Question mark hangs over final resting place for Nobel prize-winner Miłosz

The burial place of one of Poland's greatest poets of the 20th century, Nobel prize-winner Czesław Miłosz, is a big question mark, as it is not certain whether the order of Paulean monks will allow Miłosz to rest in the Tomb of the Distinguished in Kraków. The Tomb is the final resting place of great artists such as painters Stanisław Wyspiański and Jacek Malczewski, poet Adam Asnyk and novelist Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. The last person to be buried there was Tadeusz Banachiewicz, a brilliant astronomer, who died in 1954. A letter in support of Miłosz's burial in the tomb, signed by, among others, fellow Nobel prize winners LechWałęsa and Wisława Szymborska, was passed onto the Paulean order. However, Miłosz had been criticized by nationalist circles close to the powerful Radio Maryja, which is known share the Pauleans' views. "This Tomb is a place of people, who have not only distinguished themselves in Polish culture, but also in the Church. And as far as I know, Miłosz did not have a whole lot in common with God," said one of the monks. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p.1) T.J.