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issue 5, year XIII, 2006 |
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H. E. LECH KACZYNSKI, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
Interview by Valentin Kostov
page 4
“Our bilateral relations are very good and lack any significant problems what so ever. We are partners within the North Atlantic Treaty, our troops were in close cooperation within the frames of the stabilizing mission in Iraq. We will soon become partners in the structures of the European Union, too. Poland and Bulgaria are also bound together by their adherence to the principle of solidarity, as a basis upon which cooperation between the peoples of Europe should be built. It is my belief, that solidarity between the newly-accepted member-states is necessary, taking into consideration the growing discordance and acts of national selfishness among some EC countries. That is why we can start acting from now for the creating of premises for a future partnership between Poland and Bulgaria, built upon the common strategic goal of EU’s new members: equalizing the level of economic development and safeguarding of security.”
H.E.SLAWOMIR DABROWA, PhD jur.sci. AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
Embassy of the Republic of Poland
page 7
“Naturally, there are things in Polish-Bulgarian relationship which can and should be improved. We should try to better popularise in a conscientious way the knowledge about life of our two societies, their present, culture and history. This knowledge can be enriched, for instance, through more intensive contacts between young people. The cooperation between cities and regions, which requires renovation, is another sphere in which we can achieve much more. Poland can share its experience in the field of self-management reform, as well as in the preparation of EC-financed projects. Time has come for larger investments in Bulgaria on the part of Polish companies. The joint membership in the European Union, supported by the traditionally good bilateral relations, can only be favourable to that.”
POLAND IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: A MOVING FORCE FOR ACCELERATED ECONOMIC PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT
Wladislaw Krajevski
page 9
A Polish proverb says: “Life is not bestrewn with roses”. Every day we are forced to face strong and rigid competition, to accept compromises, which do not always satisfy us, to conform with EU’s restrictive instructions (circumstantial, and sometimes bureaucratic), which can cause quite a few complications. Judging by what has already been said, one should conclude that there are minuses from Poland’s membership to the European Union, but there are also big pluses. Authentic in this respect is the position in the Government’s information about its foreign policy in 2006, submitted to the Sejm on 15 February 2006, namely: “The balance between benefits and losses is definitely in the direction of the first.”
Mr. PIOTR GRZEGORZ WOZNIAK, POLAND’S MINISTER OF ECONOMICS
page 11
“New investments in Bulgaria prove that the country is becoming ever more attractive to Polish investors: thus, for example, the Polish company MASPEX bought the third biggest producer of Queens juices - LITEX, while the company TERMOART takes active part in the production of polystyrene (Styrofoam). I would like to point out that there are 420 companies with Polish capital, registered in Bulgaria, and 187 of them possess 100 % Polish capital. More and more companies, seated in Western Europe, enter the Bulgarian market through their Polish branches. Ever more Polish firms decide to undertake trade activities through Bulgarian representatives or trade companies. Here are a few good examples, namely: KROSNO- producer of household and decorative glass, ELEKTRA - a company which produces floor heating components, the cosmetic companies MIRACULUM, EVELINE, ZIAJA, and the company for building of purifying interest among Polish economic subjects in the participation in auctions for machine and equipment supplies.”
WROCLAW - HOST CANDIDATE FOR EXPO 2012
Embassy of the Republic of Poland
page 14
Representatives of the Republic of Poland’s Government submitted to the Bureau of International Exhibitions (BIE) in Paris the official candidacy of Poland for the organization of the 2012 International EXPO in Wroclaw. Thus, Poland became the third official candidate to host the 2012 EXPO, together with Korea and Morocco. The theme of the EXPO, to be held in Wroclaw in the period 24 June - 24 September 2012, will be “Culture of Leisure in the World’s Economies”. The decision determining which country will get the right to host the 2012 EXPO will be taken in December 2007.
THE BIGGEST ORCHESTRA IN THE WORLD
Mira Suhoviejko
page 15
The first Sunday of the year is a special day in Poland. Then, the Great Christmas Aid Orchestra gathers and plays unusual music. On this very day people become humbler, more restrained, much better. You can follow the charity event on Poland’s Second TV Programme. You can see the perfectly organized units of the Foundation in every Polish town. There are Internet auctions, sales. The aim is always one and the same, strictly defined. This current year the means from the XIVth final (this is how the day on which the Orchestra carries out its action, is called) are allotted for saving the lives of children who have become victims to accidents, and more precisely, for buying medical equipment for traumatology wards in Poland. Another project envisages a 2-year training of 800 thousand children, 1st to 3rd grade pupils, how to render first aid. The collected sum so far is 9 660 691,00 US dollars. The means increase from year to year. The charity event, despite being unusual, has already become traditional.
MR. TSONKO TSONEV, Mayor of Kavarna Municipality
Interview by Tsvetanka Elenkova
page 17
“The interest towards small towns depends on a well organised advertising campaign. Over 100 new private lodgings have been opened in Kavarna. The price of the land has increased 30 times. So many streets have been asphalted for the last two years, as for the last 15 years. Street lighting has been thoroughly replaced. Unemployment has fallen down from 22% to 11%. Nearly 50 thousand tourists have spent the summer in the town this year. Over 250 thousand Bulgarians and foreigners have visited Kaliakra cape.”
