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Kraków Szopka
Kraków szopki or nativity scenes (crib, crèche) () are a Christmas tradition originating from Kraków, Poland, and dating back to the 19th century. An unusual and characteristic feature of the szopka is the use of historical buildings of Kraków as a backdrop for the Nativity of Jesus.Kraków Szopka on culture.pl In 2018, it was inscribed on the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. History Nativity scenes, common in s, originated with |
Bronisław Pięcik
Bronisław Pięcik (; 1936March 25, 2010) was a Polish precision mechanic who was renowned for the elaborate medium and large-sized Nativity scenes called ''Kraków szopka'' that he built. Pięcik first took part in the Kraków Nativity Scene Contest in 1962. By the time of his death in 2010, he had competed a total of 41 times in the contests, placing first 22 times in multiple categories. ''Kraków szopka'' While Pięcik mainly built the ''Kraków szopka'' himself, he also worked on some of them with his wife Maria and his granddaughter Roksana Rutkowska. Each ''szopka'' would generally take him upwards of a thousand hours to build, while some took even more than that. For example, his ''szopka'' entry for 2004 took him more than 1,000 hours to build. He constructed his ''szopka'' according to the characteristics of the genre, which meant that they only contained historical, architectural elements found in Kraków as the backdrop. He was particularly fond of using buildings fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puppets
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in ancient Greece. There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made from a wide range of materials, depending on their form and intended use. They range from very simple in construction and operation to very complex. The puppeteer buses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer often speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, and then synchronizes the movements of the puppet's mouth with this spoken part. The actions, gestures and spoken parts acted out by the puppeteer with the puppet are typically used in storytelling. Two simple types of puppets are the finger puppet, which is a tiny puppet that fits onto a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Krzysztofory Palace
The Krzysztofory Palace is a small, baroque palace located on the main square of Kraków, in Małopolska region of southern Poland. It is the location of the Historical Museum of Kraków. Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa . History Between 1640 and 1649 the Palace was owned by the Offices in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Crown Court Marshal , who also commissioned its construction. The palace is named after St. Krzysztof, the |
Historical Museum Of Kraków
The Historical Museum of the City of Kraków () in Kraków, Lesser Poland, was granted the status of an independent institution in 1945. Originally, it was a branch of the Old Records Office of Kraków, in operation from 1899. The museum holdings include sixteenth through twentieth century city maps, paintings, prints, photographs, guild objects and works by Kraków artists and artisans, as well as portraits of nobility from the sixteenth to the twentieth century; fourteenth through twentieth century weapons; a collection of sixteenth through twentieth century clocks; famous Kraków nativity scenes (''szopka''); artifacts related to theatre; Judaica; items commemorative of the Polish uprisings of the nineteenth century and of World War I and World War II, II. The museum houses a permanent exhibit of the History and Culture of Kraków, a collection of the militaria (projectiles, firearms, defense and sharp weapons), clocks and watches. The Town Hall Tower, Kraków, Town Hall Tower i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adam Mickiewicz Monument, Kraków
Adam Mickiewicz Monument in Kraków, (), is one of the best known bronze monuments in Poland, and a favourite meeting place at the Main Market Square in the Old Town (Stare Miasto) district of Kraków. History The statue of Adam Mickiewicz, the greatest Polish Romantic poet of the 19th century, was unveiled on June 16, 1898, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, in the presence of his daughter and son. It was designed by Teodor Rygier, a little-known sculptor at the time, who won the third and final competition for this project ''by popular demand'' ahead of over 60 artists in total, the renowned painter Jan Matejko included. Even though the first prize was awarded to famed Cyprian Godebski, professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg from Paris, with Rygier at a close second, for the final execution a more popular design by Rygier was accepted with a contract signed in November 1889. At the poet's feet are four allegoric groups symbolising the Motherland (fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potoccy
