Following the decades-long tradition, on the first Thursday of December participants in the 76th Kraków Nativity Scene Contest gather at the Adam Mickiewicz statue at the Main Market Square to present their constructions. At 2pm on Sunday 9 December, the director of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków, organiser of the competition, announces the jury’s verdict at the Krzysztofory Palace, and at 4pm he opens the post-contest exhibition at Celestat. And this year’s events are even more special than usual: the Cracovian tradition has been recommended for inclusion on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as the first ever listing from Poland. We don’t know the final decision on the matter, but we know the application has been warmly received by the panel of experts. We also know that the dazzling, glittering nativity scenes, modelled on the city’s architecture, bring together generations: the tradition of making nativity scenes is passed down the generations in many families, while Cracovians simply can’t imagine Christmas without taking the family to the exhibition. (dd)
6 grudnia 2018, 10.00-12.00 Main Market Square, presentation of works by the Adam Mickiewicz statue
