Cultural Salon of the Wroclaw University Library
The most beautiful stories are written together,
let us write ours together with you...
Inspired by the 19th century and later social salons, which had a very diverse character: social, political, but also cultural, we created the Cultural Salon of the Wroclaw University Library. The salon was created with the idea of combining the past with the present, to create a meeting place for people full of passions, talents and stories that want to be told, sung, danced. The past is hidden in beautiful, restored furniture that came to the Salon from the former premises of the University Library and remember the pre-war times. And the present? The present is all of us who write new stories every day.
The Salon opened its doors to guests in October 2021, when Professor Jan Miodek, in a beautiful musical arrangement, just before November All Souls' Day, read fragments of Adam Mickiewicz's Dziady. And so began the history of the Salon. We invite you to follow the schedule of current events in the Salon and to review its archive events and check who visited it and what took place there.
Archive of events in the Cultural Salon
June 2025
- Widows out at... or Mrożek in student style in the WUL's Cultural Salon
In June 2025, the Wroclaw University Library's Cultural Salon hosted a One-Act Theatre Evening organized by the Nomen Omen Artistic-Theatrical Ensemble. Students presented a performance based on the work of Sławomir Mrożkek, adapted and arranged by themselves. Two one-act plays were performed as part of the event:
„Widows”
Directed by: Bruno Dębicki and Adi Buczyński;
Actresses and actors: Julia Sułkowska, Kasia Paterek, Weronika Szenhofer, Jakub Jankowski, Bruno Dębicki, Adi Buczyński
„Out at Sea”
Directed by: Małgorzata Pelak
Actresses and actors: Joanna Kopacz, Małgorzata Pelak, Zuzia Zmyślona, Jakub Jankowski, Bruno Dębicki
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January 2025
- On 27.01.2025, the premiere of the original play – Tales from Under the Silent Tree – took place, in which toys concerned about the fate of our common world took their voices!
Each story conveyed a different perspective, a different perception of reality, and a different method of communication – with the looming goal, above all, of achieving mutual understanding, of seeking to listen to each other's needs. The audience had the opportunity to experience the entire spectrum of emotions, from tears through anger to laughter and joy.
We would also like to thank the entire Nomen Omen Team:
Screenplay and direction: Bruno Dębicki, Adi Buczyński, Jakub Jankowski;
Vocal preparation: Stanisław Roguż;
Musical arrangement: Alicja Łaska, Stanisław Roguż, Maciej Pieprzowski;
Piano: Maciej Pieprzowski, Stanisław Roguż;
Violin: Alicja Łaska;
Set design: Katarzyna Paterek;
Photos: Edyta Bolek, Dominika Mulewicz;
Sound production: Szymon Lazar;
Actresses and actors: Małgorzata Pelak, Natalia Majewska, Julia Sułkowska, Weronika Szenhofer, Zuzanna Zmyślona, Katarzyna Paterek, Wiktoria Łysy, Anna Wac, Joanna Kopacz, Gabriela Zakrzewska, Alicja Łaska, Magdalena Kurowska, Patryk Durlej, Kacper Górak, Adi Buczyński, Bruno Dębicki, Maciej Pieprzowski, Stanisław Roguż, Jakub Jankowski, Jakub Merta.
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October 2024
- utch Philology Symposium "Hoffmann von Fallersleben: 200 Years of (Medieval) Dutch Philology in Wroclaw"
On 25.10.2024, the International Netherlandish Symposium entitled Hoffmann von Fallersleben: 200 jaar (medio)neerlandistiek in Vratislavia [Hoffmann von Fallersleben: 200 years of (medieval) Netherlandish Philology in Wroclaw] took place at the University Library. Organized by the UoW's Studies of Early Netherlandish Literature at the Dutch Philology Departmentunder the direction of Prof. Stefan Kiedroń, the symposium gathered researchers of eras past of Netherlandish literature and culture in the Cultural Salon and the Special Collections' Reading Room of the University of Wrocław.
The occasion was the anniversary of inauguration of a new program of studies: Dutch Philology in the autumn of 1824. This moment, 200 years ago, can be considered the beginning of Dutch studies in Wrocław. Their founder was August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1798-1874), who had arrived in Wroclaw the previous year. He was curator of the University Library "Na Piasku" (On the Sand Island), later a professor at the Wroclaw Almae Matris, that was removed from his position in 1842 by the Prussian authorities for his liberal stance.
