Light from the Treasure Trove

This was well understood by Jerzy Dobrzycki: following a slump in the nativity scene-making tradition, he launched an annual competition for the constructions in 1937, using Ezenekier’s seminal nativity scene as the opening point. The competition, now run by the Museum of Krakow, continues until the present day. Ever since, families with long-standing traditions of nativity scene-making and new authors have been spending long months in their apartments and workshops devising their very own constructions. Some are radically different from Ezenekier’s original scene, even though they clearly reference it. In 2011, Piotr Michalczyk replaced the traditional towers of the Basilica of St. Mary with a skyscraper at Grzegórzeckie Roundabout and the unfinished (at the time), skeletal construction of the Unity Tower at Mogilskie Roundabout, plastered with advertising banners. He also created new actors and new roles in the context of contemporary Christmas customs. Every year, constructors dream up their own characters for their nativity scenes which reflect the rhythm of the city, the country, the world.

Nativity scene makers present their vision of Kraków at the foot of the Adam Mickiewicz statue on the Main Market Square on the first Thursday of December. As the hejnał bugle call resounds at noon, the assembled crowds form a colourful procession to the nearby Krzysztofory Palace, branch of the Museum of Krakow, to present the nativity scenes to the assembled jury.

Ezenekier’s original, timeless idea and the shrewd decision of the municipal authorities to found the competition are fundamental to the event. To mark this, in 2018, the Cracovian nativity scene-making tradition was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Every year, the Museum of Krakow hosts an exhibition of constructions submitted to the competition, and in recent years selected nativity scenes have also been displayed in the city space.

This joining of artistic visions, practical skills and bold imagination fed by local culture made the Workshops a pioneering concept. The very nod towards the rustic was inspired by the Workshops’ respect for independent authors, in particular those from rural areas – for their instinctive sense of the material intertwined with genuine inventiveness. It is no wonder, then, that the Workshops dared follow the path set down by Antoni Buszek, author of an inspired method of teaching art. Following his fascinating experiences in Paris, he arrived in Kraków just at the time when the Workshops were being formed. His proposed methods were later awarded the Grand Prix at the World Expo in Paris in 1925.

Buszek had a knack for inspiring children and teenagers’ creativity. He started by approaching peasant women working at the cigarette factory at Dolnych Młynów Street. He convinced them that they’d make better money doing a more interesting job at the Kraków Workshops at Smoleńsk Street. After a few trials, he asked them to draw and paint the way they did when they were children. They were soon creating fabulous patterns for batiks, fabrics and wooden toys, working alongside artists such as Zygmunt Lorec and Zofia Stryjeńska. This process uncovered the flair of Józefa and Zofia Kogut and Felicja Kossowska, all of whom were awarded individual Grand Prix in fabrics at the Paris expo. (There is not enough space here to include the full list of prizes awarded to the Workshops, but it’s worth noting that the Workshops won 20 of the 36 Grand Prix presented to Polish entrants.)

The Kraków Workshops wouldn’t have been possible without support from the Museum of Science and Industry at 9 Smoleńsk Street, which provided technical backing such as a weaving loom, batik and dyeing studios, metalwork workshops, carpentry tools, a bookbinding workshop and a printing press. The collaboration resulted in many fascinating designs, perhaps the finest of which is the stairwell balustrade designed by Józef Czajkowski. Today, the site of the former Museum of Science and Industry is home to the Faculty of Industrial Design of the Academy of Fine Arts. The façade, also designed by Czajkowski, still bears the inscription in a distinctive font: “Municipal Museum of Science and Industry. Institute Supporting Industry and Craft”.

The economic crisis of the 1920s put a stop to the experiment, and the Workshops closed in 1926. However, this doesn’t change the fact that the gesture of the Kraków Workshops remains a visionary one, bringing together circles of heritage, education, design, craft and modernity. What’s more, the invigorating spirit of the Kraków Workshops arose in spite of previous disasters and crises faced by the city. The association also resisted the temptation to simply copy patterns and designs from folk culture. On the contrary, Czajkowski postulated, “Let’s create freely without looking at categories and concepts, instead simply drawing on our greatest pleasures” – and his motto came true.

A century later, the concept of “beautiful and useful things” and “art penetrating everyday life” is making a comeback in Kraków. The Ethnographic Museum is working with designers, craftsmen and local communities to create solutions for public space inspired by the spirit of the location. There is also talk about founding a design museum in Kraków. Another interpretation of the Workshops’ code is proposed by Jerzy Hausner from the Kraków University of Economics, held under the banner Firm-Idea – a concept of enterprise management that answers major problems of today. It is implemented by the Open Eyes Economy Summit.

Will the gesture of the Kraków Workshops return to Kraków?

Rękawka has undergone an even more fascinating evolution. Celebrated on the first Tuesday after Easter, the nature of the event is encapsulated by Andrzej Nowak’s words: “An ancient pagan celebration of the sacrum of place and customs. A gentle pressure of tradition…” It is a sacrum of place since it is held at the foot of the Krakus Mound, dedicated to the legendary founder of Kraków. Ancient pagan rites are explored through the theme of a funeral wake. Yet the event is celebratory: it became a feast in the 19th century when wealthy Cracovians rolled various foodstuffs – nuts, eggs, bread, cakes – down the hill for the poor to chase (the motif of food returns, as though at a wake). Today, Rękawka returns to its roots and presents demonstrations of life and contests from the early Middle Ages, as well as exploring contemporary problems through the prism of the era. Need to cure a disease? Ask one “in the know” – a witch, an alchemist, a herbalist… We will meet warriors, shamans, mediaeval contests and historic and legendary figures.