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN BULGARIA
Father Krzisztof Kuzok,
Parish priest of St. Joseph Cathedral in Sofia
page 18
Few people know that the the Chiprovtsi uprising against the Turks had been initiated by the Catholic community in Bulgaria. Only recently, on 21 May 2006, after a 60-year waiting, Sofia Catholics restored their cathedral temple in the centre of Sofia, dedicated to St. Joseph, Virgin Mary’s husband. The temple was built on that same place where bombs by American and British airplanes demolished the first temple, the monastery and the Catholic colleges on 30 March 1944. This event, which took place 3 months ago, deservedly gives our capital the name “Little Jerusalem”, for it is here that the temples of the believers from the three biggest religions in the world - Christian Orthodox, Catholics, Jews and Moslems - are situated, all near each other.
JERZY NOWOSZELSKI: HUMILITY AND MIGHT
Dimiter G. Dimitrov
page 21
Nowoszelski paints, in his unique style, icons and mural paintings - entire ensembles, both in Orthodox and Uniate temples, as well as in Catholic ones. He is considered icon-painter and mundane artist, exploiting various themes - from compositions and acts, to landscapes and still life. He does not see himself as “mystic”, for through his contact with old tradition he perceives first of all the dignified, and even the sublime, in art. In the presence of some simplifications, and frugality - even to the extreme in his themes, he stands well above any naivety - so fashionable in Europe after Russeau, “the custom-house officer”, and in Eastern Poland through the village amateur activities in Orthodox regions.
CASTLES AND KNIGHTS IN POLAND
Vera Deyanova
page 25
Catalogues speak of about 500 remarkable sites of medieval military-defensive architecture, preserved to this day, which have encircled Polish lands like a rosary. Investigations in the field of architecture and construction, as well as in the building itself and the defence of the state, have gone for centuries - from the oldest fortresses of the 13-14th centuries, with their imposing turrets, embrasures, bastions, to the apotheosis of Polish feeling for freedom, lightness and refinement, expressed in the Warsaw residence of the last Polish king - the Lazenki Palace of the 18th c. This architectural “eruption” covers the period between 1228 (the year of the consolidation of the Prince’s residence in Legnica) and 1530 or 1560, i.e. during the “Golden Age” of the last representatives of the Jagiellonian dynasty, when investments were directed towards the construction of Renaissance and Baroque palaces.
HOMELAND TO APPLES, HILLOCKS, LAZY RIVERS, TART WINE AND LOVE
Magda Leszko
page 30
A huge green heart with dark-blue blood running through it - this is how Poland looked to me on the map when I was a child. To the South, this heart was contoured by an orange line (the Carpathian mountains), there was azure to the North (the Baltic Sea), while two light meandering strips along the other two sides of the heart (the Odra and the Bug) separated the country from the rest of the world. Ever more numerous tourists from the old and the new continent perceive Poland as a country whose greatest wealth are its surprises and contrasts. They come to know the eclectic architecture of our cities and the old wooden buildings in the small towns. They discover wild nature - imposing, intact, with a diversity which only a few European countries possess, having hidden ruins of castles and cemeteries from the epoch of the
World wars. I invite those, who show interest, to visit the Internet site http://www.poland.tourism.pl, where they will find more accurate information about the ways of arrival in Poland, lodging and amusements in specific towns.
GDANSK IN POLISH HISTORY, GDANSK IN EUROPEAN CONTEMPORANEITY
Dimiter G. Dimitrov
page 33
This historic little town is part of the big agglomeration, called the Triple City (or TriCity), which comprises of Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia. It was there that Poland’s port was built after its independence in 1918. Sopot is a highly renowned resort with its famous Grand Hotel situated on the beach, with an unusually long pier (“molo” in Polish) for promenades, protruding far into the sea. A number of other settlements fall into this agglomeration, which is the biggest in Poland (with a population of nearly 1 million people) after the Silesian one, and they are connected between each other by a fast electric train. It is actually the “backbone” of the Triple City, which stands out with its functional architecture, too. Urban planners and architects have managed to build quite a unified, but flexible at the same time entity, on a wide territory, where industry, housing, history, culture, nature and tourism go together in harmony. Two are Gdansk’s emblem monuments: Neptune’s fountain in the Old Town, and a little bit aside, but again in the heart of the city, the Monument of the shipbuilders, perished in 1970. The combination of the two old symbols - the cross and the anchor - is exciting and meaningful: suffering and faith generate hope.
