Pomaranczowa Alternatywa- The Orange Alternative- Protest, baby.

I have mentioned in my previous Polish blogs my admiration for the Polish people. They have demonstrated incredible resilience and determination in the recovery from the occupations and atrocities of the last century. One of the incredible stories of this strength is the "Orange Alternative" po polsku "Pomaranczowa Alternatywa".
When Germany lost World War II, and, I don't pretend to understand how exactly this happens, but instead of making Poland Poland again, the country was given to the Soviets. This isn't a blog about that in particular, but I still don't get it.
Anyhoo, the Polish people had the heap of atrocities know as Nazis and then Stalinist Soviets from about 1939 until they eventually dropped the Soviet yoke in the late 1980s.  Wrocław, where we stayed in Poland was the site of a movement that helped lead to Poland as it is today. The movement was called the Orange Alternative, and was begun by a man named Waldemar Fydrych. As movements go, it was a pretty jolly one. One of the techniques instituted by Fydrych was to paint playful images over the painted-over anti-Soviet graffiti. The idea was to point out the Soviet government's lack of competence and absent sense of humor.

 The images of gnomes, or dwarves started cropping up all around the city of Wrocław. And, the movement grew. "Happenings" began to be organized. These were gatherings that were meant to poke fun in a blameless type of way at the Soviet government. For instance, a "Happening" was to ridiculously overdress in Soviet Red on the anniversary of Russia's communist revolution. Or, a "Happening" was thrown where a large group gathered to sing Stalinist hymns to the chimpanzees at the zoo. Perhaps the most pointed ones were when they handed out scarce but basic items, like toilet paper or feminine hygiene products. A favorite and famous "Happening" was during a strike in 1988, where a letter was read aloud to the striking workers, supporting the strikes in strong words- written previously by Lenin.
All the "Happenings" were non-violent, and could be, on the surface, seen as Soviet support. All the while, the gnomes appeared all over the country.

 In 1988, on the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, over 10,000 people in Wrocław marched on the Nazi- built government seat, dressed in orange floppy dwarf hats and chanting "We Love Lenin".

This is my photo of the same building, taken from the Odra river. This building looks so Nazi, it's a propaganda poster in stone.

In 1989, Poland once again became Poland instead of Communist Poland.
But, in Wrocław, the gnomes live on. They have become a touristy past-time, hunting down the little statues that are tucked in here and there all over the city-centre. More arrive each year, I was told there are more than 400 now.

 Huz and I enjoyed looking for them, and in doing so, exploring the city more thoroughly.
 But I also loved how the "Just for Tourist" entertainment in art was tied so closely to the idea of poking fun at the Soviet government.

(Orange) Hats off to you, Pomaranczowa Alternatywa!

Let's talk about a Stud.

.If you're thinking "Not Again!" No, this time it isn't one of those talks.

 Currently, I am building nothing! So, not discussing stud walls.

 Or stud earrings.

 Or even shirt studs. Although I do find them interesting.
Not even this Stud:

This is about this kind of stud:

Stallions, kept specifically for breeding are called "Studs". And the place which houses a breeding stallion is also termed "A Stud". Although, the term does lend itself to a bit of grandeur."A Stud" seems to have a professional and purposeful element to it.
This particular blog is about a the beautiful Stud at Książ.

 When Huz and I arrived at Zamek Książ, and bought our tickets, there was some indication that for 10 more zlotych ($) we could also tour the Stajnie and the Palm House. So, we must.  And after our grand tour of the Zamek, we took a look at the primitive map on the back of our ticket, and headed off to the Stables. Kind of. Had we gone down the road leading to the castle, and through a park, we would eventually have found this sign above. Most helpful. But we did not. Instead, we went down a stair outside the castle gates that dwindled into a dirt path into the wood. And, then to a small track, past some ruins of some sort, and then what appeared to be a bus stop in the woods. But, we are map readers, and our map said the stables were this way.  At least, this direction.
Eventually we saw some grizzled, smoking bent over men, with one or two younger backs chatting at the back of a an old tudor-style building. We approached- obviously in the wrong place, but they pointed us through a gate and to another building on the other side of the courtyard in front of us. And thus we entered, through the workers entrance at Stajnie Zamkowa.
To see this:

 Oh yeah. This is delicious! 18th century barns full of horses. My happy place.
As I gaped, a fellow came out with a gorgeous horse to do some lunging in the huge arena in the center of the stable block. 