The House of Potocki (; plural: Potoccy, male: Potocki, feminine: Potocka) was a prominent Polish noble family in the Kingdom of Poland and magnates of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Potocki family is one of the wealthiest and most powerful aristocratic families in Poland. History The Potocki family originated from the small village of Potok Wielki; their family name derives from that place name. The family contributed to the cultural development and history of Poland's Eastern Borderlands (today Western Ukraine). The family is renowned for numerous Polish statesmen, military leaders, and cultural activists. The first known Potocki was Żyrosław z Potoka (born about 1136). The children of his son Aleksander (~1167) castelan of Sandomierz, were progenitors of new noble families such as the Moskorzewski, Stanisławski, Tworowski, Borowski, and Stosłowski. Jakub Potocki (c. 1481–1551) was the protoplast of the magnate line of the Potocki family. The magnat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnate
The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities in Western Christian countries since the medieval period. It also includes the members of the higher clergy, such as bishops, archbishops and cardinals. In reference to the medieval, the term is often used to distinguish higher territorial landowners and warlords, such as counts, earls, dukes, and territorial-princes from the baronage. In Poland the ''szlachta'' (nobles) constituted one of the largest proportions of the population (around 10-12%) and 'magnat' refers to the richest nobles, or nobles of the nobility - even though they had equal voting rights in Poland's electoral monarchy. England In England, the magnate class went through a change in the later Middle Ages. It had previously consisted of all tenants-in-chie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christmas Carol
A Christmas carol is a Carol (music), carol on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas and holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French origin. Christmas carols may be regarded as a subset of the broader category of Christmas music. History The first known Christmas hymns may be traced to 4th-century Rome. Latin hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium, written by Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism. Corde natus ex Parentis (''Of the Father's Heart Begotten, Of the Father's heart begotten'') by the Spanish poet Prudentius (d. 413) is still sung in some churches today. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas sequence (or prose) was introduced in Northern European monasteries, developing under Bernard of Clairvaux into a Sequence (liturgy), sequence of rhymed stanzas. In the 12th cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Art
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art are typically trained within a popular tradition, rather than in the fine art tradition of the culture. There is often overlap, or contested ground with 'naive art'. "Folk art" is not used in regard to traditional societies where ethnographic art continue to be made. The types of objects covered by the term "folk art" vary. The art form is categorised as "divergent... of cultural production ... comprehended by its usage in Europe, where the term originated, and in the United States, where it developed for the most part along very different lines." From a European perspective, Edward Lucie-Smith described it as "Unsophisticated art, both fine and applied, which is supposedly rooted in the collective awareness of simple people. The concep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smok Wawelski
''Smok'' (meaning "dragon" in Polish) is an extinct genus of large carnivorous archosaur. It lived during the latest Triassic period (latest Norian to early Rhaetian stage, between 208.5–205 Ma). Its remains have been found in Lisowice, southern Poland. The only species is ''Smok wawelski'' (after the Wawel Dragon, a dragon from Polish folklore) and was named in 2012. It is larger than any other known predatory archosaur from the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic of central Europe. The relation of ''Smok'' to other archosaurs has not yet been thoroughly studied; it may be a rauisuchid, prestosuchid, an ornithosuchid pseudosuchian (part of the crocodilian lineage of archosaurs) or a theropod dinosaur. Description At an estimated in length, ''Smok'' was the largest carnivorous archosaur in central Europe in the time it was alive. It was larger than any other known theropod dinosaur or pseudosuchian living in central Europe during either the Late Triassic or Early Juras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pan Twardowski
Pan Twardowski (Polish: ''Pan Twardowski'' ), also known as Master Twardowski (Polish: ''Mistrz Twardowski''), is a sorcerer in Polish folklore and literature who made a deal with the Devil. Twardowski sold his soul in exchange for special powers – such as being able to summon for King Sigismund Augustus the spirit of his deceased wife – and eventually met a tragic fate. The tale of Twardowski exists in various versions, and forms the basis for many works of fiction, including the humorous ballad "Pani Twardowska" by Adam Mickiewicz. The folklore is commonly assumed to have been heavily inspired by the similar German story of Faust, with which there are many parallels. Legend According to an old legend, Twardowski was a nobleman (szlachcic) who lived in Kraków in the 16th century. He sold his soul to the devil in exchange for great knowledge and magical powers. However, Twardowski wanted to outwit the devil by including a special clause in the contract, stating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
