in heaven while on the second, All Souls’ Day, prayers are given for those in purgatory, neither in heaven nor in hell. However, back in the English revolutionary mind of the seventeenth century, such concepts smelt far too much of Popery and were discouraged as popular festivals as Protestantism became the norm and Protestant Englishmen became a little more ignorant of, and removed from, their own history and culture.
But it’s never too late to rediscover that which was, temporarily perhaps, lost, and in Krakow, one chilly November night hundreds of years later, at least one Brit could be seen mingling among the reverent, but slightly footsore crowds, glad that extra trams had been laid on from the cemetery to ferry Krakowians between family graves and family homes. As always in any Polish crowd, there was character and style. Smart men with dickie-bows and pork-pie hats, who in England would look rather old-fashioned, strolled proudly past, escorting fur-coated women of a certain age, balancing freshly-sculpted bouffants through the crowds. Mothers hold their smiling children’s hands as fathers struggle beneath plastic bags overflowing with candles for second cousins, twice removed. United in their memories, All Saints’ Day allows the Poles a time of reflection, of quiet and mutual respect which some other countries would do well to observe.
Sunday 29 November 2009
PODGORZE: A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
“South of the river! At this time of night?!” It’s a good job Krakowian taxi drivers are braver than London cabbies or us Podgorzians would never get home after a late one. Yes, there is indeed life after Kazimierz. Just five minutes south of Plac Nowy is the district of Podgorze, founded as an independent township in 1784 by the Austrian King Joseph II and long remaining independent until its merger with the city of Krakow in 1915.
On entering Podgorze, via either Piłsudskiego Bridge (from Krakowska) or Powstańców Śląskich Bridge (from Starowiślna), you immediately notice the difference. This oldest part, Stare Podgorze, nestles cosily between the river and the wide green stretches of the hill (gora, from which the area takes its name) just a few hundred metres away. It has a very villagey feel, as I thought when I first set foot here, flat hunting, a couple of years ago. Mind you, the district managed pretty well before I came along and Podgorze is, in fact, currently celebrating its 225th birthday, with many varied events such as open-air concerts, street theatre, fireworks and, in late September, the eighth annual ‘Podgorze Open Door Days’ event.
It cannot be denied that, to foreign visitors to Krakow, Podgorze is perhaps most well known - infamous - for its wartime history. Both the Jewish Ghetto and Oscar Schindler’s factory (fully renovated as a modern museum and opening in full in November this year) are grim, but necessary, stops on the tourist trail. During World War Two, the Nazis created the ghetto in a small area of Stare Podgorze, forcing Krakow’s Jewish population of approximately 10,000 to live for years in squalid conditions, before enacting ‘the final solution’ in 1943. Cross Powstańców Śląskich Bridge, leave the tram at Plac Bohaterow Getta (‘the square of the heroes of the ghetto’) and walk slowly, silently, among straight, orderly lines of cold, oversized metal chairs, which stand as artistic tribute to the murder of thousands and the absence of a culture and community lost to Krakow, and to Poland, forever.
However, the history of Podgorze is, mercifully, long and rich and I, like many foreigners and Krakowians alike, am keen to learn about other aspects about my new neighbourhood. The three-day event ‘Podgórskie Dni Otwartych Drzwi’, (roughly, ‘Podgorze Open Door Days’), which takes place annually in late September, was the perfect opportunity to stroll around: popping into galleries, dipping into local museums and taking in the area’s many green spaces. Depending on your native tongue, we’re either in the middle of an Indian Summer or the beginning of a Złota polska jesien - golden Polish autumn. Either way, a free English-speaking tour guide and a sunny Sunday morning was an opportunity not to be missed.
A good a place as any to start a tour of Podgorze is Rynek Podgorski, which, together with a style of low-rise architecture unique to Krakow, is dominated by the beautiful redbrick Saint Joseph’s Church. Taking my dog for a slow, meandering walk late one night, I estimated the towering structure’s number of bricks at about one and a half million. However, I now believe this figure, like my state of mind at the time, to have been wildly inaccurate.
Being the greenest of Krakow’s eighteen official districts, Podgorze is a great place for dog walking. Just above the church is Park Bednarski, a spacious park populated by dog-walkers, lovers, squirrels, birds and giant multi-coloured animals, drawn on the paths by tiny children with massive chalk crayons. Take tram number 3, 8 or 10 to ‘Korona’ tram stop (just three stops from the Wawel) and you really feel that you’ve left the city behind.