SPEECH ABOUT THE THEATRE
Jan Kot
page 40
In moments of social tension like the ones the unhappy post-communist Eastern Europe is going through presently, the role of dramatic art, of the theatre, gradually increases. Theatre is turning into a genuine social and political tribune. A similar situation is seen in a number of Latin American countries - the political theatre there has long had a leading position. Let us remember Eastern Europe’s recent past. There was no freedom of either speech, or religion. Religion was persecuted, eroticism was strictly forbidden. Almost everything was banned. Theatre was a kind of a vent. Culture brought some sham feeling for freedom...
TO THE CINEMA IN POLAND: HISTORY, ACTION AND MYSTICISM
Janina Dragostinova
page 41
A new way of thinking entered Polish cinema with the film “Dogs”, namely, besides being culture, the film was also a commodity, which had to be sold. Not long after that the thesis was accepted. Especially by the young generation of directors. The track of the second line of development of contemporary Polish cinema was laid down with Jan Jakub Kolski’s debut. If Paszikowski stuck to action, Kolski was advocate of the Polish village‘s mysticism. Yet, the director who has brought world fame to Polish cinema - from that time to the present day - is Krzisztof Kieszlovski. His film “Three Colours: Blue, White, Red” took part in many festivals, received many awards and even today, many years after the director’s death, keeps being shown on many European television stations. The old masters Andrzej Wajda and Krzisztof Zanussi have also come again to the stage. Wajda made a screen version of “Pan Tadeusz”, which was greatly successful in Poland, though not so much abroad. But in his homeland Wajda’s film broke all onlookers’ records - it is also said that it had even served as unifier of the nation. The year 2000 was a stellar year for Wajda, as he received an Oscar for his entire works, while Polish cinema got a new international recognition. It is true, Polish audience has returned to the cinema. Unfortunately, however, Polish films continue to be unknown on the international screen, as well as most of the other East European pictures. And even though festival sections do give them their deserved place, the commercial film distributors stake on Hollywood productions, on the habit, on the well known. But this is not a purely Polish problem, it is rather a pan-European one.
THE VANGUARD VISUAL ELEMENT OF POLISH CARTOON FILMS
Nadejda Marinchevska
page 45
The Polish animation school is a real challenge for the connoisseurs of cartoon art. The exquisite and artistic films of Polish artists regularly reap the laurels of world film festivals with their unusual visual messages, engrossed penetration into the subconscious or with satire’s sharp lines. One thing is common, however, - the stunning visual element, which gives birth to the mystery of high arts. Among the prestigious awards from elite world festivals, Polish animation has also got its Oscar for “Tango” by Zbigniew Ribchinski (1982) - a director, who has subsequently become a sort of a video-art guru. “The Cathedral” by Tomek Baginski (2002) is one of the newest achievements of Polish animation. The film was nominated for an Oscar and at the same time has got the SIGGRAPH award for short film, which is probably the most prestigious award fro computer-generated work in the world.
POLAND’S QUEEN - THE BLACK MADONNA FROM JASNA GORA
Goran Blagoev, Bulgarian National Television (BNT)
page 47
For centuries on end, Poles set their hopes on Her to save them from troubles, as well as to help them win. The miraculous depiction of Virgin Mary from Czestochowa, known as well as “The Black Madonna”, is considered the second most important sanctuary after St. Peter’s relics in Rome...
THE CITIES’ COATS OF ARMS OF POLAND
Violeta Velikova-Kosheleva
page 50
BULGARIANS FROM WROCLAW PRESENT ETNO-FOLK IN ESTONIA
Dimcho Angelov
page 52
The Festival programme in Wilijandi includes every year a given instrument as a leading one. The accordion was this year’s chosen one. The accordionist of the group Evgeni Ganev is a master of this instrument, which lies in the basis of Balkan Folk Acoustics’ music. The typical Bulgarian sound of the accordion in it is strengthened by the Balkan rhythmic power of the guitar. After the concerts the group was greeted by Bulgarians settled in Estonia, Sweden, even London. At the end of the Festival organizers and journalists stated that the participation of Balkan Folk Acoustics from Wroclaw ranks among the first three most impressive performances in the fest. What’s more, many people, infected by the shivers during the concerts, expressed their wish to visit Bulgaria, they knew almost nothing about.
FAMOUS POLES:
NICOLAUS COPERNICUS,
FREDERIC CHOPIN,
MARIA CURIE,
CZESLAW MILOSZ,
JOHN PAUL II,
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA,
LECH WALESA
page 53
PHOTOATELIER PRESENTS:
SABINA SZAFRANKOWSKA:
SAFFRON RIVER
Wladyslaw Serwatowski
page 57
LITART PRESENTS:
ADAM ZAGAEVSKI,
SLAVOMIR MROZEK,
ALEXANDER SHURBANOV,
REYNOL PERES VASKES
page 61
ATELIER PRESENTS:
DELIA CHAOUSHEVA:
RUMBLINGS AND VISIONS
Dochka Kissiova-Gogova
page 66
ELLI NEDELCHEVA’S CERAMICS:
EXQUISITENESS AND DECORATIVENESS
Dochka Kissiova-Gogova
page 68
Translated by
Galia B. Cholakova
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| Translated by Galia B. Cholakova |
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