The first weekend of September will be a time of celebrations in Bolesławiec marking the bicentenary of the 1813 Napoleonic campaign in Silesia. They will be spectacular not only in the literal sense—one of the main events will be a re-enactment of the Battle of Bolesławiec. The programme will be varied and highly attractive. Since the military re-enactment is scheduled for Saturday, 7 September, other important events will take place on Friday, 6 September. At 9:00 a.m., an international academic conference entitled “200 Years of the Napoleonic Epic” will begin in the conference room of the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre–International Ceramics Centre and will continue until 3:00 p.m. History enthusiasts will have a rare opportunity to hear lectures on various aspects of the Napoleonic period, delivered by scholars from Poland, Russia and Germany. There is no need to worry about language barriers, as all presentations will be interpreted simultaneously.
On the same day, at 5:00 p.m., the ceremonial opening of the exhibition “1813–2013. The 200th Anniversary of the 1813 Napoleonic Campaign in Silesia” will take place in the building housing the Department of the History of the City of the Museum of Ceramics at 14 Kutuzowa Street. The exhibition will be prepared by the Museum of Ceramics using its own collections, as well as a number of valuable and interesting objects loaned from other museums in Poland, Russia and Germany and from numerous private collections. Alongside weapons and uniforms from the period’s armies, it will feature works of art—paintings, prints and figurines commemorating the most important personalities and events of that time—as well as original documents, coins and medals, and objects of material culture. Among the most valuable exhibits will certainly be the monumental painting “Camp on the Berezina” by Wojciech Kossak, loaned from the Museum of Opole Silesia in Opole, and an embroidered portfolio belonging to Emperor Napoleon from the collection of the Museum of Romanticism in Opinogóra. Visitors’ attention will also surely be drawn to the monumental model depicting a Franco-Russian battle scene, from the Napoleon Museum in Witaszyce. The exhibition will be on display until mid-October.
Both events are elements of the project “200 Years of the Napoleonic Epic in the Cross-Border Area of Lower Silesia and Saxony”, whose aim is to build awareness of a shared historical heritage and present Bolesławiec’s role in the history of the cross-border area, as well as to present an important historical period that significantly influenced the cultural character of the border region and Europe. The initiative seeks to disseminate knowledge about the historical heritage of the cross-border area of Lower Silesia and Saxony, with particular emphasis on the turbulent period of the Napoleonic Wars, and to develop a shared assessment of the historical events of 1813. It is co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund and by state budget funds, with the support of the Neisse Euroregion.
commissioned information; header image: Andrea Appiani (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien)/Wikimedia Commons