Rolling out the papal carpet
One Warsaw centerpiece transformed the backside of the National Theatre into a multi-level altar overlooking plac Pilsudskiego, the city's traditional venue heralding top affairs of state.
The day before the pope's arrival in Warsaw on June 9, Anna Kwiatkowska was checking out the altar before Sunday's grand mass. She'd come to plac Pilsudskiego with her husband Roman.
Under the din of hammers and shouts directing final phases of construction, Kwiatkowska noted: "It will look good, though they should add more colors to animate it. But you know, the look of the altar is not important. The most important is to be here."
Warexpo was responsible for assembling the altar that sits atop the two-story high podium, built by Mostostal Warszawa. Warexpo started working on the project just after the Corpus Christi holiday, the first weekend in June.
"Assembling the altar is not a hard job, but the biggest problem is time," said Wladyslaw Rutkowski, manager at Warexpo. "We are in a dreadful hurry."
The papal altar is the brainchild of artist Jerzy Kalina. It wasn't the first time he has dealt with decorations for the pope. He was the author of two others altars, on plac Defilad and in Agrykola Park, during previous papal visits to Warsaw.
Kalina, born in 1944, began his career in 1971. As well as a designer, Kalina has directed animated films and documentaries and designed stage sets and directed performances. Kalina is known for his depiction of the funeral of Father Jerzy Popieluszko, killed during the dark days of communist rule in 1984. Kalina also designed Popieluszko's tombstone installed in Sw. Stanislaw Kostka church in Warsaw's Zoliborz district.
The altar on plac Pilsudskiego consisted of three naves. Red draperies adorned two side naves and a historical tapestry traped behind the crucifix in the central nave.
Kalina, who learned he would design the papal altar in April, initially designed an altar that would cover the entire back side of the National Theater with a large mural depicting pilgrims and 108 World War II martyrs marching toward the Virgin Mary.
The church rejected the design because of its high costs, Kalina said. "I had to work out the next version within one week," he said.
If Kalina wasn't the most famous artist in Warsaw last week, he was the busiest one. Kalina, a short man with wind-blown hair, scurried around the podium last Wednesday, directing workers on the final altar preparation and playing traffic cop protecting his centerpiece from the ravages of curiosity seekers.
"The crucifixion should be 40 centimeters behind the roof," he shouted to a worker. Then up the podium climbed a pack of tourists, leaving their mark in footprints on the canvas covering the stage.
"People, what are you doing!" Kalina cried. "Everybody will leave his/her shoes downstairs from tomorrow."
The day before the pope's arrival in Warsaw on June 9, Anna Kwiatkowska was checking out the altar before Sunday's grand mass. She'd come to plac Pilsudskiego with her husband Roman.
Under the din of hammers and shouts directing final phases of construction, Kwiatkowska noted: "It will look good, though they should add more colors to animate it. But you know, the look of the altar is not important. The most important is to be here."
Warexpo was responsible for assembling the altar that sits atop the two-story high podium, built by Mostostal Warszawa. Warexpo started working on the project just after the Corpus Christi holiday, the first weekend in June.
"Assembling the altar is not a hard job, but the biggest problem is time," said Wladyslaw Rutkowski, manager at Warexpo. "We are in a dreadful hurry."
The papal altar is the brainchild of artist Jerzy Kalina. It wasn't the first time he has dealt with decorations for the pope. He was the author of two others altars, on plac Defilad and in Agrykola Park, during previous papal visits to Warsaw.
Kalina, born in 1944, began his career in 1971. As well as a designer, Kalina has directed animated films and documentaries and designed stage sets and directed performances. Kalina is known for his depiction of the funeral of Father Jerzy Popieluszko, killed during the dark days of communist rule in 1984. Kalina also designed Popieluszko's tombstone installed in Sw. Stanislaw Kostka church in Warsaw's Zoliborz district.
The altar on plac Pilsudskiego consisted of three naves. Red draperies adorned two side naves and a historical tapestry traped behind the crucifix in the central nave.
Kalina, who learned he would design the papal altar in April, initially designed an altar that would cover the entire back side of the National Theater with a large mural depicting pilgrims and 108 World War II martyrs marching toward the Virgin Mary.
The church rejected the design because of its high costs, Kalina said. "I had to work out the next version within one week," he said.
If Kalina wasn't the most famous artist in Warsaw last week, he was the busiest one. Kalina, a short man with wind-blown hair, scurried around the podium last Wednesday, directing workers on the final altar preparation and playing traffic cop protecting his centerpiece from the ravages of curiosity seekers.
"The crucifixion should be 40 centimeters behind the roof," he shouted to a worker. Then up the podium climbed a pack of tourists, leaving their mark in footprints on the canvas covering the stage.
"People, what are you doing!" Kalina cried. "Everybody will leave his/her shoes downstairs from tomorrow."