Hoffmann, known today primarily as the author of the lyrics to the German national anthem, but also as a publisher of children's songs and folk songs (including Polish ones), was a Romantic scholar of medieval texts, especially Netherlandish poetry from the 13th-16th centuries. It's safe to say that Hoffmann, through his pioneering work in Wroclaw (the monumental 12-volume series Horae Belgicae – Netherlandish Hours; volume one: Vratislavia MDCCCXXX), rescued from oblivion the literary legacy of medieval Brabant, Flanders, and the Netherlands. He saved this literature heritage for today's historians not only in the Netherlands or Flanders; Netherlandish scholars in Wroclaw continue his tradition.
The symposium was opened by the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Wrocław, Prof. Wojciech Drąg, the Deputy Head of Dutch Studies in Wroclaw, Dr. Bożena Czarnecka, and the WUL's Deputy Director, Dr. Monika Górska. Speakers (Prof. Ton van Kalmthout from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences in Amsterdam and Leiden University, Prof. Wilken Engelbrecht from Palacky University in Olomouc and the Catholic University of Lublin, Dr. Hans Beelen from the University of Oldenburg, Dr. Mariusz Dzieweczyński from the University of Wrocław, as well as PhD student Jan Załęcki and master's student Julia Iwanow from the University of Wrocław) presented texts and contexts of Hoffmann's work. Among them: his years in Wrocław (1823-1843), his contacts with the pioneers (from the beginning of the 19th century) of Dutch studies in the Netherlands and Belgium, the Central European reception of his work, as well as the contemporary 21st-century contexts of his medieval studies.
The culmination of the symposium was a visit to the WUL's Special Collections' Reading Room, where Dr. Antoine Haaker from the WUL's Manuscripts Department o and Dr. Małgorzata Dowlaszewicz from the UoW's Dutch Philology Department presented to the symposium participants ‘Manuscripta Neerlandica Hoffmanniana in Vratislavia’ (including a unique 13th-century parchment with a continuation of Jacob Van Maerlant’s work Spieghel Historiael, Mirror of History), as well as original Dutch publications by Hoffmann published in Wroclaw.
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June 2024
The festival is a joint initiative and the result of cooperation between Wroclaw institutions near Odra river:
- Wroclaw University Library
- The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw
- National Ossolinski Institute
- Museum of the Lubomirski Princes
- Parish of Our Lady on the Sand Island in Wroclaw
- Archdiocese of Wroclaw
During the event at WUL we had the opportunity to explore the topic of geopolitical changes based on the most valuable cartographic collections stored in the WUL and listen to a lecture by Dr. Dariusz Przybytek from the Maps Department entitled "The Persistence of Order in Cartography".
Participants also had the opportunity to see professional equipment for digitizing collections and learn about the possibilities of using cultural heritage objects in digital form. Workshops on digitization processes were led by Ms. Zofia Ważna from the WUL's Reprographic and Digitalization Unit.
During both, the lecture and the workshops, there was an active discussion on methods of preserving variable things and extracting the most valuable content from them.
An exhibition devoted to the Book of Henryków entitled "Kindness at the World Level" was also opened.
We would like to thank all Guests and Participants for this wonderful and emotional day. I invite you to wander along the Odra trail and visit the institutions. The incredible treasures gathered there want to be rediscovered today!
Our institutions are connected by: the Odra River, bridges: Pokoju-Piaskowy-Tumski, history, care for cultural heritage, creativity, and the culture of peace.
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May 2024
The author's meeting entitled "The Singer of Tales and His Audience, or How Many Times Achilles Dies" took place in our WUL's Cultural Salon. Professor Zieliński, author of the book "The Iliad and the Oral Epic Tradition", published in 2023 by Harvard University Press, shared with us his vast knowledge of oral tradition and about the functioning of oral communications from an anthropological point of view. The conversation was moderated by Mr. Jędrzej Soliński, a classical philologist, literary scholar, and Russianist.
We would like to thank Prof. Stefan Kiedroń, Vice-Rector for Finance and Development, and Prof. Indira Dzagania, Head of International Relations and International Communications Department at Sokhumi State University in Tbilisi, for honoring this event with their presence.
We would also like to thank all our dear guests for their numerous attendance and active participation in this extraordinary event. Your presence and commitment made this evening exceptional!
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April 2024
These included, among others, songs:
- 24 Sorrows Lyrics – Jan Brzechwa, Music – Grzegorz Turnau
- Oh Life, I Love You More Than Life Itself Lyrics – Wojciech Młynarski, Music – Włodzimierz Korcz
- Weather for Happiness Lyrics – Agnieszka Osiecka, Music – Seweryn Krajewski
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December 2023
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November 2023
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October 2023
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April 2023
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March 2023
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February 2023
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November 2022
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June 2022
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October 2021
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