As part of the European Heritage Days celebrations, an unusual opening of an exhibition of photographs by Romuald M. Łuczyński took place on 15 September at Galeria Format. Łuczyński is a photographer, traveller, bibliophile, author of numerous books and editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine “Sudety”. The exhibition opening was combined with a lecture and multimedia presentation entitled “Following the Paths of Heritage...”
The Wrocław resident’s photographs primarily depict monuments of Lower Silesia, but not exclusively. They also include images from journeys through the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. “I showed a piece of Europe here,” the artist said during Monday’s opening. As he stressed, Lithuania and Latvia are countries poor in historic monuments. In his opinion, however, they are worth visiting in order to appreciate the tourist attractions of our region even more.
History and monument enthusiasts really cannot complain about the lack of interesting places in Lower Silesia. The Wrocław resident told everyone gathered at Galeria Format about the most interesting examples of Lower Silesian architecture. Many of them are deteriorating. Only three monuments from our region are inscribed on the World Cultural Heritage List: the Centennial Hall and two Churches of Peace—in Świdnica and Jawor.
Łuczyński’s latest book, “Castles, Manor Houses and Palaces in the Sudetes”, is due to be published in October. Where does the photographer’s fascination with Lower Silesia come from? “I was born here,” the Wrocław resident explained to the IstotneInformacje.pl website. He inherited his humanistic interests from his grandfather. “I have always liked history. And I have always wanted to travel,” he added.
For him, our region is the most beautiful place on Earth. He went abroad during the communist era, but returned. Friends asked him why he did not want to remain in exile. He replied that there were three reasons: he had a large library, friends and landscapes here—landscapes he could not take with him.
The exhibition can be visited until 5 October.
(GA information)