Could Kraków be a creative city and what could that mean? What differentiates it from other Central European cities? What songs were its flower sellers humming on the Market Square in April 1990? The latest issue of the magazine “Herito” brings together historians, diplomats, literature critics, translators, political commentators, economists, managers in culture, and architects, who attempt to define the unique character of Kraków – a palimpsest city.
In this issue we look at Kraków from near and far, explore its unique identity in literature and art, and question whether today it is still a world heritage city or merely a mass tourism destination. We also predict optimum directions for its development.
Two contributions of particular note are the essay by Eva Hoffman, a Polish-American writer and historian of Jewish descent, who remembers Kraków as a place of difficult memory, and a little-known text by the leading English-language writer Colm Tóibín, portraying the city at the foot of Wawel Hill shortly after the fall of the iron curtain.