WARSAW & KRACOW, POLAND City coordinators: Andrzej Bobiński, Program Coordinator Kasia Szajewska, Program Associate Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych/Center for International Relations Emilii Plater 25, 00‐688 Warsaw, Poland Phone: +48 22 ‐ 646 5267 Cell: +48 22 ‐ 501 372 342 (Andrzej) Cell: +48 22 ‐ 501 087 006 (Kasia) Fax: +48 22 ‐ 646 5268 Kracow Hotel: Campanile Hotel Sw. Tomasza, 34 Street (Saint Thomas Street) Phone: +48‐12‐424‐26‐00 Fax : +48‐12‐424‐26‐01 Warsaw Novotel Centrum Hotel 94/98 Marszalkowska Street Phone : +48‐22‐621‐02‐71
Kracow, Poland
Krakow is Poland’s prime tourist attraction, a must with few equals in the entire Central and Eastern Europe. The place has been settled since the Stone Age at least. In 1038 Krakow became the capital of Poland and Polish monarchs took up their residence in its Wawel Royal Castle. The Old Town historical district in Krakow’s heart is actually the medieval city established in 1257 by Prince Boleslav V, the ruler of Poland at the time. Its well preserved original grid of streets with the huge central Grand Square, Europe’s largest in the Middle Ages, seems the last stage in the perfection of medieval city planning. It is also the best example of that art. In its long history Krakow underwent many ups and downs. The proud capital city of a mighty kingdom for centuries, it was turned into a sleepy borderland town of the Austrian empire in the 19th century. Then it became a vital center of Polish national awakening at the turn of the 20th century and the cradle of Poland’s rebirth, only to be reduced to backwater under communism. Now Krakow is nearly a million city ripe for restoration to European status. And the beautiful Old Town area remains its vibrant hub with numerous landmarks, museums, art galleries, music venues, theaters, university colleges, etc. on top of myriad boutiques, cafes, and restaurants. UNESCO entered the whole of Krakowʹs Old Town in the list of the world cultural heritage.
Friday, June 22 6:00 PM 8:30 PM
MEET IN HOTEL LOBBY ‐ INTRODUCTION TO POLAND AND PROGRAM BRIEFING DINNER RESTAURACJA SZARA 6 Rynek Główny www.szara.pl
Saturday, June 23 9:30‐11:00 AM 11:00 ‐ 1:00 PM 1:00 ‐ 2:00 PM
2:00‐4:00 PM
4:30– 7:00 PM
INTRODUCTION TO POLAND : ITS RELIGION, CULTURE AND HISTORY Meeting with Father Maciej Zięba TOUR OF KRAKOW OLD TOWN, WAWEL CASTLE, JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY LUNCH AT MIóD MALINA 40 Grodzka Street MEETING WITH ANNAMARIA ORLA‐BUKOWSKA, SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGIST Jagiellonian University – Institute of Sociology 52 Grodzka Street FREE TIME / WIELICZKA SALT MINE (OPTIONAL) The Wieliczka salt mine features a 3.5 km tourist route that includes statues of historical and mythical figures, all sculpted by miners out of the rock salt. Also featured are beautifully carved chambers, chapels, an underground lake, and exhibits that illustrate the history of salt‐mining. The salt mine is justly referred to as ʺthe underground salt cathedral of Poland.ʺ During World War II, the salt mine was used by the occupying Germans as housing for war‐related production plants. In 1978 the Wieliczka salt mine was placed on the original UNESCO roster of World Heritage Sites. The salt mine forms an ʺunderground townʺ with churches, lakes and passages. www.kopalnia.pl
9:00 PM
DINNER & DRINKS WITH STUDENTS OF THE JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY Kolory Bar
Sunday, June 24 9:15 AM 9:20 AM ‐ 10:30 AM
MEET IN HOTEL LOBBY TRAVEL BY MINIVAN TO AUSCHWITZ‐BIRKENAU CONCENTRATION CAMP MUSEUM The site of the Nazi notorious Auschwitz death camp is an hour’s drive from Krakow. Between June 1941 and January 1945 about one million men, women and children perished in the three Auschwitz concentration camps–i.e. Auschwitz proper, Birkenau and Monowitz–and their more than forty sub‐ camps.