 Not all the horses in residence are breeding animals. There are also riding ones. Lots. And, yes, I wanted to ride too!

 All the buildings that make up the block are stables with these wonderful vaulted ceilings.

 These girls reminded me of my Pony Club kids, polishing boots and cleaning tack on the floor before getting on to ride. Polish Pony Club? Maybe. It would be pretty cool to have a Pony Club based out of a castle.

 Huz, gasping in astonishment at the accolades of this stud?

 I don't know what all the medals mean, but Lokan is a well decorated boy!

 The Stables is well known for the Stud, but also for driving and dressage, as well as jumping. On the castle property is a cross country course as well as a driving course.

 And this, dreamboat indoor arena. I sat on the observation deck and it felt like a church. Sigh.

 I even stalked the Polish Equestrian Team.

 These standing stalls were empty, but there was a man humming and giving them a good scrubbing. I loved his wooden chair. For comfy breaks?

A pair of matching blue roan ponies, presumably driving partners? came over to say hello as I walked through their stables. This one consented to taking a "selphie" together.

Thank you Książ, Stajnie Zamkowa for the horse "fix". Next time, I'll bring breeches and boots!

Muzeum Narodowa w Wrocławiu- More fun than the Louvre? Also, Panorama Racławice.

I am not really a museum person, I think. I feel like I should be, so I walk around museums trying to feel mature, and grave and arty. Even though I don't have a drive, exactly, to attend museums on my wanderings, I do feel a certain level of interest, if only through obligation, to see what is on offer.
Of course, at the Louvre, there is the exceptionally small Mona Lisa that you must elbow your way up to through a sea of humanity also experiencing the same inclination. At the Rijks Museum, the Nachtwacht is a must, and I have enjoyed both those experiences, to some degree. A Vermeer, a Rembrandt, a Van Gogh. All lovely, and they seem important. So, while in Wrocław I found myself of an afternoon making my way to the National Museum of Wrocław.

It was after managing to purchase a ticket, in Polish, at the Panorama Racławice and seeing the wonderous exhibit there. The Panorama is a giant painting, in the round. It wraps around the walls of a circular building designed to showcase the painting. The painting was created in the 1890's to commemorate a victory in battle of the Polish insurrectionist army and peasants who routed the Russian troops at Racłowice, near Kraków, in 1794. It didn't end well, in that the Russians eventually squashed the Poles, and Poland didn't exist as a nation again until after WWI. But, the Polish were still proud of the victory on that day.
The huge painting was on display in Wrocław until 1944 when it was getting damaged by bombing. So, it went into protective custody until the end of WWII, when it was shipped back to Wrocław. The art is not "fine art", so I suppose the Nazis weren't tempted to obtain the painting. Still, after my short and unsatisfying explanation of Project Riese in the last blog, I would've thought the Nazis would claim it, just because it was a giant painting. In any case, when it was sent back to Wrocław, the Soviets were in possession of Poland, and did not care for a painting that depicted a Russian defeat. So, the painting stayed rolled up until 1985 when it was displayed again!

This round structure was built specifically for the painting in the 1960's, but was left unused and empty until 1985.

The set up is pretty cool, the idea is you feel like you are standing on a hill, observing the battle happening in front of you, and it did, indeed come to life for me.

So, there is real sand and scrubby bushes, and abandoned armament surrounding the area you stand on, and this real stuff blends into the painting.
I managed to find a docent and plead for a headset "Po angielsku" In English, so I really did get what was being said.

After my time observing the great battle of Racławice, I turned in the direction of the Muzeum Narodowa. I walked through a park, nearly empty, but was drawn to this dark and dramatic monument in the center.

