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Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity

What would you bid for in a charity auction? A performance in the TV program Słownik polsko@polski (eng. Polish@Polish Dictionary), a private organ concert, a guided tour in the Botanical Garden by the director himself, or perhaps the sword of a Wrocław swordsman? We managed to collect many attractions for the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity this year at the University of Wrocław! Check it out!

This year’s 32nd Grand Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity will take place on 28 January, with the aim stated as follows: „Płuca po pandemii. Gramy dla dzieci i dorosłych!” (“Lungs after the pandemic. We play for children and adults!”). For the campaign, the University of Wrocław with its motto „Tu wszystko gra OK!” (“Everything is OK here!”) decided to mobilise as many of its units as possible, thanks to which we have already managed to announce 11 auctions on the Allegro platform. For those who want to add their contribution to the collection but have not managed to bid for anything in our auctions, we have also created a university eSkarbonka!

Link to eSkarbonka for all who are willing and able to take part in the collection with us.

University of Wrocław auctions in aid of the 32nd GOCC Finale:

1. Szpada Szermierza – najczęściej kradziona broń biała w Polsce!  (Swordsman’s Sword – the most stolen white weapon in Poland!)

The swordsman standing in front of the University of Wrocław is one of Wrocław’s icons. Unfortunately, it has been stripped of its sword at an express pace for many years. After careful restoration of the fountain and the Fencer standing on top of it, the Wrocław City Hall organised a ceremonial unveiling of the monument on 20 June 2023. His Magnificence the Rector of the University of Wrocław, professor Robert Olkiewicz, who attended the ceremony, was presented with one of the newly made swords. Several were made, as the City Council intended that such a number would satisfy the constant appetite of vandals for snatching weapons from the Swordsman.

2. Oprowadzanie po Gmachu Głównym i koncert rektor seniora Adama Jezierskiego (Guided tour of the main building and concert by senior rector Adam Jezierski)

We would like to invite you to bid for a guided tour of the University of Wrocław’s main building by prof. Adam Jezierski! A tour of the baroque architectural gem that is the Aula Leopoldina or a panoramic view of the city – all this awaits those taking part in the auction! The entire event will also be honoured by an organ performance by the Rector Senior in the Oratorium Marianum. The date of the tour is to be arranged. The whole tour will last approximately two hours. A maximum of fifteen people can take part in the guided tour. Organised groups are welcome to tour together! As part of the winning auction you are also provided with tickets to the University Museum.

3. Sesja fotograficzna w Auli Leopoldyńskiej (Photo session in the Aula Leopoldina)

The Aula Leopoldina is the most representative interior of Wrocław University – next to the Racławicka Panorama, it is the most visited museum hall in Wrocław and the place where the largest academic ceremonies take place – the inauguration of the academic year, the University Feast, the awarding of diplomas to graduates. Polish Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk, poet Tadeusz Różewicz and Vaclav Havel have all received their honorary doctorates in the Aula Leopoldina. Around 100,000 visitors come to the Aula Leopoldina every year!

In this unique place on the map of Wrocław, we will organise a professional photo session for the winner of this auction. We invite both individuals, but also couples or groups of people. Maybe you are a graduate of the University of Wrocław and you would like to go back in time to the times of your studies, maybe you dream of a bride and groom session or a unique family session. Such a photo session will also be a perfect gift for someone important to you. We will arrange the date of the session with the winner immediately after the auction.

4. Webinar z dr. hab. Tomaszem Piekotem (Webinar with dr Tomasz Piekot)

Understandable instructions? Simply written official letters? Clear articles? We all want to read them! But despite appearances – writing simply and clearly is not easy. This is known to specialists from the Centre for Simple Polish at the University of Wrocław, who have been working on simplifying texts for years. They can also teach you how to do it.

The auction for the benefit of the GOCC offers a one-hour webinar with Tomasz Piekot! The winner of the auction can choose one of the proposed topics ( it is possible to arrange another one individually):

• How to create effective corporate letters?
• How to simplify contracts and regulations?
• Simple Polish in practice

We will agree a date for the webinar with the winner as soon as the auction has ended.

5. Złota Karta do Ogrodu Botanicznego  (Gold Card to the Botanical Garden)

We would like to invite you to bid for a Golden Card to enter the Botanical Garden of the University of Wrocław, where the winner of the auction gets a lifetime ticket for two!

