We are constantly on the move. The changing world sometimes flows and sometimes spins around us. Puzzled, searching, sometimes doomed to indispensable transformations, we make a choice. It is difficult to determine unequivocally, without a shadow of a doubt, what choice it is. For good and evil sprout at all times, intermingling like the circles of a rosette, the sides of the world, the petals of a wind rose, the leaves of a clover, the circles on the water, like grains of sand. The status quo is movable and diverse – yet our thought seeks to put it in order. The aim is harmony. It is harmony that brings freedom and security. It frees you from stuffiness, frustration, hopelessness.
Dreams allow diversity to coexist. They lead along picturesque paths that have not been laid out with a ruler, drawing you into cosy corners, pointing out new horizons, breaking down walls. They are simultaneously the dew and the energy of fire. It is on them that we want to build the future.
The future that is fragile, multicoloured, full of hope and faith in a better, free world
The photo was taken as part of the project “7,7,7” © Lâm Duc Hiên / Agence VU © Ars Cameralis Cultural Institution
The photo was taken as part of the project “7,7,7” © Lâm Duc Hiên / Agence VU © Ars Cameralis Cultural Institution
The photo was taken as part of the project “7,7,7” © Lâm Duc Hiên / Agence VU © Ars Cameralis Cultural Institution
ECOC
The ECOC, or European Capital of Culture (formerly the European City of Culture), is the European Union’s flagship cultural initiative which aims to protect and promote the richness and diversity of cultures in Europe and highlight their common features.
Pszczyna’s candidature for the title of European Capital of Culture 2029 sets in motion a long, six-year process. Its aim is to identify the city’s problems and then solve them gradually and systematically. Transforming weakness into strength.
Residents are therefore invited to participate in the process. Every voice will be an invigorating new source of action, of integration of people, of people with art, of people with nature.
We are not running because Pszczyna is the best place in the world. We are running because we want to stimulate its potential to become such a place. We believe, nay, we know, that the past and the future will form a coherent story that begins right now. It is a story open to new threads. To dreams.
Pszczyna Land
The Pszczyna Land has always been located at the crossroads, the meeting point of cultures – where human elements clash and mix. Arena of battles, peasant revolts, national uprisings and workers’ strikes. The cradle of the Silesian industrial revolution and a sanctuary for vanishing species.
Initially the western border of Lesser Poland, but with the transfer of the area to the rule of the Silesian Piasts, it was forever linked to the multicoloured history of Silesia. Polish, German, Bohemian and Hungarian Silesia, where wandering merchants, marching armies or refugees seeking shelter have left parts of themselves behind, co-creating the unique character of this land.
The town was shaped by the Turzon, Anhalt, Promnitz and Hochberg families, successive generations of townspeople – Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Greek Catholics and Orthodox – as well as generations of craftsmen, farmers, workers and artists. During World War I, crucial world decisions were made in the Pszczyna palace, and twenty years later soldiers fighting on both fronts of the next great war treated their wounds here.
The heritage of the Pszczyna land is full of riches and opposites. And so is its culture – from folklore ensembles cherishing the songs of their ancestors, to artists creating in a world of new technologies and digital art that eludes simple definitions.
Such is Pszczyna and the Pszczyna Land.
Such is our Dreamland.
Photo from the resources of the Municipal Office of Pszczyna
European Capital of Culture Office
24/1 Piastowska Street, Pszczyna, Poland
Opening hours:
Monday: 7:00 – 17:00
Tuesday – Thursday: 7:00 – 15:00
Friday: 7:00 – 14:00