10:30 AM ‐ 2:00 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM
AUSCHWITZ MUSEUM LUNCH Karczma restaurant at open‐air museum in Lipowiec village (on the way back to Krakow) ARRIVAL IN KRAKOW
5:00 PM ‐ 7:45 PM 8:30 PM FREE EVENING
TRAIN ‐ JOURNEY TO WARSAW CHECK‐IN AT NOVOTEL CENTRUM HOTEL
WARSAW, POLAND Poland’s capital and biggest city, Warszawa, has often been described as the phoenix from the ashes of WWII. With about 90 % of its buildings destroyed, it is essentially a postwar city. Although the old town has been exactly reconstructed as in pre‐war times, most of the urban landscape is containing modern atmosphere. That includes the Palace of Culture and Science (once a present from the Soviet leader Stalin to the people of Poland ) on the one side, as well as recently constructed skyscraper buildings in the center of Warsaw on the other side. Warsaw’s main north‐south boulevard is the Royal Way, running from the Royal Castle to Lazienki Palace, the royal summer residence. This is one of Europeʹs grandest stretches of road, with churches, palaces, galleries and museums lining the route.
Monday, June 25 Dress: business 9:00 ‐ 11:00 AM
11:30 ‐ 1:00 PM
WARSAW UPRISING MUSEUM 79 Grzybowska Street MEETING WITH AMBASSADOR VICTOR ASHE Embassy of the United States Al Ujazdowskie 29/31
Victor Ashe was nominated by President Bush to be Ambassador to the Republic of Poland on April 8, 2004, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 21, 2004. He was sworn in on June 23, 2004, in Washington, DC. Ambassador Ashe has visited all 16 of Polandʹs provinces and over 120 Polish cities. Amb. Ashe’s history of public service includes serving 31 years in Tennessee state and city elective offices. In December 2003, Amb. Ashe completed an unprecedented 16 years as Mayor of Knoxville, the longest mayoral tenure in the city’s 216‐year history. Mr. Ashe improved Knoxville’s financial picture by increasing the fund balance and improving the bond rating for the city, doubling the park system’s acreage from five to 34 miles of greenways when he left office. He led the effort for waterfront development in his city and built a new state‐of‐the‐art convention center to boost tourism. Mr. Ashe established a police civilian review board, and in January 2004 he received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission’s chair award for his work on behalf of improving race relations. He also made historic preservation a theme of his tenure. www.poland.usembassy.gov 1:30 PM‐ 3:00 PM
LUNCH WITH EUGENIUSZ SMOLAR – THE FIGHT AGAINST COMMUNISM, A BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE AND ITS AFTERMATH…
Center for International Relations
The Center for International Relations (CIR), founded in 1996 by the former Polish ambassador to Germany, Janusz Reiter, is an independent, non‐governmental establishment dedicated to the study of Polish foreign policy as well as those international political issues, which are of crucial importance to Poland. The Center’s primary objective is to offer political counseling, to describe Poland’s current international situation, and to continuously monitor the government’s foreign policy moves. www.csm.org.pl Eugeniusz Smolar ‐ journalist, media manager, born 1945. His studies of Political Economy at Warsaw University were interrupted by imprisonment in 1968 as a result of participation in students’ protests in March and protests against the Warsaw Pact armies’ invasion of Czechoslovakia in August. Following his release from jail, he emigrated to Sweden in 1970 and completed his studies at the Sociology Faculty at Uppsala University. In 1975 he joined the BBC World Service as a journalist working in the Polish Section, then in 1982 became its deputy director, and later on its director (1988‐1997). He was active in helping the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR) and other democratic opposition groups in Poland, later Solidarity Trade Union, as well as underground publications. He was co‐founder of émigré political quarterly „Aneks” (1973‐1990) and the Aneks Publishing House. Following his return to Poland in 1997 he became member of the Management Board of Polskie Radio S.A. (public radio) with responsibility for program (1998‐2002), and later its Program Director. He was co‐organizer of the 25th anniversary celebrations of “Solidarity” Trade‐Union (August 2005) and program director of the international conference “From Solidarność to Freedom”. Mr Smolar has been co‐operating with the Center for International Relations. In October 2005 he became the President of the Center for International Relations. 3:00 – 7:00 PM 7:00 PM
FREE TIME / INDIVIDUAL APPOINTMENTS DINNER WITH MMF POLISH ALUMNI Restauracja Różana 7 Chocimska Street
Tuesday, June 26 8:00‐ 11:00 AM
PRAGA DISTRICT – WALKING TOUR Stadion X‐lecia, Fabryka Trzciny, Ząbkowska Street, Koneser Vodka distillery complex, Warsaw School of Social Psychology etc.)