 I know I am ignorant of many of the atrocities suffered in the last century at the hands of the megalomaniacs filled with power and hate, but there are just so many.
This monument was erected to remember the spring of 1940.
While the bees started their duties and the grasses turned green, Stalin ordered 22,000 Polish Army officers, policemen and other prisoners of war held at three of the detention camps to be shot in the back of the head.
It is a good reason to know your history. How could this happen? How could any of it happen? Well, be vigilant for hatred, and megalomaniacs obsessed with power and themselves. History repeats. Will it do so while we watch? There are places all over the world, even today, where crazy, murderous power mongers murder without restriction.

After a skin-crawling, bilious reflection on the dregs of humanity, I squared my shoulders and turned to face the beautiful day before me in a nation reborn, with an eye on the past.

I redirected towards the beautiful, stately building covered in green. Entering into the cool lobby, I found the ticket office and asked for " Jeden bilet," one ticket, and was asked a question, that in the words I understood " Bilet Racławice?" So, I said "Tak", and showed him my ticket purchased at the panorama. It turned out that gave me admission to the museum as well!
So, I walked up the staircase to have the atrium open in front of me.

Lovely. When I got to the next landing, arrows directed me down the corridor to early Polish art. This was many rooms of mostly sacred art and statues, many it seems, from the churches of Wrocław itself. I don't know when or why the art was taken from the churches, nor how it came to be back in Wrocław, but it was largely grave, dark and somber.
Except this piece. I liked this because it was full of color! Well, except for the curious black-clad people at the bottom, who also seemed to be featured in many

other works with less color. The ghostly people whose mouths are covered were also in a lot of paintings. Fashion? Plague-cover? Bad breath fixers? Don't know.

After this long tour of dark paintings, I entered a section of the museum that I truly enjoyed. If all museums were this cool, I'd really feel driven to see them.

First off was this excellent item I'd only seen before in Scooby Doo cartoons in the early 1970's.

 No Kidding. The eyes are cut out and follow you!

Now, the museum had two things of particular note. #1- the corridors to the art were blocked by big, old, heavy doors that were closed, unmarked, and you had to be truly determined to get in or out. #2- there was a silent docent in every room I entered. A LOT of people, watching. But in the hallway where this painting was displayed, a docent noticed my great interest.  He came over, smiling and put his hand below the painting and moved a lever the made the eyes move back and forth. Awesomely creepy!

And, a cheeky if morbid sense of humor in the Polish art displays continued.

Like this doll.

Beautifully hand made and displayed in her very own casket. Comes with a puce silk gown, a death-bouquet to clutch and a blood-less porcelain face. Casket features claw feet and it's very own crucified Jesus.
It makes me wonder why American Girl Dolls hasn't cashed in on this craze.

I also was impressed by this little set of child's armor. For the young master headed into battle. The shelf on the top has an adult arm armor, and the one below this little covering for a child's chest, with a jaunty peplum. In addition, a 5" dagger for jabbing at folks.

But, perhaps, my favorite piece in the whole place was a enormous battle scene. It is painted on wood planks, pieced together. It is one of the only paintings I can recall seeing that features knights in battle. The amazing-ness of the painting, for me, was that all the knights are in black. Both sides. Black armor. Some have red sashes on the waist. How is that enough identification when your peering through a armor slit with sweaty eyeballs?
Wait, that's not the amazing part.  What was so cool was that no one had a face. No one, except for the horses. The entire tale of the battle is being told in the faces of the great steeds. 

 Look at this black horse.  He seems a little disappointed in the knight on the flaxen-maned horse opposing him. His eyes seem to be saying "Really ? You didn't see this coming?" And the riderless palomino horse behind them is evidently done with the dashing about and taking a breather. Humans can be senseless and exhausting.  The whole huge painting is thus. Wonderful!


Now, to be fair, there was plenty of fine art at the museum. This boy making shade was most excellent. And, I liked those sections well enough.

