A Few Remarks on Poland’s Contribution to the European Culture

For last two hundred years,Poland became famous in Europe in diffrent fields e.g. art, music and architecture.

Fryderyk Chopin The greatest Polish composer and pianist. This worldwide known composer was only eight when he gave a good piano concert. At the age of 20 he moved to Paris where he stayed till the end of his life. Ostrogski Palace – seat of the Chopin Society and it contains a small Chopin Museum The Chopin Monuments Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, France.

The International Chopin Piano Competition is a piano competition held in Warsaw, Poland. It was initiated in 1927 and has been held every five years since It is one of few competitions devoted entirely to the works of a single composer. He composed a lot of music. He wrote Mazurkas and Polonaises. They are included to our National Dances. The other three dances are Kujawiak, Oberek and Krakowiak.

Mazurkas

Polonaise

Kujawiak

Oberek

Krakowiak

Witold LutosławskiHenryk Górecki Krzysztof Penderecki Other famous musicians

Film Music Wojciech Kilar – the author of : Dracula, The Pianist, The Portrait of Lady. Zbigniew Preisner – the author of : When the Man Loves Woman, The Secret Garden, The Double Life of Veronique.

Krzysztof Komeda He was among the pioneers of the Polish jazz scene and one of the most original composers of film music. Komeda’s album Astigmatic is widely regarded as one of the most important European jazz albums.

Jan Kaczmarek Nowdays, the musical ornamentation of many well- known films is provided by him. In 2005 he received the Oscar Academy Award for Best Original Score for Finding Neverland.

Andrzej Wajda Polish film and theater director. Four films by Andrzej Wajda (The Promised Land, The Maids of Wilko, Man of Iron, and Katyn) where nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film. In 2000, Wajda received an honorary Oscar from the American Film Academy. In 1981, Man of Iron won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Roman Polański Polish-French film director, producer, writer, and actor. Having made films in Poland, the United Kingdom, France and the United States, he is considered one of the few ”truly international filmmakers”. His words : I want people to walk to the cinema. I am a man of a show. I play. I have always believed that man is basically good. If it were otherwise our species would have expired long time ago.

Krzysztof Kieślowski Polish film director and screenwriter. He began his career as a director specializing in documentaries, but over time became involved in the implementation of feature films. Occasionally he also undertook theatrical activities. He is known internationally for The Decalogue (1989), The Double Life of Véronique (1991), and The Three Colors Trilogy (1993–1994).

Janusz Kamiński He is a Polish cinematographer and film director who started his career in the United States. He rose to fame in the 1990s following Schindler's List (1993). Since then, he has photographed all of Steven Spielberg's films. He won the Academy Award for his cinematography of Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan (1999). In recent years, Kamiński has also moved into the field of directing.

Polish actress and model.She was born in 1970.She is the best known and recognised as one of Bond’s girls in „GoldenEye”. In Poland her big part was in Jerzy Hoffman’s production „With Fire and Sword”. Izabella Scorupco

Jan Matejko is one of the greatest Polish painters. He studied art in Cracow, later in Germany and Austria. Matejko travelled to many foreign countries. In total he painted about 200 paintings. Most of them refer to Polish history. One of his best known paintings is „The battle of Grunwald” Jan Matejko Jan Matejko – Polish painter

Jan Matejko’s Paintings „the battle of Grunwald” „Stańczyk” „The 3rd May Constitution”

Zbigniew Libera He is one of the most interesting Polish artist. His works- photographs, video films, objects, drawings, play with the stereotypes of contemporary culture. Libera has decoted himself to analyzing the media and the significance to the image in mass culture, creating controversial works including the Lego Concentration camp, a model of a Nazi prison made from the toy blocks.

Robert Konieczny A graduate of the architecture faculty; certified by New Jersey Institute of Technology. His project- The broken House has been acknowledged as one of the icons of Polish architecture and was nominated to European Award in In 2007 his project won a gold medal of the young Architects Contest ”Leonardo 2007”. Konieczny was also numbered among 44 world’s best young architects.

Magdalena Abakanowicz Polish artist best known for her textile sculptures of biomorphic. She studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. Abakanowicz has received numerous awards, including the Grand Prix of the Sao Paulo and Award by the International Sculpture Center in New York. Her work has been exhibited at the Museo National Centro in Madrid, in New York in the Metropolitian Museum of Art.

Summarizing, all nations contributed to the rich European culture; the priceless traditions have been built up for centuries. They must not be understimated, especially in the era of cultural globalisation and the promotion of mass culture.