But don’t relax for too long. Just around the corner is Lasota Hill, home to a 19th century Austrian fortification and a modern church on the site of the original, which dates back to the 11th century, shortly after Poland’s official conversion to Christianity. From here, you have a fine view of central and northern Krakow. But for one of the most spectacular views of the city, take a ten-minute walk from there to Krakus Mound. Kopiec Krakusa, in the Polish, is an earthwork, believed to date from the 7th century and to contain the grave of the legendary founder of Krakow, Prince Krakus. It looks just like a (slightly smaller) Glastonbury Tor: an amazing and magical sight, here in (supposedly) non-Celtic Central Europe. Your short climb around its winding path rewards you with a majestic 360-degree panorama of the city: to the north, Stare Miasto and the northern suburbs; to the east, the smoking chimneys and steelmills of Nowa Huta; whilst, turning your head to the south, you may even catch a glimpse of snow on the Tatras - the start of the Carpathian Mountains. Now, that’s not a bad reward for a stroll south of the river!
On entering Podgorze, via either Piłsudskiego Bridge (from Krakowska) or Powstańców Śląskich Bridge (from Starowiślna), you immediately notice the difference. This oldest part, Stare Podgorze, nestles cosily between the river and the wide green stretches of the hill (gora, from which the area takes its name) just a few hundred metres away. It has a very villagey feel, as I thought when I first set foot here, flat hunting, a couple of years ago. Mind you, the district managed pretty well before I came along and Podgorze is, in fact, currently celebrating its 225th birthday, with many varied events such as open-air concerts, street theatre, fireworks and, in late September, the eighth annual ‘Podgorze Open Door Days’ event.
It cannot be denied that, to foreign visitors to Krakow, Podgorze is perhaps most well known - infamous - for its wartime history. Both the Jewish Ghetto and Oscar Schindler’s factory (fully renovated as a modern museum and opening in full in November this year) are grim, but necessary, stops on the tourist trail. During World War Two, the Nazis created the ghetto in a small area of Stare Podgorze, forcing Krakow’s Jewish population of approximately 10,000 to live for years in squalid conditions, before enacting ‘the final solution’ in 1943. Cross Powstańców Śląskich Bridge, leave the tram at Plac Bohaterow Getta (‘the square of the heroes of the ghetto’) and walk slowly, silently, among straight, orderly lines of cold, oversized metal chairs, which stand as artistic tribute to the murder of thousands and the absence of a culture and community lost to Krakow, and to Poland, forever.
However, the history of Podgorze is, mercifully, long and rich and I, like many foreigners and Krakowians alike, am keen to learn about other aspects about my new neighbourhood. The three-day event ‘Podgórskie Dni Otwartych Drzwi’, (roughly, ‘Podgorze Open Door Days’), which takes place annually in late September, was the perfect opportunity to stroll around: popping into galleries, dipping into local museums and taking in the area’s many green spaces. Depending on your native tongue, we’re either in the middle of an Indian Summer or the beginning of a Złota polska jesien - golden Polish autumn. Either way, a free English-speaking tour guide and a sunny Sunday morning was an opportunity not to be missed.
A good a place as any to start a tour of Podgorze is Rynek Podgorski, which, together with a style of low-rise architecture unique to Krakow, is dominated by the beautiful redbrick Saint Joseph’s Church. Taking my dog for a slow, meandering walk late one night, I estimated the towering structure’s number of bricks at about one and a half million. However, I now believe this figure, like my state of mind at the time, to have been wildly inaccurate.
Being the greenest of Krakow’s eighteen official districts, Podgorze is a great place for dog walking. Just above the church is Park Bednarski, a spacious park populated by dog-walkers, lovers, squirrels, birds and giant multi-coloured animals, drawn on the paths by tiny children with massive chalk crayons. Take tram number 3, 8 or 10 to ‘Korona’ tram stop (just three stops from the Wawel) and you really feel that you’ve left the city behind.
But don’t relax for too long. Just around the corner is Lasota Hill, home to a 19th century Austrian fortification and a modern church on the site of the original, which dates back to the 11th century, shortly after Poland’s official conversion to Christianity. From here, you have a fine view of central and northern Krakow. But for one of the most spectacular views of the city, take a ten-minute walk from there to Krakus Mound. Kopiec Krakusa, in the Polish, is an earthwork, believed to date from the 7th century and to contain the grave of the legendary founder of Krakow, Prince Krakus. It looks just like a (slightly smaller) Glastonbury Tor: an amazing and magical sight, here in (supposedly) non-Celtic Central Europe. Your short climb around its winding path rewards you with a majestic 360-degree panorama of the city: to the north, Stare Miasto and the northern suburbs; to the east, the smoking chimneys and steelmills of Nowa Huta; whilst, turning your head to the south, you may even catch a glimpse of snow on the Tatras - the start of the Carpathian Mountains. Now, that’s not a bad reward for a stroll south of the river!
