Day 5 - Saturday (sobota)

Ishicilelwe: 22.09.2018

Weekend in Krakow. Tourists flock here in large crowds, but only to Rynek and the entire Old Town. That's why today we're heading far east to Nowa Huta, to the socialist satellite town:

No-Cars-Day

Public transport is free today. Krakow celebrates the No-Cars-Day. The result: The streets are as blocked as ever, and public transport collapses...

So later than planned, I arrive at Plac Centralny in Nowa Huta. First surprise: Instead of concrete panel buildings, you are greeted by renaissance-like facades.

Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but the shock didn't happen!

Second surprise: There is a festival in the Nova Huta Culture Centre across the street today, something like an Open Day (dni otwarte):

Well, that fits. There's something going on everywhere, the cultural departments introduce themselves:

Whenever I'm asked to participate, 'niestety nie rozumiem pani' and move to the next room...

..nothing can happen here - except running into the mirror. I'll stay here for now ;-)

But there are also courageous individual contributions..

..and tonight there's a MIKROMUSIC concert - what a coincidence ;-)

Take a quick curious look into the concert hall:

Muzeum PRL-u

A few blocks away, I'm going to learn about the history of Nova Huta now..

..at the Museum of the People's Republic of Poland

It is known that Nova Huta was meant to be a proletarian ideal suburb opposed to bourgeois Krakow, starting in 1949. They built a gigantic 'Lenin Steelworks' which became one of the key centers of resistance against the suppression of freedom by socialism in the 80s.

Schrony w Nowej Hucie

But particularly spectacular are the atomic bunker facilities under the settlements..

A small part of it is accessible today. Buckle up now..

Getting ready.

Phew.

First Aid (pierwszej pomocy) if you were hit by an atomic bomb.

The officer on duty.

The Right Angle of the Left

Quickly out of the bunker. The sun is shining, and even in Nova Huta it's beautiful..

..but everything here has its socialist order. I'm sure the Right Angle was invented by the Left..

Arka Pana Kościół

Then the relieving deviation from the socialist norm:

The Church 'Ark of the Lord' is one of the most curious churches in Europe, maybe in the world. The communists ultimately achieved this by denying the population a church in Nova Huta (opium for the people, etc.)

The workers of Nova Huta took matters into their own hands and were supported by people from all over the world. On the outside, it has the shape of an ark with a ship's mast-like cross, so the church is full of curiosities inside - that I cannot list here now.

Everything here stands for protest and resistance. Even Jesus on the cross writhes with inflexibility..

.. you can interpret it that way, maybe differently.

The interior includes, among other things, bomb parts from wounds of Polish soldiers from World War II, as well as crystal stones from the moon - that's what the travel guide says.

In any case, this is a very special church in Nova Huta, that is beyond question.

Now back to the Cultural Centre of Nova Huta, passing by..