Celebrating permanence
It's not often that one of the oldest colleges in the world has a birthday. But last week Krakow's Jagiellonian University turned 600 and the whole town turned out to celebrate along with academics and dignitaries from around the world.
In a splash of color, students, professors and guests including Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek donned garish costumes and paraded through the Krakow rynek (market square). Some guests came from as far away as Harvard for the celebrations.
"Thousands and thousands of people came out on the streets to see the procession," said Norman Davies, the historian. "I can't imagine this happening in Oxford or Palo Alto."
Cheering crowds packed the streets and lined the rynek as the procession made its way from the Collegium Maius to St. Mary's Church for mass, and then to the National Philharmonic Hall for presentations.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski gave a speech at the philharmonic hall. But many Catholic groups boycotted the occasion following the controversy over a videotape showing Kwasniewski encouraging one of his aides to mock the Pope. Jagiellonian University was originally founded in 1364 by King Kazimierz the Great and ranks behind Prague's Charles University as the second oldest in Central Europe. It fell on hard times at the end of the 14th century but was refounded in 1400 after Queen Jadwiga bequeathed her gold and jewelry to the university. The new charter added a theology department, putting the school on its feet. Krakow was already on the map by this time, but it solidified the city's position as Poland's cultural heart.
"The Jagiellonian has an almost complete history from the 14th century to the 21st century except for a few short breaks," Davies said. "In a world and a country whose institutions have been interrupted and broken, for example the Polish state itself, institutions with a continuous history are rare and prestigious. The position of Jagiellonian is almost unique."
Jagiellonian's anniversary was not an official Krakow 2000 event, but one of the events augmenting its celebration as a city of European culture. Opinions regarding the success of the festival vary, with some claiming the number of visitors to Krakow has jumped from 3 million to 6 million, while others say the only thing that has risen is the price of a hotel room, up by 20%.
The festival is preparing for a second wave of events in October, including the feature "Mysteries and Initiations," a collection of spiritually inspired dance performances and workshops. "It contains the most archaic and archetypeal forms of theater," said Grzegorz Slacz of the Krakow 2000 office.
The line-up includes swirling dervishes from Turkey, native American Indians from the Taos Pueblo, singers of ancient Greek songs, Samaveda Chanters from India, and the Jaguey Ensemble from Cuba, who will perform rituals from the Afro-Cuban Santaria religion, Slacz said. He said the latter religion "shares influences from Catholicism and voodoo. There are correspondences between the saints of the Catholic Church and the demons of voodoo which create a very special relationship."
The following festival is entitled "Velvet Curtain" and features music from behind the Iron Curtain expressing the spirit that spawned the Velvet Revolution in the former Czechoslovakia.
