The drama of Norwid’s “Wanda”, as well as the history of Poland, cannot be understood without a connection with Christianity, with the sacrifice, said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture Piotr Gliński, during the premiere of the opera “Wanda” in the arcaded courtyard of the Royal Castle in Krakow.
The performance of the opera “Wanda” by Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa, based on Norwid’s drama, took place as part of the celebration of the Year of Norwid on the 200th birthday of the poet. The Wnuk-Nazarowa opera was described by Deputy Prime Minister Gliński as “an excellent adaptation of the mystery”.
According to Gliński, “drama +Wanda+ by Norwid, like the history of Poland, cannot be understood without a connection with Christianity, with sacrifice”.
“Wanda is Poland, and Poland is Wanda (…),” said the Deputy Prime Minister, describing Norwid as “the greatest ethic of Polish literature, the one who preached poetry and goodness”.
The Minister noted that apart from the symbol of the ideal, grown on the national and biblical foundations, Wawel – and with it the story of Wanda as a figure of Christ – greatly marked the poet’s biography.
“The posthumous history of Cyprian Kamil’s remains is part of the plot of his mystery,” said the Minister and recalled that in 2001 a Polish delegation that went to the cemetery near Paris to collect the bard’s remains heard: “He is not here”. Then a handful of soil was taken from there and a few days later it was placed in a crypt in Wawel, after the blessing of St. John Paul II.