3258 POLAND (Lesser Poland) - International Postcrossing Meetup, Kraków, January 8, 2018

The first Polish Postcrossing meetup in 2018 occured on 8 January in Kraków, in Kazimierz district, somewhere near Q Hotel Plus, starting 4:30 afternoon. The special postcard issued with this occasion depicts Saint Mary's Basilica (Church of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven) seen from Sukiennice (Kraków Cloth Hall), across the Main Market Square in Kraków. This square is one of the four core areas of Historic Centre of Kraków, an UNESCO World Heritage Site about which I wrote here.

2748 POLAND (Lesser Poland) - Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Architectural and Park Landscape Complex and Pilgrimage Park (UNESCO WHS)

With a vision while viewing the neighbouring hills and valleys from the Castle of Lanckorona, on 1 December 1602, Mikołaj Zebrzydowski, the Voivode of Kraków commissioned the construction of a calvary, i.e. Roman Catholic monastery and the trails of the Passion of Christ modeled on the Calvary outside the city walls of Jerusalem. The town takes its name from the monastery and the last name of its founder Zebrzydowski. The town of Zebrzydów was established in 1617 in order to house the growing number of pilgrims visiting the Roman Catholic site of worship.

2368 POLAND (Lesser Poland) - Chocholowska Clearing

The Chochołowska Valley is not only the largest valley in the Polish Tatra Mountains (part of the Carpathian Mountains, located on the border with Slovakia), but the longest one as well (10 km in length). It consists of two distinct parts: one which looks more like a ravine with the so-called "Gates"', and the other modelled by the glacier. Upon crossing the last of the bridges over the Chochołowski Brook and leaving the forest, the beautiful Chochołowska Clearing (Polana Chochołowska) strikes the eyes.

2160 POLAND (Lesser Poland) - Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines (UNESCO WHS)

Located in southern Poland, the deposit of rock salt in Wieliczka and Bochnia has been mined since the 13th century, this major industrial undertaking being the oldest of its type in Europe. It illustrate the historic stages of the development of mining techniques in Europe from the 13th to the 20th centuries: both mines have hundreds of kilometers of galleries with works of art, underground chapels and statues sculpted in the salt, making a fascinating pilgrimage into the past.

1087 POLAND (Lesser Poland) - Basilica in Wadowice

Known as being the birthplace of Pope John Paul II, Wadowice is located at 50km from Kraków, on the Skawa river, confluence of Vistula, in the eastern part of Silesian Foothills. According to a legend, the town was founded by certain Wad or Wład, a short form for Ladislaus, and the first permanent settlement in the area was founded in late 10th century or early 11th century. In 1430 a great fire destroyed the town, but was soon rebuilt and granted city rights. Incorporated into the Kraków Voivodeship in 1564, it became a regional centre of crafts and trade in the 16th-17th centuries. After the 1st Partition of Poland, it was annexed by Austria, and after the WWI , it became part of the newly-reborn Poland.

0102 & 0743 POLAND (Lesser Poland) - Cracow's Historic Centre (UNESCO WHS)

Posted on 20.01.2012 and completed on 16.07.2013
To try to talk about the history of Poland in a single paragraph would be a haphazard approach and an evidence of superficiality. Few countries have known such status fluctuations in the modern era and the contemporary, from the one of high power (during the union with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania stretched from the Baltic almost to the Black Sea) to the inexistence as state, at the end of the 18th century being partitioned between Prussia, Russia and Austria. In fact raising and collapse characterizes it, as well as the verticality of the attitude. As an example the Warsaw Uprising from the autumn of 1944 is undoubtedly one of the most heroic acts in WWII, even if the enormous sacrifices of the insurgents had no other result than the Soviets advance facility, which will keep Poland in their area of influence until the late '80s. 

Can't talk about the history of Poland without talking about Kraków, a city situated in Lesser Poland (Małopolska), on the Vistula River, at the foot of Wawel Hill. It’s not known when it was founded, but in 965 a merchant from Cordoba wrote about it as the bustling trade center of Slavonic Europe. Its northern neighbors of the Piasts’ dynasty incorporated the Kraków province into their principality in the 990s, and thus was born the Kingdom of Poland. In the year 1000 the city had its own bishop, and in 1038 it became Poland’s capital, and its Wawel Castle the residence of Polish kings, but the city’s Golden Age came at the end of the 15th century. For its outstanding medieval architecture, the Historic Centre of Kraków, based on four core areas (the market square; the Wawel hill, inhabited since the Palaeolithic and the site of the imperial palace; the urban district of Kazimierz; and the Stradom quarter), is among the first sites chosen for the UNESCO's original World Heritage List, in 1978.

