Wystawa jubileuszowa Kraków – europejskie miasto prawa magdeburskiego 1257–1791. Refleksje ex post

Abstrakt

THE JUBILEE EXHIBITION KRAKOW – THE EUROPEAN CITY OF MAGDEBURG LAW 1257–1791. SOME EX POST REFL ECTIONS

The 750th anniversary of the establishment of Kraków under Magdeburg Law celebrated in 2007 inspired the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków to prepare its own, extensive program of jubilee celebrations (exhibitions, outdoor performances and events, publications, computer visualizations of the city’s old architecture and scale models reconstructing Kraków’s urban layout from the past, concerts, memorabilia in the form of various gadgets, and films) which were carried out from 2005 to 2007. The climax of the jubilee celebrations took place on June 5, 2007 when, after the ceremonial session of the Kraków Municipal Council, members of the municipal government participated in the opening ceremony of the jubilee exhibition at Krzysztofory Palace titled Kraków – the European City of Magdeburg Law 1257–1791 organized by the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków in cooperation with the State Archive in Kraków and the Society of Friends of Monuments and History of Kraków. The works on the massive exhibition which was presented on three floors of the palace took several years. The original chartering document dating from 1257 which, luckily, survives in our times became the starting point for the exhibition scenario draft and a direct point of reference to the temporal scope of the exhibition indicated in its title. The second, closing date was determined by the fact of the enactment of the Law on Royal Cities in the course of the Four-Year Sejm in Warsaw, on April 18, 1791. The new law was later incorporated into the Constitution of May 3 and one of the key reforms it introduced was that the regulations of Magdeburg Law were no longer to be adhered to in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The various aspects of the new reality resulting from the implementation of the privileges granted by the chartering document determined the shape and structure of the exhibition and the titles of the chapters included in the extensive catalogue which accompanied the event:
Chapter I The Establishment of Kraków under Magdeburg Law 1257
Chapter II Urban Layout
Chapter III Municipal Government
Chapter IV Judicature
Chapter V Guilds and the City’s Organization
Chapter VI Trade
Chapter VII Everyday Life
Chapter VIII Burgher City Splendour
Chapter IX Intellectual Life
Chapter X Religious Life
Chapter XI End of the City’s Prosperity and the Law on Cities – 1791
The large-scale preliminary archival research conducted in various institutions in Poland and abroad enabled the organizers to obtain valuable objects from almost 40 institutions: museums, archives, libraries, churches, convents and monasteries, universities, associations and private persons. Many of these objects have never been exhibited before. Almost 90 specialists from various fields were involved in the preparation of catalogue entries for almost a thousand very diverse exhibits. Moreover, the interdisciplinary team of experts drew up a detailed research documentation for the purposes of the exhibition (based on surviving archival, iconographic and cartographic material) which became the foundation for the 3D digital model of Kraków’s old urban layout. The final stage was the creation of physical scale models (based on the digital documentation) which were later presented at the jubilee exhibition. The exhibition titled Kraków – the European City of Magde burg Law 1257–1791 was open at Krzysztofory Palace from June 5 until November 19, 2007. The numerous, multilingual entries in the visitors’ book, the flattering press reviews (published both in Poland and abroad), and the fact that the work of the creators and organizers of the exhibition was highly appreciated and awarded the third grade prize in the prestigious Sybilla 2007 contest for the best museum exhibition may be a source of pride and wellearned satisfaction.