Dziedzictwo jako scena rytualna. Przypadek Starego Miasta w Krakowie
Heritage as a Ritual Scene. The Case of the Old Town in Kraków

Summary/Abstract: In 1978 the Old Town in Kraków was listed as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO, while during 1994 the Polish government officially pronounced it a “national historic monument”. Nowadays, the space of the Old Town serves not only as one of the major Polish tourist attractions, but also reveals complex symbolic dimensions used by contemporary Poles in their current debates about national identity, political stance, relation to the past etc. The author analyses the Old Town in Kraków as a palimpsest comprising of signs of the past imprinted in historical architecture, churches and monuments. The past of the city is being re-read and reinterpreted in diverse (both recurring and incidental) political, religious and cultural rituals. The history of the city and its spaces defined as “heritage” are being used by different groups and refer to different political and religious worldviews. The paper focuses on two political events that took place within the Old Town scape in October 2016, namely: the Black Protest (females protesting against tightening of abortion law in Poland) and the White March (pro-life and Roman Catholic Church oriented event). Juxtaposing these two public events reveals contrasting and diverse usage of the potential of the heritage embodied through the Old Town spaces in Kraków.

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