The Mostem Festival is coming soon!
From 13–18 June 2025, Wrocław will once again become a vibrant space filled with inspiring events and creative initiatives, organised by institutions located along the Oder River. This is a special time for encounters, culture, and collective exploration of the city.
This year, the Library of the University of Wrocław invites you to two unique events!
The first is a curator-guided tour of the exhibition entitled „Od Korony Piastów do Europy Jagiellonów 1025–1525”.
dr Dariusz Przybytek
University Library in Wrocław,
F. Joliot-Curie 12
17.06.2025, 12:00 PM, Level 3, Exhibition Room “Pyramid”
Registration link
This is a rare opportunity to view some of the most valuable treasures of Polish cultural heritage, presented to mark the 1000th anniversary of the coronation of Poland’s first kings and the 500th anniversary of the Prussian Homage. The exhibition is a journey through the first five centuries of the Polish state – from its legendary origins to the era of the Golden Age.
Visitors will have the chance to admire unique medieval manuscripts and illuminated codices, including fragments of Queen Sophia’s Bible and the Trzebnica Psalter. The exhibits also feature the earliest maps of Polish lands – from Ptolemaic cartography to modern reconstructions – as well as portraits of the Piast dynasty and historical scenes from the 11th century, alongside original early printed books and chronicles, including the works of Wincenty Kadłubek, Jan Długosz and Hartmann Schedel.
This is more than just an exhibition – it is a living history lesson showing how Polish identity, culture, and scholarship have developed through the centuries. A perfect event for history enthusiasts, art lovers, and those interested in national heritage.
The second event organised by the University Library as part of Festiwal Mostem is a lecture entitled „Powrót do Raju”.
Łukasz Krzyszczuk
University Library in Wrocław,
F. Joliot-Curie 12
18.06.2025, 3:00 PM, Level 0, Room 3
Registration link
The term for the Christian paradise in many European languages (Gr. παράδεισος, Lat. paradīsus, Hebr. פַּרְדֵּס, Eng. paradise, It. paradiso, Ger. Paradies, Rus. паради́з) derives etymologically from the Persian word 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌⸱𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬰𐬀 (pairi.daēza), meaning “a place enclosed by a wall”. During the Persian Empire, this term referred to vast walled gardens. In the Greek world – from which Latin and subsequently many European languages borrowed the term – it came to mean not only a garden but more broadly a “park for animals” (as seen, for example, in Xenophon’s Anabasis from the early 4th century BCE). We also know that Persian rulers used these enclosed gardens for hunting.
The lecture will explore how these walled gardens – originally spaces for hunting – were conceptually adopted by the Greek and Roman worlds, and later by Christianity, gradually shedding their original association with animals.
Date of publication: 4.06.2025
Added by: M.K.
