“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” – Henry Ward Beecher
The beauty of an extended stay in one location is the ability to balance exploration and wandering and simply enjoying being around family. In consequence we have days like yesterday, where everything comes together so well.
We spent the morning doing Airbnb housework then walked along the park to the Gossip Café, which sits equidistant from our apartment and Andrew and Alicia’s home.
I’m not sure why, but there is something beyond beautiful about being able to walk a half mile in the fresh cold winter air to meet up with our grandson for lunch.
Then, with a deliberately slow and steady pace, Rebekah and I sauntered through the town center to the Czartoryski Museum where we enjoyed a relaxed few hours savoring the extensive collection of antiquities and – most importantly – priceless art.
The stars of the show are a remarkable work by Rembrandt and a rare Leonardo da Vinci.
While the collections are extremely well curated, the sad truth is that much was lost both during the Nazi occupation of WW2 and the Soviet post-war occupation that continued to oppress and repress and loot all the way until 1990.
It is estimated that as much as 50% of Poland’s pre-war museum holdings were lost, including major works that would have rivaled the Rembrandt and the da Vinci.
The Czartoryski follows the practice of many museums in offering “empty fames” to represent missing art.
The value of art is, or course, incalculable. And it is the huge inflation in cost when these paintings do change hands that leads us to a conviction Rebekah and I both hold, that masterworks like these really do belong to the public – and we are so grateful for institutions that allow us to get up close and personal with such inspiration.
“Boxing Day”
In the evening we enjoyed a relaxing visit and our traditional “Boxing Day” meal with the family. Dinner, British crackers and party hats, silly jokes, reading the Christmas story with our grandson then walking home with Rebekah.
It is good to be here in “residence mode,” rather than the frenetic pace that comes with travel in the “Krakow in 3 Days” or “see 6 European Capitals in one week” format. I like to call it “Slow Tourism” – we are not checking Krakow off some kind of a list but engaging with the city, the culture and the people.
That’s all the news for today. Stay tuned for more. Just skimming the surface, I know, but there will be time for deeper analysis when we return in the New Year.
All the peace, hope, love and joy that Christmas brings – DEREK
Enjoy scrolling through these photos. I will revisit some (especially the amazing series of mosaic portraits) in later posts…