Krakow Chronicles Summer Quiz
How well do you know Krakow and its people? Test yourself with the Krakow Chronicles Summer Quiz ...
1. The most famous river in Poland flows through Krakow on its way to Warsaw and, eventually, on to the Baltic Sea. What is the name of Krakow’s river?
a) The Wisła
b) The Vistula
c) The Mississippi
d) Krakow has a river?
2. Kazimierz was once a run-down, neglected district, where only brave souls dared walk at night. How things have changed! What is your impression of the modern Kazimierz?
a) It’s a cool, bohemian place to hang out and meet my friends
b) The parking is a joke and there are few facilities for the local community
c) I can remember when you could buy a beer, a vodka chaser, a zapiekanka with extra ketchup and still have change for a two-bedroom flat on Plac Nowy
d) I prefer Galeria Krakowska
3. The Poles are naturally proud of their extensive range of fine, golden beers. I, for example, support the Okocim brewery. Which is your favourite Polish beer?
a) Tyskie
b) Lech
c) Żywiec
d) Polish beer …?
4. Few are those who leave Krakow without experiencing the Heynal at least once. But what is the Heynal?
a) An informal goral (mountain-man) form of address
b) A trumpet call
c) A strumpet call
d) A spicy Polish kebab
5. A visit to the smallest room in Krakow’s bars, cafes and restaurants can lead to confusion and embarrassment: what should you do when faced with two doors, one marked with a triangle and one marked with a circle?
a) Wait patiently until someone enters or exits, thereby ascertaining which is ‘gents’ and which is ‘ladies’
b) Rattle the doorhandles, bang loudly and insistently on both doors, then suddenly lose all interest and walk back into the bar, all the time shouting inanities to your boyfriend down your mobile phone
c) Use whichever room is free: it’s two in the morning, for God’s sake!
d) Put the vodka back in the fridge, go straight to bed and never try to turn your flat into a nightclub again
6. Some countries queue, some countries don’t. Poland doesn’t. What should you do if, while waiting patiently in line, someone jumps the queue ahead of you?
a) Tap them politely on the shoulder, smile diplomatically and say ‘Przepraszam, ale czy mogł(a)by pan(i) stać na kolej? (Excuse me sir/madam, but could you please take your place in the queue?‘)
b) Pretend to ignore it: you’re only here for the weekend and you don’t want any trouble
c) Quietly slip back in front of the queue-jumper (‘When in Rome …’)
d) Write about the incident on internet forums and / or English-language newspapers
7. Krakow is home to foreign nationals from nearly every country in the world. What are you doing here?
a) Just visiting
b) Teaching English
c) Working in real estate
d) 4 to 5, with time off for good behaviour
8. For what is the nearby town of Wieliczka famous?
a) Its amazing salt mine, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
b) The only surviving statue of Lenin tying his shoelaces
c) The longest bar in Poland (over 200 miles long, every inch hand-cut from living rock)
d) Its world-famous ready salted crisps
9. Noone should leave Krakow without seeing the famous Wawel. What is the Wawel, pride of all Poland?
a) The name of a famous bar in Wieliczka
b) A well-established chain of language schools
c) Krakow’s castle: the former seat of the Polish monarchy
d) A Polish traditional wedding dance
10. The Poles are great animal-lovers and it’s no secret that Krakowians love their dogs (cf. daschund parade, 6th September). In Krakow, many dogowners allow their dogs to ‘do their business’ …
a) anywhere they want
b) wherever they want
c) anywhere they like
d) wherever they see fit
SCORING
1 A4 B3 C2 D1
2 A2 B4 C3 D1
3 A1 B1 C1 D4
4 A2 B4 C3 D1
5 A1 B3 C2 D4
6 A4 B1 C2 D3
7 A1 B3 C2 D4
8 A4 B1 C1 D1
9 A1 B1 C4 D2
10 A4 B4 C4 D4
0 - 10
Tourists may be forgiven their lack of Krakowian knowledge; the rest of you obviously live in a shadow-world of unknowing, from which a throwaway quiz in a newspaper cannot ever hope to rescue you.
11 – 20
Congratulations! You’ve done your homework. Take a moment to look smugly around before returning to your guidebook.
