Krakow, The largest pipe in the organs at the Karol Szymanowski Krakow Philharmonic Hall has been named "Grzegorz" by the Polish music milieu in recognition of his role in supporting national culture

With Krzysztof Penderecki during the VI Beethoven Festival
Fot. Jacek Wrzesiński

With one of the most acclaimed directors in the history of film, Andrzej Wajda, laureate of Honorary Academy Award (Oscar) in 2000 (at the lobby of Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, March 9th, 2007)
Photo by Jaroslaw Deluga-Gora

The poetry does help to understand a lot... With distinguished Polish poet - Tadeusz Różewicz

Vilnius. In front of the Adam Mickiewicz monument with the great-great-great-great grandson of the great poet

With the greatest cellist of our times, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the great Polish composer, Krzysztof Penderecki, after the concert at the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Photo Zofia Wit

It is an honour to receive from the author himself - a famous writer Jozef Hen - a first copy of an excellent book entitled "Mój przyjaciel król" (My Friend the King), which describes the history of Polish king Stanislaw August (1732 - 98)

No doubt, Persepolis is one of the most magnificent historical sites of the all world. The work on Persepolis, the ruins of which are indeed impressive, had begun under Darius the Great in about 518 B.C.

On the northern edge of Africa, in contemporary Algeria, lays Tipasa an ancient Punic trading-post conquered by Rome and turned into a strategic base. While walking here one may feel not only the breeze of the Mediterranean sea, but also the touch of long history...

Chatting with Sicilians... In South-Eastern Sicily there is as many as eight towns of the Val di Noto - Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo, Ragusa and Scicli, - with beautiful and so unique architecture of late baroque that the deserve to be included on the list of UNESCO World Culture Heritage Sites.

The Mozabits (known also as the Ibadites), the first schismatic sect in Islam, the Kharijites, after almost a thousand years still live in the M'Zab Valley in Algeria, despite a harsh climate. Their five fortified cities (ksour), including Ghardaia, due to unique features and traditional style of life of the local people, are listed as the UNESCO Culture World Heritage Site.

In Ghardaia the old habits and traditional culture are observed till today. The Muslim women here wear the white robes, covering them form head to toe, and only one eye can remain not covered.

On Christmas 2003 a devastating earthquake has destroyed magnificent old city, built from clay. The origins of Bam, in south east Iran, are traced back to the Achaemenid period (VIth to IVth centuries BC), and its heydays to the period between VIIth and XIth centuries.

It's not at all a surprise that the Lao historical town of Luang Prabang is included on the list of unique and extraordinary valuable places of the world - the UNESCO World Culture Heritage List. There is as many as 32 wats, or the Buddhist temples, and among them a true gem, unusually beautiful Wat Xieng Thong.

In Qal'at al-Bahrain - ancient harbour and capital of the Dilmun cilivization - one can study the Bahraini reach history, from the period form mysterious Dilmun cilivization 2,800 years B.C. till the time of Portuguese short dominance in XVIth century.

The great African ancient civilization of Aksum - at the border region of contemporary Ethiopia and Eritrea - is still haloed of mystery and we know not so much about it. Spectacularly interesting here are the monoliths (stelae), of which the highest still standing is reaching 24 meters (80 feet). In Aksum - which has been awarded with the status of the UNESCO World Culture Heritage Site - there is about 120 stelae and the oldest in this region of Africa are as old as 5 thousand years...

New Lanark, Scotland. UNESCO World Culture Heritage Site. At the house of Robert Owen (1771-1858), famous British industrialist and utopian idealist, who has devoted his life toward a quest for better and more just world.

The Old Town (El Centro) of Quito is gorgeous. Hence it is not surprising that, while rich with a lot of beautiful examples of well-preserved colonial architecture, it has been listed as the UNESCO World Culture Heritage Site already for 30 years.

It's difficult to believe, yet indeed in the mid-XVIIIth century Potosi had 200 thousand inhabitants and was as rich as New York and Paris. This beautiful city in poor Bolivia still attracts a lot, yet not anymore through the enormous wealth of the silver of Cerro Rico, in shadow of which it lays at the attitude of 4,000 meters above the sea level, but due to its splendor and rich cultural heritage.

The silver miners, working hard in the Bolivia's Cerro Rico, believe that, where else if not right there, underground, where there are sweating for hours, must live the Devil. So, in a way they celebrate him, at least for the reason to keep him away from their lives. Just in case, there refer to him as Tio (Uncle), and never as Diablo.

Due to the rich historical architecture from the years of colonial prosperity, another Bolivian city - Sucre- is also enlisted as the UNESCO World Culture Heritage Site.

Out of Petropavlovsk - the industrial and administrative center of Kamchatka - majority of the population is aboriginal, since they have been leaving here for a couple of millennia. Along the cost of Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk the Koryaks, Czukchi and Itelmeni are settled. As for the latter - including Oktiabrina, whose parents have given her such name to celebrate certain October, quite well known form the history - they live mainly in the interior, amid marvelous mountains, rivers and forests.