The Botanical Garden of the University of Wrocław is known to all Wrocław residents. It is a green oasis in the heart of Wrocław, but also a scientific institution and a “living museum” housing nine plant-based National Collections.

6. Spacer z dyrektorem Ogrodu Botanicznego (Walk with the director of the Botanical Garden)

We would like to invite you to bid for a walk in the Botanical Garden of the University of Wrocław with dr hab. Zygmunt Kącki, which includes tickets for participants and a guided tour by the director of the Botanical Garden himself!

Dr hab. Zygmunt Kącki, director of the Botanical Garden, is a geobotanist, a specialist in the relationship between plants and their geographical environment, and founder of the Centre for Plant Ecology at the Institute of Environmental Biology in the Faculty of Biological Sciences. He also serves as a board member of the Polish Botanical Society.

7. Spacer z Agatą Gabiś (Walk with Agata Gabiś)

Anyone interested in the architecture of the Leopoldina campus and the Grunwald campus is invited to bid for a walk with a well-known researcher and lecturer. The guided tour will take place in the spring of 2024 on a pre-arranged date. It will last approximately two hours. The walk is open to a maximum of 10 people. Dr Agata Gabiś works in the Department of the History of Material Culture at the Historical Institute of the University of Wrocław. The researcher was awarded a distinction by the Mayor of Wrocław in the category of ‘dissemination of culture’. Her research interests include post-war architecture, industrial design and the spatial development of Wrocław and Lower Silesia.

8. Wizyta na planie Słownika polsko@polskiego (A visit to the set of the TV program Polish@Polish Dictionary)

The University of Wrocław and the creators of the TV program “Słownik polsko@polski” (Polish@Polish dictionary) invite the winner of the auction for the GOCC, together with an accompanying person, to the set of the TV program Słownik polsko@polski (Polish@Polish dictionary) aired on TVP Polonia! In the programme, the Master of the Polish language – professor Jan Miodek – answers surprising, often amusing, and certainly intriguing linguistic questions asked by viewers both from Poland and abroad.

9. Wirtualna Sala Zbrodni (Virtual Crime Room)

The object of the auction is a virtual reality class involving the search for, securing and “reading” forensic traces related to an event to be explained. Participants in the class will be able to take on the role of investigators and try to establish what actually happened at the scene… Was there really a murder, or did the victim commit suicide or have an accident?

10. Książka „Czyj sen Wrocław śni? Od Wilhelmstadt do Centrum Południowego” (The book „Czyj sen Wrocław śni? Od Wilhelmstadt do Centrum Południowego”)

The subject of the auction is a book donated by the University of Wrocław Press entitled „Czyj sen Wrocław śni? Od Wilhelmstadt do Centrum Południowego”. It is a unique copy because it has the autographs of the publication’s editors Adam Pacholak, Aleksandra Podlejska and Agnieszka Zabłocka-Kos.

“Czyj sen Wrocław śni” guides the reader through 150 years of the history of what was once the most representative avenue in the city. The publication contains dozens of pre-war plans of the district and non-existent tenement houses, complemented by archival photographs and postcards. The history of the street is complemented by unrealised post-war projects, competition visions and models of the South Centre development. The whole is rounded off by a concept for an exhibition on the history of this unique quarter of Wrocław and an insert with a reconstruction of the Kaiser Wilhelmstraße frontage no. 45-119.

11. Książka prof. Pawła Banasia „Orbis Pictus. Świat dawnej karty pocztowej” (Professor Paweł Banaś’s book „Orbis Pictus. Świat dawnej karty pocztowej”)

The subject of the auction is a unique publication donated by the University of Wrocław Press, namely the book „Orbis pictus. Świat dawnej karty pocztowej” by Paweł Banaś, a well-known Wrocław art historian and culture expert.

A postcard can be a separate work of graphic art, a carrier of history, a collector’s item. Paweł Banaś’s book Orbis Pictus is a unique, richly illustrated album presenting reproductions of over 750 postcards exclusively from Polish collections. It presents the reader with two worlds. The first, the postcard, tells the story of its volatility, development, creators, publishers, printers, buyers, senders and addressees; the second, the postcard, is full of didactic, patriotic, religious values, commemorating important dates and holidays, sometimes swaggering, roguish, filled with eroticism. Each time, it is a world that one wants to explore and to which one wants to return.