Krakow Festival Office
ARBORES VITAE Exhibition
ARBORES VITAE – The last European primeval forest – is the title of an exhibition organised by the European Earth Centre Foundation, opened outside the Tourist Services Centre (ul. Powiśle 11). The exhibition presents 100 large-format photographs of Białowieża Primeval Forest by Jan Walencik.
Apart from visual and aesthetic sensations, ARBORES VITAE (Tree of Life) is a comprehensive educational programme. The photos will be complemented by information boards on Białowieża Primeval Forest and other primeval forests, and the significance of trees to the ecosystem and humans, prepared by distinguished specialists and experts on Białowieża Primeval Forest: prof. Andrzej Strumiłło, prof. dr. hab. Tomasz Wesołowski, prof. dr. hab. Janusz Hereźniak, prof. dr. hab. Zbigniew Mirek, dr hab. Grażyna Łaska, dr. Andrzej Janusz Korbel and mgr Marta Maziarz.
Thanks to special workshops held for the duration of the exhibition, young people will have an opportunity to discover the secrets of the Forest in an interesting and engaging way, and – thanks to a large-format floor map – also other treasures of Polish nature.
The exhibition will also encompass a side-event scheduled for the end of October – an international conference organised in cooperation with Krakow universities. Pupils, along with the most outstanding Polish and foreign experts researching forests located both in Poland and remote parts of the globe will seek to answer the question, “What do we need primeval forests for?”
A multimedia pavilion of the exhibition (the CORT) will host daily screenings of the short film on Białowieża Primeval Forest Ostatnia puszcza (The Last Primeval Forest) by Bożena and Jan Walencik, and Sadząc nadzieję – Wangari Maathai i Ruch Zielonego Pasa (Planting hope – Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement). All nature lovers will certainly enjoy the films making up the first Polish retrospective of Bożena and Jan Walencik’s oeuvre, screened each Saturday between 4 pm and 6 pm.
Białowieża Primeval Forest stretches on both sides of the border between Poland and Belarus, constituting a trans-boarder space with the total area of 150,582 ha. Białowieża is irresistibly and justifiably associated with the European bison – the largest animal of the Old Continent. However, the King of the Forest shares his ancient home with other great predators such as wolves, martens and lynxes. The Polish part (41% of the Forest) of the forest complex provides shelter to more than 14,000 plant and animal species - including 990 species of vascular plants, 200 species of mosses, 400 species of lichens, at least 3,000 species of fungi, more than 9,280 species of insects, including 1,600 species of butterflies, 178 species of breeding birds, 58 species of mammals – a phenomenon unparalleled anywhere else in the world.
For more information, visit: www.centrumziemi.eu, www.arboresvitae.eu, www.konkurs.arboresvitae.eu
Photography: Tomasz Kałuża
ARBORES VITAE Exhibition
ARBORES VITAE – The last European primeval forest – is the title of an exhibition organised by the European Earth Centre Foundation, opened outside the Tourist Services Centre (ul. Powiśle 11). The exhibition presents 100 large-format photographs of Białowieża Primeval Forest by Jan Walencik.
Apart from visual and aesthetic sensations, ARBORES VITAE (Tree of Life) is a comprehensive educational programme. The photos will be complemented by information boards on Białowieża Primeval Forest and other primeval forests, and the significance of trees to the ecosystem and humans, prepared by distinguished specialists and experts on Białowieża Primeval Forest: prof. Andrzej Strumiłło, prof. dr. hab. Tomasz Wesołowski, prof. dr. hab. Janusz Hereźniak, prof. dr. hab. Zbigniew Mirek, dr hab. Grażyna Łaska, dr. Andrzej Janusz Korbel and mgr Marta Maziarz.
Thanks to special workshops held for the duration of the exhibition, young people will have an opportunity to discover the secrets of the Forest in an interesting and engaging way, and – thanks to a large-format floor map – also other treasures of Polish nature.
The exhibition will also encompass a side-event scheduled for the end of October – an international conference organised in cooperation with Krakow universities. Pupils, along with the most outstanding Polish and foreign experts researching forests located both in Poland and remote parts of the globe will seek to answer the question, “What do we need primeval forests for?”
A multimedia pavilion of the exhibition (the CORT) will host daily screenings of the short film on Białowieża Primeval Forest Ostatnia puszcza (The Last Primeval Forest) by Bożena and Jan Walencik, and Sadząc nadzieję – Wangari Maathai i Ruch Zielonego Pasa (Planting hope – Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement). All nature lovers will certainly enjoy the films making up the first Polish retrospective of Bożena and Jan Walencik’s oeuvre, screened each Saturday between 4 pm and 6 pm.
Białowieża Primeval Forest stretches on both sides of the border between Poland and Belarus, constituting a trans-boarder space with the total area of 150,582 ha. Białowieża is irresistibly and justifiably associated with the European bison – the largest animal of the Old Continent. However, the King of the Forest shares his ancient home with other great predators such as wolves, martens and lynxes. The Polish part (41% of the Forest) of the forest complex provides shelter to more than 14,000 plant and animal species - including 990 species of vascular plants, 200 species of mosses, 400 species of lichens, at least 3,000 species of fungi, more than 9,280 species of insects, including 1,600 species of butterflies, 178 species of breeding birds, 58 species of mammals – a phenomenon unparalleled anywhere else in the world.
For more information, visit: www.centrumziemi.eu, www.arboresvitae.eu, www.konkurs.arboresvitae.eu
Photography: Tomasz Kałuża