Intangible Warsaw | Collection at Powązki Cemetery

The Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw is an amazing national memorial park, where you can find priceless masterpieces commemorating written and oral history of Warsaw and history of Polish culture in general. It is an exceptional and important spot for Varsovians. It can be felt especially around October 31st and November 1st, when in 2023 the 49th collection at Powązki Cemetery took place. During those days celebrities and inhabitants of Warsaw taking part in the collection meet together, not only to support renovation of those priceless monuments but also to come together again and – sometimes only in those days in year – be together, talk, mention those who passed away, share stories about the history of Warsaw and Poland, give testimony of the fact that collection tradition at Old Powązki Cemetery – intangible Warsaw heritage – is still alive and passed to next generations. Many people just cannot imagine being somewhere else than to take part in the collection, as it is strong element of their family tradition but also of bright community tradition. In today's episode we will talk about strenght and uniqueness of this tradition.

Series „Intangible Warsaw" tells about intangible heritage of the capital city. It tries to capture practices passed from generation to generation, it shows traditions and customs creating Warsaw identity and connection between Varsovians and their city. Starting point is a report „Intangible Warsaw: traditions, customs and practices in the co-city" prepared by Ewa Klekot and Hanna Schreiber within a team responsible for intangible cultural heritage of Warsaw, founded in 2020 by Artur Jóźwik, Head of the Cultural Office of the City of Warsaw. The authors combine ideas contained in the UNESCO Convention from 2003 for the protection of intangible cultural heritage with the guidelines of the contemporary cultural policy of the City of Warsaw from 2020. Both documents put emphasis on cooperation, community, co-acting and co-creation, as well as present times. Intangible heritage is such a way of creating culture that uses the past to build social bonds in present times that would reach the future.

Script: Jerzy Kisielewski, Agnieszka Uścińska
Directed by: Agnieszka Uścińska
Cinematographer: Jarek Wątor
Moderation: Jerzy Kisielewski
Questionnaires: Agata Kucharska, Agnieszka Uścińska
Editing: Agnieszka Uścińska, Jarek Wątor
Colour correction: Rajmund Biniszewski
DOPs: Jatek Wątor, Artur Michalik, Michał Pałka-Keff
Sound: Piotr Tuśnio
Set lighting: AMG
Set services: Hubert Biniszewski
Graphic design: Bartłomiej Niemkiewicz
Rostrum camera shoot: Władysław Migacz, Weronika Komorowska, Agnieszka Uścińska
Production manager: Weronika Komorowska