Cracow is one of the oldest cities of our continent, in which history and tradition have fundamentally influenced contemporary developments. The extensive photographic material is one of the great assets of this book...
Cracow is one of the oldest cities of our continent, in which history and tradition have fundamentally influenced contemporary developments, where history generates the different roles that the city plays: now a process, now a function, an idea, a form, a reflection of civilisation. It is precisely here that three different concepts of Central Europe meet: Hanseatic, Jagiellonian and Habsburgian. If the complex that Central Europe suffers rests on the notion of constantly having to prove its European-ness, then Cracow need not join in this effort: Cracow has always represented the Polish chapter of the European heritage.
The extensive photographic material is one of the great assets of this book. These include black and white archive photos as well as two hundred colour photos taken by well-known contemporary photographers.
Jacek Purchla professor at the Jagiellonian University and the Academy of Economics in Cracow, economist and art historian, an authority on European architecture and urban development.
- Jacek Purchla
Cracow in Europe's Centre / Kraków w Europie środka
Międzynarodowe Centrum Kultury, Kraków 2000
© Jacek Purchla and Międzynarodowe Centrum Kultury
240 x 310, 252 pages, 266 illustrations, hard cover
ISBN 83-85739-76-9