But, for me, the real treasures of the Muzeum Narodowa w Wrocławiu were the little bits of surprise and black humor. I can imagine I missed a whole lot of cheeky bits. It is worth another trip.

Zamek Książ- Come storm the castle!

Zamek Książ .
History, mystery, romance, great wealth, skill and pillaging... a castle sets the scene for all sorts of our imaginings, on a grand scale.
The majestic Zamek Książ perfoms these tasks beautifully.

Książ , as seen above, is a massive place, built in three different eras over 700 years  on a hill top in Lower Silesia in what is now Poland. For a thousand years or more, the area was snatched up and claimed by different powers at a dizzying pace.  Bohemian, Piast, Czech, Hungarian, Silesian Prussian, Nazi, Soviet, who knows, maybe some Viking in there...the history of this area seems to be a tangle of ownership.
Earliest record show the hilltop was a strategic holding and fortification that protected trade routes. Around 1288 the fortification was replaced by a castle fortress. This was done by Bolko The Strict. Oh, the history has some rich, rich names.  I think that oldest part is the part with the three great arches and stone topped with the Tudor-style beam framework. For the next 250 years the ownership bounced around until the early 1500's when it came into the ownership of the Hochberg family. They owned it until the 20th century. During that period they ended up with a bunch of different titles, including "Prince" and "Archduke" and a good bit of wealth. By the 18th century, the Hochbergs found the castle to be too small and wanted a more modern representation of their wealth. So they, shall we say, "added- on." They made the moat and defense areas into terraced formal gardens, put on massive baroque  living space- there are some 480 rooms now- and added the whole free-standing gate, baths, library structure. And, The Stud. I can't wait to show you The Stud!
Eventually, they lost most of the fortune, and the Nazis were dancing around, Hitler wanted it (greed-driven crazy bird), so took it and it became a Nazi sleep-away camp until the Soviets bashed them up and moved in, determined to scrape off any beauty as you would attack a scratch-and-sniff.
In the last 50 years the Soviets got tossed out. They left the castle in rough shape, and thus Książ has been under repair (as with the rest of Poland) since.
As for the Mystery, there is mystery everywhere as centuries of humans made decisions about the place. It oozes mystery.
 Like, who is this woman?

 I've no idea. I just didn't have the patience to wait for her to get out of the shot. But there are real mysteries here. Such as;

Is this Hagrid's Hut?

 They called it the Gunpowder Tower, but since that is a translation into English from Polish, I'm retaining hope.

 This is the "Black Courtyard". Mystery? Why is it called that? I never figured it out. Because it is hidden in the center of the castle and it's dark?

 There is a functional well in the Black Courtyard. I guess it is helpful to have water on a hill top. From the castle you can hear a waterfall, so there is water nearby, but a hike for sure. Who used this well? The wall on the left of the photo is covered in crests. Each one is a crest of an owner of Książ.

 Did Rapunzel ever let down her hair from that window? Did anyone ever recite a sonnet from the rounded stone balcony?

This is where many ideas come together. The older fortress-type castle on the right, the newer Renaissance Revival addition on the left. With this crevasse between the two. Does this not cause drainage problems? Where does the water go?

 How many faces looked out this glass to see who was coming through the gates and to the entrance of the castle?

 Did this statue of a baby ever have a head? Where is it now?

Was the wall around the castle, with the guard stands and arrow windows ever useful? Who spent hours walking around this wall, peering out into the wood?

Here, Huz is touching a large exposed portion of the mountain on which the castle is built. The mystery is why were the Polish tourists kissing the rock? Ew. It is hand worn from thousands of touchers, or, I suppose kissers? And when you put your hand to it (or presumably, your lips) a little box above makes a harp sound and flashes some colored lights.

But the biggest mystery, perhaps is the mystery of the Project Riese.
In 1941, the Nazis confiscated the castle from the Hochbergs. Then, because the Nazis were, well, Nazis, they started a maniacal (another maniacal) project. The so called "Riese", which, in German, means "Giant".
Riese is a sprawling series of tunnels under the castle, extending into the Góry Sowie mountain range. Naturally, the work was done with slave labor, and due to it's massive scale, drained Nazi resources. As Albert Speer later wrote in his memoirs, the project consumed more concrete than the entire population used for air raid shelters. And, here is the mystery...
No one knows what purpose the tunnels were to serve. They were never completed, and there is no record as to why they built miles of tunnels.