21 - 30
You’ve obviously been here some time and should be proud of yourself. But beware that experience does not turn to cynicism.
31 - 40
Impressive: it seems you know Krakow like the back of your hand. However, there’s more to life than the back of your hand. Krakow is a fine city. Never forget it.
1. The most famous river in Poland flows through Krakow on its way to Warsaw and, eventually, on to the Baltic Sea. What is the name of Krakow’s river?
a) The Wisła
b) The Vistula
c) The Mississippi
d) Krakow has a river?
2. Kazimierz was once a run-down, neglected district, where only brave souls dared walk at night. How things have changed! What is your impression of the modern Kazimierz?
a) It’s a cool, bohemian place to hang out and meet my friends
b) The parking is a joke and there are few facilities for the local community
c) I can remember when you could buy a beer, a vodka chaser, a zapiekanka with extra ketchup and still have change for a two-bedroom flat on Plac Nowy
d) I prefer Galeria Krakowska
3. The Poles are naturally proud of their extensive range of fine, golden beers. I, for example, support the Okocim brewery. Which is your favourite Polish beer?
a) Tyskie
b) Lech
c) Żywiec
d) Polish beer …?
4. Few are those who leave Krakow without experiencing the Heynal at least once. But what is the Heynal?
a) An informal goral (mountain-man) form of address
b) A trumpet call
c) A strumpet call
d) A spicy Polish kebab
5. A visit to the smallest room in Krakow’s bars, cafes and restaurants can lead to confusion and embarrassment: what should you do when faced with two doors, one marked with a triangle and one marked with a circle?
a) Wait patiently until someone enters or exits, thereby ascertaining which is ‘gents’ and which is ‘ladies’
b) Rattle the doorhandles, bang loudly and insistently on both doors, then suddenly lose all interest and walk back into the bar, all the time shouting inanities to your boyfriend down your mobile phone
c) Use whichever room is free: it’s two in the morning, for God’s sake!
d) Put the vodka back in the fridge, go straight to bed and never try to turn your flat into a nightclub again
6. Some countries queue, some countries don’t. Poland doesn’t. What should you do if, while waiting patiently in line, someone jumps the queue ahead of you?
a) Tap them politely on the shoulder, smile diplomatically and say ‘Przepraszam, ale czy mogł(a)by pan(i) stać na kolej? (Excuse me sir/madam, but could you please take your place in the queue?‘)
b) Pretend to ignore it: you’re only here for the weekend and you don’t want any trouble
c) Quietly slip back in front of the queue-jumper (‘When in Rome …’)
d) Write about the incident on internet forums and / or English-language newspapers
7. Krakow is home to foreign nationals from nearly every country in the world. What are you doing here?
a) Just visiting
b) Teaching English
c) Working in real estate
d) 4 to 5, with time off for good behaviour
8. For what is the nearby town of Wieliczka famous?
a) Its amazing salt mine, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
b) The only surviving statue of Lenin tying his shoelaces
c) The longest bar in Poland (over 200 miles long, every inch hand-cut from living rock)
d) Its world-famous ready salted crisps
9. Noone should leave Krakow without seeing the famous Wawel. What is the Wawel, pride of all Poland?
a) The name of a famous bar in Wieliczka
b) A well-established chain of language schools
c) Krakow’s castle: the former seat of the Polish monarchy
d) A Polish traditional wedding dance
10. The Poles are great animal-lovers and it’s no secret that Krakowians love their dogs (cf. daschund parade, 6th September). In Krakow, many dogowners allow their dogs to ‘do their business’ …
a) anywhere they want
b) wherever they want
c) anywhere they like
d) wherever they see fit
SCORING
1 A4 B3 C2 D1
2 A2 B4 C3 D1
3 A1 B1 C1 D4
4 A2 B4 C3 D1
5 A1 B3 C2 D4
6 A4 B1 C2 D3
7 A1 B3 C2 D4
8 A4 B1 C1 D1
9 A1 B1 C4 D2
10 A4 B4 C4 D4
0 - 10
Tourists may be forgiven their lack of Krakowian knowledge; the rest of you obviously live in a shadow-world of unknowing, from which a throwaway quiz in a newspaper cannot ever hope to rescue you.
11 – 20
Congratulations! You’ve done your homework. Take a moment to look smugly around before returning to your guidebook.
21 - 30
You’ve obviously been here some time and should be proud of yourself. But beware that experience does not turn to cynicism.
31 - 40
Impressive: it seems you know Krakow like the back of your hand. However, there’s more to life than the back of your hand. Krakow is a fine city. Never forget it.
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