Czukotka consists of the coast of several arctic seas - Bering, Chukchi, East Siberian and Laptiev - several ranges of mountains, and vast tundra. At the area of approximately half a million square kilometers live here about 300 thousand people, including Galina, a Czukcha who's spent all her life at this remote yet so beautiful region of the world.

Bolivia is a very poor country, with GDP per capita of 3,100 USD (on purchasing power parity basis). However, the people look forward with a growing confidence. Also Sebastiana, which in the Andes altiplano weaves from the llama wool the beautifully designed textile for traditional Indian poncho.

How different, from what we are used to, is the culture of the live at the steppe! In Mongolia, during most of the year, not a small part of the people still leads a nomadic style of life, which indeed is quite exciting and culturally reach in its own, unique way.

And still a different is the culture and style of live of the Shiites Muslims in Iran. Although the winter has come, Estenah looks with the usual optimism into the future...

...and at the market place in Manzini, in Swaziland, the Swazi women look with a great curiosity...

The culture has not only many faces but also many ...palms. Sometimes - as in the case of Afar women, living at the desert of Djibouti at the Horn of Africa - they are beautifully made-up.

Southern Ethiopia. The colorful people from Galeb tribe, known also as Dhasanech, living in Omorate village, enjoy to be decked with a lot of local jewelry.

Among the Aymara Indians, in the Bolivian Andes.

After the Armenian the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church is the oldest in the world. Christianity became the official state religion here also already in the IV century. The well-known - with the UNESCO World Heritage Site status - are the rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, of which the most famous is the church of Saint George (Bet Giyorgis).

The orthodox priests, proud of their churches, are guarding the treasuries of their temples. The crosses of Lalibela are characteristics and not the same as in other places.

At the Geghard monastery. In Armenia there are dozens beautiful, old churches and monasteries, of which three - Echmiadzin, Sanahin and Haghpat, and Geghard - are included on the UNESCO Culture World Heritage list.

The feasts with family and friends are deeply enrooted in the Armenian
traditions and culture, and the guest are always most welcome...

The tea drinking ceremony, at the specially designed and celebrated tea
houses, since centuries takes an important part in the traditional Japanese
culture.

Kyoto appears to be an unusual cultural treasure. One can find here as many as 17 buildings and garden complexes, the UNESCO culture world heritage sites, including a castle, 13 Buddhist temples and 3 Shinto temples. Of utmost beauty is the castle Nijo-jo, built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu.

At the marble boat in the Summer Palace, an Imperial Garden in Beijing

In this mansion - at Ilha de Mocambique, on the west cost of Indian Ocean - at the end of XVth century stayed the great explorer, Vasco da Gama. Despite the fact that the whole island has been declared the UNESCO World Culture Heritage, most of gorgeous colonial era buildings are in a miserable state.

There are still some controversies who had constructed the impressive medieval city of Great Zimbabwe, the largest man-made structure in sub-Saharan Africa. For a good reason, the UNESCO has included this site on its World Culture Heritage list.

Tsodilo Hills, on the Kalahari desert at the north-west corner of Botswana, close to the Namibia border, sometimes are referred to as the "Wilderness Louvre". One can admire here over 2,700 rock paintings which have been drawn several thousands years ago by the San people, known earlier also as the Bushmen.

Also very old, dating from approximately 4000 BC to 5000 BC, are the rock paintings from Adi Alauti the cave of in beautiful canyon near Qohaito in Eritrea.

In Orkhon Valley and in the region of former capital of the great Mongol Empire, Karakorum, one can still find magnificent works of ancient civilizations. This stone figure, from the culture of Uighur, has been created in the VI century.

From the later period, probably from the XIIth century, are the stones, believed to be the stelae marking the graves, in Tiya, in Ethiopia. The site contains about 40 mysterious ancient stelae, of which most are engraved with the sword.

Meydan-e Imam is not only one of the largest squares in the world (only second to the Beijing Tiananmen), but one of the most beautiful. On the left Sheikh Lofollah Mosque, on the right Ali Qapu Palace, and at the far end a gem of a Safavid-era architecture, one of the most magnificent shrines all over the world, the famous Imam Mosque (Majed-e Imam).

Famous mosque in Djenne, Mali, world's largest building made of clay. The entire old town of Djenne is protected as the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site...

...and so is the case of Timbuktu...

...as well as the Sahara ancient cities, or Ksour, in Mauretania: Oudane...

...and Chinquetti.

At the Djibouti market. At the background the historical Grand Mosque.