The tour of the castle is a bit sad. There are some photos and renderings from the history of the place, which means there is some record of what was once there, but much of the splendour is gone, and then patched up. The grandest room in the house, just at the front of the castle, is the Maximilian Room.  The soaring ballroom is the jewel of the center of the grand addition added by Maximilian Ernst Conrad Hochberg in the early 1700's. It seems to have mostly survived the Nazi and Soviet occupations.

The friezes that used to be in the oval above the fireplaces are gone, but the rest of the marble and ormolu remain. Unlike the other rooms, in which most of the decoration was removed.

Much of the castle is still closed and under repair. But, you do wend your way around the place, following a series of photographs, mostly centered around Princess Daisy. She is the romanticized young English wife who married John Henry Hochberg at the age of 18. There are pictures of Daisy, John Henry and their three sons. Daisy with her sons in the snow, wearing an ermine wrap. Daisy with a son, posing on the terraces. On what used to be a part of the estate is the Palm House, a Victorian greenhouse built by John Henry for his seemingly unhappy English wife. But, the story presented at Książ is not complete! There are teasing bits of facts that are left unexplained. Daisy was beautiful, English, and unhappy. The couple were divorced, and as I read about the time (yes, I had to find a biography of Daisy) is seems divorce was amazingly commonplace at the time! And then the story becomes the stuff of "Days of Our Lives", or another soap opera, missing only a return from the dead and a multiple personality disorder.
Here is what I gathered. Daisy and JHH divorce. JHH remarries a young Italian Countess. Italian Countess falls in love with the youngest son of JHH and Daisy. JHH and Italian Countess divorce, and she marries youngest son, Bolko. They have two children. But Bolko's date of demise is two years after their marriage, when Bolko was in his mid-twenties. See how I am intrigued?
And, I can't tune in tomorrow, but must read what I can find.
The history told in the tour centers mostly on the early days of Daisy. But that would be like touring Buckingham Palace and only hearing about Diana.
I did find one little tidbit that needs further exploration. On the side of a painting was a long Polish paragraph that had been translated into English. And, boy, do I want to find out more about these folks. Sadly, my Polish may have to improve greatly in order to read the history of Lower Silesia.

IN about 700-ish, the area was ruled by the first Bohemian Dynasty, begun by Premysl the Plowman. His wife, Princess Libula founded Prague. Their grandson, or maybe great grandson, Vratislav I, founded Wrocław( so, here is where I first start questioning translation, as Wrocław was supposedly founded in 1000 ad., and that is 300 years of life from The Plowman to Vratislav I...so...). Anyway, Vratislav I had two sons- and we can hope the nicknames were hindsight and not a childhood designation- Vaclav I The Saint and Boleslaus I The Cruel. Now, there was a dust-up between Boleslaus I The Cruel, and Henry I The Fowler, and that, somehow, led to Boleslaus offing his brother, Vaclav. Now, Boleslaus had a daughter, Dobrava, and he married her to a Polish Prince and they had a son, Boleslaus The Brave, who became the first king of Poland. They also had a daughter, Świętosława, who had some connection to Queen Sigrid The Haughty and Gunhild of Welden who may have been a consort, and a wife of King Sweyn The Forkbeard and mother of Cnut The Great.

If you have read Game of Thrones, it doesn't seem so far fetched now. There are probably dragons in this story too.

 Huz below the castle, on one of the terrace gardens.

 The terraces wind around one side of the castle, and then to the back of the massive structure.

This is the back of the Zamek. Imposing and impressive!

Huz, looking back at the castle, contemplating being the Lord. On the plus side, there isn't much grass to mow on the top of the mountain. On the negative side, cleaning the gutters looks tough.