On June 20, 2024, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Convention for the adopted 14 May 1954, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the International Cultural Center in Krakow, the State Archives in Warsaw, and the Polish Blue Shield Committee jointly organized an expert discussion “War and culture – experiences and challenges”.
Topics included the promotion of the “Blue Shield”, the Emergency Program, assistance, advice for endangered cultural heritage, and the achievements of Professor Jan Zachwatowicz, who attended the drafting of the Convention and designed its distinctive emblem. Professor Krystyna Zachwatowicz-Wajda, daughter of Professor Zachwatowi participated in the debate, alongside Professor Stanisław Waltoś, a long-time lecturer of law at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik, director of the International Cultural Center and Krzysztof Sałaciński, President of the Polish Blue Shield Committee. The event was also attended by the Director of the State Archives in Warsaw, Magdalena Wiercińska.
The guests invited to the debate discussed how the experiences from 70 years ago can help us today? How have legal regulations regarding cultural protection changed after the experience of post-war reconstruction and what role do they play today in times of danger?
In 1946, prof. Jan Zachwatowicz, architect and head of the Department of Historic Architecture of the Warsaw Reconstruction Office, said:
“The cataclysm of the last war made the matter even more acute. Entire pages of our history, written in stone letters of architecture, were deliberately torn out. The sense of responsibility towards future generations demands the reconstruction of what was destroyed, a full reconstruction, conscious of the tragedy of the historical falsehood committed”.
How do we today – as the future generations indicated by him – perceive the reconstruction process and what have we taken from his achievements?
Watch the debate...
Alongside the debate, the exhibition “Warsaw Stronger than War” was also opened at the International Cultural Center, prepared by the State Archives in Warsaw, and opened by Magdalena Wiercińska – Director of the State Archives in Warsaw and curator of the exhibition, together with Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik and Krzysztof Sałaciński.
The exhibition presented various materials – photos, sketches, plans, descriptions and other documents – related to the reconstruction of the capital after World War II.
Link to Exhibition “Warsaw stronger than war“
Blue Shield Poland:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PolandBlueShield
Website: http://blekitnatarcza.org/
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