The Main Square (Rynek Główny - shown in the first postcard) dates back to the 13th century, and is the largest medieval town square in Europe. It is surrounded by old brick buildings (kamienice), palaces and churches, its center being dominated by the Sukiennice (the Cloth Hall or Drapers' Hall - in the first postcard, in right), rebuilt in 1555 in the Renaissance style. On one side of the Sukiennice is the Town Hall Tower (Wieża ratuszowa), on the other the 10th century Church of St. Wojciech (St. Adalbert's) and 1898 Adam Mickiewicz Monument. Rising above the square are the Gothic towers of St. Mary's Basilica (Kościół Mariacki - shown in the first postcard, in center, but also in the second).

0576 POLAND (Lesser Poland) - Wooden Churches of Southern Little Poland (UNESCO WHS)

As I wrote when I presented the Wooden Churches of Maramureş, in a wide area in Carpathians, which transcends the countries borders, the ethnic affiliation and religious beliefs, the locals have developed the craft of building wooden churches. Now is the time to write about Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland, included in 2003 among UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This site contain six churches, located in Binarowa, Blizne, Dębno, Haczów, Lipnica Murowana, and Sękowa, representing "outstanding examples of the different aspects of medieval church-building traditions in Roman Catholic culture."

0560 & 0561 POLAND (Lesser Poland) - Auschwitz Birkenau - German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (UNESCO WHS)

Nearly two years ago, when I started to be interested in UNESCO World Heritage Sites, I was surprised to find among these sites, alongside the Taj Mahal, Iguazu Falls, or the buildings constructed by Gaudi, for exemple, the nazi concentration and extermination camp from Auschwitz Birkenau. Of course that I searched the motivation on the UNESCO official website, and I found there that the site was included on the list in virtue of criterion VI, that means that it is "directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance", with specifying that "the Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria". In this case probably was not considered necessary.

More specifically, UNESCO considered that the site meets criterion VI because: "Auschwitz-Birkenau, monument to the deliberate genocide of the Jews by the Nazi regime (Germany 1933-1945) and to the deaths of countless others bears irrefutable evidence to one of the greatest crimes ever perpetrated against humanity. It is also a monument to the strength of the human spirit which in appalling conditions of adversity resisted the efforts of the German Nazi regime to suppress freedom and free thought and to wipe out whole races. The site is a key place of memory for the whole of humankind for the holocaust, racist policies and barbarism; it is a place of our collective memory of this dark chapter in the history of humanity, of transmission to younger generations and a sign of warning of the many threats and tragic consequences of extreme ideologies and denial of human dignity." Frankly, I wasn't convinced by the arguments. I don't think that if I would see in reality the camp's remains I would be more impressed than when I read certain books and I saw certain photos and movies or documentary about this subject. But that's just my opinion, which doesn't matter: Auschwitz-Birkenau is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Is known that during WWII Allies simply didn't believe that so-called Nazi labor camps were actually an extermination camps. What is less known is that the information which finally convinced them was provided by the Polish resistance, namely by the Secret Polish Army (Armia Polska Tajna) and the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). Much less known is that the first intelligence report on Auschwitz, the Witold's Report, which enabled the Polish government-in-exile to convince the Allies that the Holocaust was taking place, was drafted by Witold Pilecki, who volunteered to be imprisoned in the camp to provide information from inside and to organize a resistance movement there. He survived in the camp between September 1940 and April 1943, when he escaped, taking with him documents stolen from the Germans. After that he took part in the Warsaw Uprising. He survived again, but only to be executed in 1948 by the Stalinist secret police because he remained loyal to the London-based Polish government-in-exile. Until 1989, information on his exploits and fate was suppressed by the Polish communist regime.

0133 POLAND (Lesser Poland) - The castle that hides the treasure of Incas

Niedzica Castle (also known as Dunajec Castle) is located in the southernmost part of Lesser Poland (Małopolska), in the Pieniny mountains, on a hill 300 m upstream from the Dunajec River mouth, and it was an important centre of Polish-Hungarian relations since the 14th century. Built by the Hungarian Kokoš from Brezovica between 1320 and 1326, in 1470 it became the property of the Zápolya family. In 1528 Viliam Drugeth got the surrounding county (including the castle) from John Zápolya as a reward for the support of his aspirations for the Hungarian throne, on which he occupied two years earlier.