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Krakow represents great history, great monuments but also great industry which itself became a monument of past times. Communism left behind it a gigantic steel mill, with Nowa Huta, ideal city of the era, today constituting the other part of Krakow, which grew next to it. A wheel once set in motion never stops, the steel mill through modernising entered the new millennium.
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The light of kerosene lamp. Soundless fire, delicate, controlled, bright. Today it is hard to remember, but its light witnessed the lives of a few generations. Malopolska is its… cradle. It was here that Ignacy Łukasiewicz, future constructor of the lamp, at the end of 1852 and beginning of 1853, distilled kerosene for the first time, using local oil deposits and at the same time started the greatest industry, fundamental to the contemporary world. Today Poland produces minimum amounts of oil, but the pumps are still there, standing in the fields of Malopolska. It all started here.
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Belgians know best that beer is a ritual. Monks of the Malopolska Szczyrzyc know that too, having produced beer since the 13th c.; so do the dwellers of Brzesko, where a pleasant scent of malt can be smelled around the old brewery of Okocim, one of the best in Poland. This ritual means also the sound of de-bunging, prelude to beer-lovers’ delight, the sound of air sucked into the barrel and eventually, the sound of pouring beer. Malopolska invites you. With or without the froth?
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There is no greater hit: everyone in Poland knows this tune, for dozens of years it has been played on the radio, and every hour it can be heard over the Krakow Market Square: the bugler plays it to the four corners of the world from the tower top of St Mary’s Church, the city’s representative temple. The tune of St Mary’s bugle call breaks off abruptly: legend has it that during the Tartar invasion of the city, in the early Middle Ages, when a watchman played the bugle to warn the city of imminent danger, a Tartar arrow pierced his throat half-note.
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From the Alps to the north slopes of Carpathian Mountains the sound of trombita can be heard wherever shepherds spend months with their flocks in high mountains. It is an unusual instrument: a hard to play, few meters long pipe (still, the Beskidy highlanders know haw to do it!). However its prolonged, low tone could be heard for centuries in the mountains informing fellow-shepherds of each flock’s whereabouts. As we can hear, trombita did not disappear from the mountains after mobile phones were introduced.
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Trains of Gypsy wagons have roamed Poland since the Middle Ages. Officially, their main occupation in the south of Poland was smithery and music. Vita brevis, ars longa: most of the Roma people have been compelled to settle, smithery sank into oblivion, but the music still remains the community’s living culture and pride. Today, when Gypsies are once again able to travel their endless routes, their music can be heard everywhere. And even though the violin is no longer popular in musicians’ hands, its wistful sound and frantic virtuosity conveys the archetypal soul of a Gypsy lifestyle.
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Although the Krakow district of Kazimierz, for centuries a separate Jewish town, reigns over all places related with Jews, Malopolska abounds in former sztetlech, some of which, like Bobowa, due to their schools, synagogues and eminent members of the Chassidic movement, forever remain part of history of Jewish culture and religiousness. Music is the most popular part of this culture today, as it speaks to everyone, regardless of their knowledge of Jews. The clarinet is one of its most traditional instruments; however, contemporary Jewish music takes on various sound forms, such as jazz and even rock. Kazimierz, a fantastic district full of bars and colourful tenements, is again its European capital. Once again we can meet Chassids with their black coats, hats and sidelocks (even if just visiting, they feel at home here); tourists also wear yarmulkes which they forgot to take off after leaving one of the synagogues, and crowds of multi-lingual guests enjoy themselves most by listening to the sounds of klezmer music.
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Highland folklore has fascinated lowland Poles for over a century. Szymanowski’s music as well as Zakopane style of architecture and ornamenting were born out of this fascination. Even today the highland culture remains the most unique and alive folk culture in Poland. Every second mountain village has its own festival, all of them have traditional music bands and dance groups, and keep forming new ones! Highland world displays no signs of dawning; highlanders remain proud and show it in songs such as the one sung by Krościenko inhabitants. The rapid river of Dunajec flows by this town, rinsing the foot of proud tops Trzy Korony, which is where highlanders provide tourists with unforgettable rafting adventure.
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A shepherd’s life is similar in all mountains: entire months on high pastures called hala spent grazing and guarding flocks assisted by the indispensable shepherd dog, taking care of sheep, milking and producing cheeses. Production is only the senior shepherd’s task, as he is the only one who knows the secrets of curdling milk to produce the exceptional cheese oscypek. His helpers, young shepherds, guard the sheep. Although this life takes on different shades on different mountain pastures, depending on specific customs and shepherds’ experience, the essence remains common to all: taking care of the grazed animals, protecting them from wolves and producing milk products. Polish highlanders share the oscypek recipe with their Slovak neighbours as in the mountains everything has the cross-border quality.
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Nearby Krakow, between Niepołomice (with spectacular Baroque parish church chapels and representative royal hunting lodge) and Bochnia (with its oldest, still working salt mine, former basis for royal budget) spreads a forest. Today, it being divided by evenly designed paths, it is harder to imagine violent hunting, also for big game, which took place here centuries ago. One step into a side alley leads us however deep inside the extraordinary, rich forest, partly bright and tall, and partly thick and dark. No other walk provides similar relaxation and nowhere will you get closer to primeval nature.