In September 2006 Prof. Alexy Avdieyev visited the Polonicum upon invitation of Director of the Institute, Prof. Ryszard Kulesza. “Professor Avdieyev” is his official appellation at the Jagiellonian University; for his friends and onstage he is just Alosha, a true one-man orchestra. A Pole of Russian origin, Alosha is a scholar, an academic, and an artist. He gives concerts in Poland and abroad, dividing his time between the university, his home and the stage. Our distinguished guest was interviewed by “Kwartalnik Polonicum”. His visit was brief, as he was in a hurry to take his guitar and his ballads to a friend’s birthday party; yet it was a great pleasure to meet the outstanding artist and linguist for a real Pole-to-Pole chat.

The meeting with Kira Gałczyńska

In July 2007 Polonicum had the honour of welcoming Mrs Kira Gałczyńska, the daughter of Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, the author of several books about her father and the curator of his museum in Pranie, and the author of “Srebrna Natalia”, a biography of her mother. Mrs Gałczyńska met the participants of the Warsaw Polish Language and Culture Meetings  Jaka piękna jest w lipcu Warszawa. Slight, fragile and enormously charming, she gave the audience much more than just a talk and an autograph to her book: her gift was a journey in the footsteps of her beloved mother, Natalia Gałczyńska, Konstanty Ildefons’s wife and muse. She was a granddaughter of a Russian councillor of state and the daughter of Prince Avalishvili, ensign of the Georgian Horse Regiment. Spinning the yarn of family secrets, Mrs Gałczyńska colourfully told of her parents’ complicated relationship and of their great ability to love, trust and forgive. Kira Gałczyńska’s voice sometimes trembled with emotion, full of adoration for her father’s talent and worship of her mother. She spoke slowly and clearly, obviously exalting in every word, always with a sweet smile. The breaks she often made in her narrative made the audience even more deeply aware how important were the things she told. Listening to her beautiful Polish, too, was a rare intellectual treat.

The program of the XXXIII Winter Course for the South-European students in February 2007, included a trip to the estate in Karolin near Warsaw, which is the seat of the “Mazowsze” Tadeusz Sygietyński State Folk Song and Dance Ensemble, one of the best-known Polish ensembles referring to our folk music and dance tradition. We saw the collection of posters and mementoes gathered by the artists during their tours of all the corners of the globe. In the collection there were cups, diplomas and gifts, some of them presents from the heads of states. Among the ensemble’s most precious treasures was the order conferred by the government of Poland: the Order of the White Eagle. We also admired the collection of lovely folk costumes for which “Mazowsze” is famous. We saw one of the gala concerts; the only pity was that we could watch it on large-format screen only, not live, but we loved the songs, the whirling skirts of the girls and the athletic leaps of the boys nevertheless. The visit at “Mazowsze” was an unforgettable encounter with Polish culture, an occasion to appreciate the artists’ hard work and to admire the dance rehearsal before the upcoming show. 

Etnographic workshops

As every year, the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw organised an Easter get-together for our foreign students; and it was, as always, an immensely popular event. Museum lecturers dressed in lovely folk costumes presented Polish Easter customs, displaying Palm Sunday boughs and demonstrating various techniques of decorating Easter eggs. After the documentary film on Easter, there was also the more tangible demonstration of what is found on every Easter table in Poland: sweet mazurka cakes and babas, so the meeting provided our guests not only with food for thought.