Krakow in the winter: a city packed with culture

“Krakow’s never been as it is today…”—the words of Artur Rojek’s song ring in my head every time I step out onto the train platform. Because it’s all true! This city is an utterly different experience with every season of the year, month, and even time of day. Its history has a great many tales up its sleeve, but its most beautiful language is culture. We know a few great addresses to get your fill, so we’ll drop a few hints on where to go get some food for the soul and the body—after all, the holidays are on their way.

DIVINE KRAKOW THEATER

December, according to the song sung by Andy Williams, whose voice Ronald Reagan once called “a national treasure,” is the “most wonderful time of the year.” Hard to deny, which is why we should, even just for a moment, forget the yuletide bustle, and let our emotions have their say. These are best sought on the stages of Krakow’s theaters between December 6 and 15, when the International Divine Comedy Theater Festival is underway.

This year the festival’s main theme is a line from Radiohead’s “Creep”: “You are so fucking special.” We can be sure theater will turn this into a question and, in our era of aggressive self-promotion that assaults us every day in social media and on television screens, it will shout: “Really?! Are we all that special?” Viewers will have to seek the answers for themselves. They might be joyful or painful, depending on the play. As every year, the selection is fantastic.

Many of Krakow’s stages will be hosting in December: the great Elizabeth Costello by Krzysztof Warlikowski, the shocking Phobia by Markus Öhrn, the powerful Saved and marvellous Wedding by Maja Kleczewska, Hunting for Wasps: A Story of Life and Death by Natalia Korczakowska, and Gold Plates by Mateusz Pakuła, the winner of last year’s Divine Comedy. If it’s a St. Nicholas Day present you’re after, a pass to all these plays could hardly go wrong.

WYSPIAŃSKI’S BELOVED STAGE

Maja Kleczewska’s aforementioned Wedding had its premiere this year on stage the Juliusz Słowacki Theater, which was originally known as the Municipal Theater. It has been operating without pause since 1893, making it one of the oldest and most famous of Polish stages. When we take a close look at this magnificent building, we find an inscription on its facade: “Krakow to the national art.” True. It was here, in 1901, that the famed premiere of Stanisław Wyspiański’s The Wedding took place. What an event! This time around, the maestro’s drama has been reinterpreted by Maja Kleczewska, whose Forefathers’ Eve—staged in this same theater—was one of the most important voices in the cultural debate of the past few decades.

In the same theater, Agata Duda-Gracz also takes on Wyspiański in the oneiric Ladies and Gentlemen, Wyspiański Is Dying. It’s worth joining the audience in December, settling down between the phantoms and the old characters, who are sure to prod, scold, and even drag the viewer on stage. This is the magic of Duda-Gracz’s theater. An experience of this sort makes a great holiday gift—after all, these days it’s more fashionable to collect experiences than things. And after the play? Until New Year’s Eve, on selected days, you can participate in a nighttime tour of the theater. Apparently the corridors and cellars are places where you might just bump into a real ghost…
 
AFTER THE THRILLS—A HOT CHOCOLATE

The ghosts are roaming the Słowacki Theater, but they’re also in the steam rising over tables in Krakow’s literary cafes. “In all of Warsaw there are not as many intelligent people as in one Krakow cafe,” philosopher and mathematician Leon Chwistek wrote years ago.

Cafe culture has taken root in Krakow for good. The spirits of artists are ever-present. Just sit down for a cup of hot chocolate at Jama Michalika, for instance—a place adored by the Young Poland Bohemia of the nineteenth century, such as Stanisław Przybyszewski, Lucjan Rydel, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, the aforementioned Stanisław Wyspiański, Józef Mehoffer, Leon Wyczółkowski, and Jacek Malczewski. They all debated at the Michalika.

Feel like something a bit stronger? Just walk a little further on. You’ll soon come to the steep steps leading to the legendary Piwnica pod Baranami, founded by Piotr Skrzynecki. Some major artists played and hung out here—Krzysztof Komeda, Krzysztof Penderecki, Ewa Demarczyk, Jan Nowicki, Marek Grechuta, Grzegorz Turnau, and many others. We can come across a great many artists in the Piwnica today as well.

Or maybe you prefer Dym? This bar on św. Tomasza Street was once the favorite hang-out of poet Marcin Świetlicki, director Marcin Koszałka, and scenographer Jerzy Skarżyński.
Cafes are part of the identity of Krakow’s residents. Let’s not miss out on this pleasure when we’re travelling through. Delving into the local urban fabric can be a fantastic adventure! It’s the best thing we can do for ourselves.