Meeting with Grzegorz Piątek, architect and journalist (head of Interiors Depatment in “Architektura‐Murator” magazine) The Praga district on the right bank of the Vistula has formally been a part of Warsaw for 200 years. However it has retained its own identity, and the inhabitants, when headed downtown, still speak of ʺgoing to Warsawʺ. Praga has always been a little worse than the left bank. Warsaw had palaces, boulevards and administrative offices. And Praga gets stuck with the dilapidated brick buildings, neglected courtyards full of unsupervised children and neighborhood drunks living large. Sometimes referred to as Warsaw’s Bronx, Praga is poor, dangerous, but authentic. And it is finally living up to its full potential. Low rents attract artists and good art attracts people from the better side of the river. Praga suffered least among all the districts of Warsaw during the War, and as such is the only real preserve of the old Warsaw. Russian Market, Dziesięciolecia Stadium (near Rondo Waszyngtona) ‐ the so called ʺRussian Marketʺ on the top of the now‐unused sports stadium (Stadion X‐lecia). In the beginning of the 1990s, people from the former Soviet Union came here to sell literally everything they had. Nowadays itʹs mostly about cheap Asian clothing, sometimes counterfeit, and most of the sellers are Vietnamese. ʺFabryka Trzcinyʺ Artistic Center is a center for arts and education comprising a Performance Hall, Theatrical Stage, Exhibition Hall, Club & Lounge, as well as a multitude of spaces designated for film screenings, fashion shows, symposiums, conferences, specialist training and other private or corporate
events. Fabryka Trzciny also serves as a backdrop for photo shoots, short advertising clips, as well as TV shows. The redesign lasted nearly two years during which 2,000 square meters was renovated. 11:00‐1:00 PM
1:00‐1:30 PM
MEETING WITH PAWEł ŚWIEBODA Poland in Europe – an overview of Polish foreign policy DemosEURO – Centre for European Strategy aims at promoting debate about the future of the European Union and global order. It is a forum for ideas about the political, social and economic dimension of European integration and international relations. The objective of the Centre is to combine analysis of the processes taking place within the European Union and in the wider world. It is also to recommend forward‐looking policies which respond to the needs of the citizens and take account of the global tendencies. www.demoseuropa.eu Pavel Swieboda worked as Advisor to the President of Poland on EU issues in the years 1996‐2000. He then headed the Office for European Integration in the Chancellery of the President. In the years 2001‐ 2006 he served as Director of the Department of the European Union in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is the author of numerous articles on issues of European integration and international relations. LUNCH WITH LUKASZ LIPINSKI
Foreign Desk Editor MMFellow Canteen of Gazeta Wyborcza 1:30 ‐ 3:00 PM
3:00‐7:00 PM 7:00 PM
VISIT TO GAZETA WYBORCZA, ONE OF THE BIGGEST DAILY NEWSPAPER IN POLAND Meeting with Polish journalists 8/10 Czerska Street FREE TIME FAREWELL DINNER Restauracja U Kucharzy 7 Ossolińskich Street www.gessler.pl
Wednesday, June 27 DEPARTURE