Patrons of the year are chosen each year by the Sejm and the Senate of the Republic of Poland. The year 2023 is the year of Nicolaus Copernicus, Jan Matejko, Wisława Szymborska, Włodzimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer and the year of the memory of the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes and Heroines.
On November 29, 2022, the Senate of the Republic of Poland promulgated a law indicating that 2023 would be the Year of the Memory of the Heroes and Heroines of the Warsaw Ghetto and that the patrons of the year would be Włodzimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Mikołaj Kopernik, Jan Matejko and Wisława Szymborska.
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus – a clergyman, physician, and the most famous Polish astronomer, as well as one of the most important astronomers in history. He was comprehensively educated and gifted. He studied at the Academy of Cracow, Bologna, Ferrara, and Padua. Copernicus had a doctorate in canon law.
The date was linked to the 550th anniversary of his birth and the 480th anniversary of the death of Nicolaus Copernicus.
Jan Matejko
Jan Matejko is one of the most famous painters in the history of Poland and the most distinguished creator of history painting. He was educated at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, as well as at universities in Munich and Vienna. Matejko was awarded numerous prestigious prizes and distinctions and became an honorary member of many art academies. He was also involved in the conservation of Krakow’s monuments.
Jan Matejko’s pupils included prominent artists of the Young Poland movement, such as Stanisław Wyspiański, Jacek Malczewski and Józef Mehoffer.
Wisława Szymborska
Wisława Szymborska was born on 2 July 1923 in Kórnik in the Greater Poland region. In 2023 we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of her birth. Szymborska is the author of thirteen volumes of poetry, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was awarded the highest state honour, the Order of the White Eagle. Her poems have been translated into more than forty languages.
The jubilee will be particularly celebrated in Krakow, the city where Wisława Szymborska spent most of her life.
- The Polish Nobel Laureates series: Wisława Szymborska
- Małgorzata Lebda became the laureate of the Wisława Szymborska Award for the best poetry book published last year
Włodzimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer
Włodzimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer was the stepbrother of Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków, then in Vienna, Munich, and Paris. After returning to Poland, he settled in Bronowice near Krakow. It was in his house that the famous wedding of Lucjan Rydel and Jadwiga Mikołajczykówna, about which Wyspiański wrote in his work Wesele (The Wedding), took place.
He also collaborated with Jan Styka and Wojciech Kossak on “Panorama Racławicka.” His works have been shown at world exhibitions in Chicago, San Francisco, and Paris. He is also the author of stained glass, polychrome, illustrations, and stage designs, as well as many short stories, poems, and the drama ‘Piast.’
The Year of the Remembrance of the Heroes and Heroines of the Warsaw Ghetto
The year 2023 marks the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. By establishing 2023 as the Year of Remembrance of the Heroes and Heroines of the Warsaw Ghetto, the Senate pays tribute to the fallen and those who survived and “raised their voice of protest against the criminal plans for the extermination of the nation to the end of their days.”
“We believe that establishing 2023 as the Year of Remembrance of the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes and Heroines will not only allow us to recall their testimonies, but will also become an opportunity to reflect on values common in the discourse, such as security, home, freedom, which we take for granted, but only discover their true importance and meaning when they become threatened,”
the senators pointed out.