In Islamic schools, writing down the verses of Qur'an is also a way to learn how to read and write

A ritual mask of the Tikar tribe from Cameroon. This kind of mask is still used, especially during the wedding celebrations

Masks traditionally play an important role in the rituals of African tribes, also among Igbo in eastern Nigeria

Apsara, according to old Khmer's culture, a heaven nymph

Gelong is an advanced level on the hierarchic ladder of the Buddhist monks. Gong Chor has achieved it after twenty years of studies and service at the Potala Palace in Lhasa. So, now it is easy for him to explain the nuances of the exciting and colorful philosophy of the Tibetan Buddhism

The Director of TIGER against the background of tiger. The lessons of Lao calligraphy at the Wat Xieng Muan Luang Prabang in Laos.

Birobidzhan, the capital of the Jewish Autonomous Region in the Russian Far East. After the meeting with Lev G. Toytman - the chief rabbi and Chairman of the Jewish Community of Birobidzhan "Freid" (Yiddish for "happiness"). In mid-September of 2003 Birobidzhan hosted the 7th International Festival of Jewish Culture

Among the Felasha, the African Jews. Would it be possible that their roots are linked to the Jews which came here - at the highland of central Ethiopia - in the biblical time together with the Ark of Covenant?...

At the courtyard of the Friday Mosque (Masjed-e Jameh) in Isfahan, Iran. The "Black Turban" (Seyyed) among the Shiites mullahs means a descent from the Prophet Mohammad.

Yakutsk, the East Siberia. With Professor Mikhail P. Lebiedev,
Vice-President of the Yakutian Scientific Center, the Siberian Branch of
Russian Academy of Sciences, at the temple of tradition Yakutians religion
which cultivates the nature and the forces of the elements.

Tomsk, Siberia. In the workshop of well-known sculptor - Leontiy Usov - one may see many beautiful wooden sculptures of distinguished artists, mainly the great Russian writers. Among them, also the author of "Doctor Zhivago" - Boris Pasternak

Bujumbura, Burundi. East Africa is known for beatiful, traditional masks, still used by local population in various folk customs. This Cokwe tribal mask from Kongo also hides one misterious ghost inside

Warsaw, April 2003. During the meeting with great Polish culture creators and activists. Salutation with actor Marek Kondrat. In the center Ignacy Gogolewski - Polish great theatre actor, who played Dorian Grey in the Polish TV Theater 40 years ago

Dublin, February 2003. In front of Oscar Wilde's monument, the great Irish writer (1856-1900), author of the novel "The Picture of Dorian Grey".

Looking at the original manuscript of Ludwig van Beethoven in the Wroclaw University Library

Islas Negras, Pacific Coast, Chile. Over the grave of great Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, the 1971 Literature Nobel Prize Laureate.

In this villa, in Muslim town Harar in Ethiopia - in the past an independent city-state - had lived great French poet, distinguished representative of symbolism, Jean Arthur Rimbaud  (1854-91), the author of "The Drunken Boat" and "A Season in Hell".

ranians have a saying that every home must have two things: first the Quran and then the volume with Hafez poetry. In Shiraz, the home town of a great Persian poet, the author of "Divan-e-Hafez", in a charming garden at his tomb (Aramgah-e-Hafez) all the time one can meet Iranians enjoying his lyrics, being still very popular and so often read and recited. Although Khajeh Shams-ed-Din Mohammed, better known Hafez, what means "One Who Can Recite the Quran from Memory", lived in 1324-89, he still is regarded as a kind of folk-hero.

With Professor Boris G. Woznicki, since 1962 the Director of the Lvov Picture Gallery. His commitment and determination helped to save about 12 thousand items of the sacred arts. Earlier, they were exposed in the churches of the West Ukraine. During the decades of 60s and 70s of the last century, Professor Woznicki had collected these items and saved them at the time the churches had been liquidated. Now -- while waiting for the new place to be exposed again -- these precious items are stored in one of the most bizarre storehouses. Two and a half miles of shelves with the saved arts are to be found close to the Olesko Castle, the place of birth of the Poland's King Jan III Sobieski

Photo Boguslawa Czyzewska

With the Cardinal Josef Glemp, during the inauguration of the 2002/2003 academic year in the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. Left: Waldemar Dabrowski — the Minister of Culture

“Veris leta facies mundo propinatur...” (“The merry face of spring turns to the world...”). With THE SPRING after splendid performance of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” directed by Ewa Michnik in Wroclaw’s Opera (27th October, 2002)

Czestochowa. With Father Jan Golonka - curator of Pauline Monastery's museum
collection at Jasna Gora

Madrid. With H.R.H. the Crown Prince Felipe De Borbon - the Prince of Asturia - in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

With famous Polish composer — Wojciech Kilar, after “Missa Pro Pacem” (100th anniversary of the Polish National Philharmony) January 2001

And which one more?... At the art market in Stone Town, Zanzibar

Sydney, the Opera.  Getting ready for the evening performance of Puccini's Tosca