Franciszek Ziejka

The Cracow Society of Art and Literature

The article presents the history of an estimable organization of writers and artists from Cracow. The Society of Art and Literature was brought into existence through the initiative of Juliusz Kossak, an outstanding painter, who in 1869 came to Cracow with his family. Here, among the Cracovian writers, he found a reliable collaborator, Michał Bałucki. The two of them directed the Society since its beginnings in 1881 (Kossak as President and Bałucki as Vice-President). Kossak directed the Society until his death in 1897; after that, Bałucki took over and remained President until his death in 1901. He was succeeded by Julian Fałat, followed by Marian Zdziechowski, August Sokołowski and Kazimierz Morawski.
The Society had its premises in the Main Market Square, where most of its events, like readings and presentations, anniversary celebrations and social receptions, took place. Members of the Society received there eminent guests from both Poland (e.g. Helena Modrzejewska, Henryk Siemiradzki) and abroad (e.g. Marie Pospíšilová, an excellent actress from Prague). In 1883 the Society of Art and Literature organized the First Convention of Polish Artists and Writers. In 1891, together with numerous other Polish artists, writers and intellectuals, members of the Society went to Prague for the National Exhibition. The group played an important role in Cracow and Galicia, although it did not mark out new trends in art or literature; this was done by other Cracovian societies functioning at the turn of the 20th century.

The Literary Union (1891-1899)

The author of the article has undertaken an attempt to present the history of one of the cultural associations which existed in Krakow at the turn of the 19th century. The Literary Union was founded by a group of writers and literary critics who were dissatisfied with the activity of the Artistic-Literary Circle which had operated in Krakow since 1881. The Union which had been formally registered in the Regional Lieutenancy towards the end of 1891, began its activity in February 1892. Among its ranks it grouped between 50 and 90 writers, literary and theatre critics, including professors of the Jagiellonian University. The successive presidents of the Union included: Józef Tretiak, Marian Zdziechowski and Kazimierz Bartoszewicz. The Union had its own premises in which weekly lectures devoted above all to important literary phenomena were held. The members appreciated partucularly the possibility of taking advantage of the well-stocked Union reading-room, which had subscribed to a few dozen Polish and foreign literary magazines. In the years 1896-1898, the Union published a biweekly entitled “Przegląd Literacki” /Literary Review/ (edited by Kazimierz Bartoszewicz), which however did not publish any program manifestos, nor literary polemics;  the biweekly published exclusively the reviews of books which appeared on the Polish book market. The Union had lost its entire raison d’etre the moment Stanisław Przybyszewski arrived in Krakow and became the editor of the “Życie” /Life/ magazine. It was precisely this magazine that became the main platform for the writers and poets realizing their modernist artistic program.

„That the Ashes of My Bones Will Not Be Spurned...” (on the Posthumous History of Jan Kochanowski)

In the paper, the author undertakes an attempt to present the posthumous history of the earthly remains of the author of the Treny (Laments). To our great surprise, we confront here some very concrete questions. To begin with, our doubts arise already in connection with the exact date of the poet’s death; researchers squabble over the place of the poet’s first burial (Lublin? Sycyna or Zwoleń?); the history of the poet’s Zwoleń grave has not been properly researched. In the paper, the author focuses above all, on discussing the issues associated with the events which took place in Zwoleń in the course of the 19th- 20th centuries. Thus, he reminds the readers of the shocking deed of Tadeusz Czacki who in 1791 decided to take out from Kochanowski’s coffin the poet’s skull (up until today, the skull constitutes an exhibit in the Princes’ Czartoryski Museum in Krakow); he also reminds the readers of the equally shocking decision of the Zwoleń parish priest of 1830 to remove Kochanowski’s remains from the crypt under the church and bury them in a communal grave; subsequently, the author describes the symbolic burial of the poet in 1984. In the Aneks (Supplement), the author encloses a letter of pope John Paul II which the pontiff had sent for celebrations in Zwoleń; however, the letter had not been read during the celebrations as it had been delayed in the post, only to be delivered after the celebrations. The original of the letter is to be found in the archives of the Zwoleń parish.