The year 2018 has ended Come and see what we have been doing in it. We have been working on the fields of education, culture and history.

Another intense year of activity is behind the Nomina Rosae Foundation. 2018 went by fast and it was a special year for us, because that year we were able to realize our years-long dream of creating a film about Bolesław Barbacki. In the competition by Filmoteka Małopolska we have received a grant to produce a feature-long documentary, the project was joined also by SOKÓŁ Lesser Poland Cultural Centre as the film’s co-producer and also supported by the City of Nowy Sącz, Poviat Starosty in Nowy Sącz and FAKRO company; the film is co-produced also by the J. Słowacki Theatre in Kraków. The main character was played by Arkadiusz Detmer, and the film was directed by Barbara Szewczyk, a director with whom we have been working for a long time now. The shooting took over a week, during which documentary scenes, interviews and the recreated historical scenes were shot. The gathering of the extensive source base about Bolesław Barbacki was greatly contributed by Mrs Monika Ślepiak, and also Mr Łukasz Kopiec and Mrs Ewa Kustroń de Ramos. The painter’s mysterious atelier was re-created, thanks to the courtesy of the owner, in the exact same location, where Bolesław’s original studio existed, i.e. in the front rooms of the beautiful villa Marya.

The film absorbed a lot of time, energy and finances, becoming our flag project in 2018, but apart from it, we were involved in other projects too. Within our educational work we have organized the 13th Labyrinth of History (supported by the Lesser Poland Voivodship and City of Nowy Sącz), dedicated to the regaining of independence by Poland. Our partners in the Labyrinth were: SOKÓŁ Lesser Poland Cultural Centre, Voivodship Public Library and Regional Museum in Nowy Sącz. In this year programme we had 8 lectures about various aspects of Polish independence, 3 evenings with history, during which we met with representatives of families from Nowy Sącz, as well as Polish dances workshops and conference for teachers and students. As always we have published a folder, and interesting historical articles prepared by our lecturing guests will soon appear on the Labyrinth of History webiste.

As a part of our educational activities we have also hosted two Cultural Vouchers in the SOKÓŁ Lesser Poland Cultural Centre – “Peculiar Album of Memories”, raising sensitivity to family history and old photographs, as well as “Our Eagles” series, dedicated to the history of Polish national emblem. We got involved in organization of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, 76th Anniversary of Nowy Sącz Ghetto Liquidation, and participated in Dariusz Popiela’s project “People Not Numbers” (“Ludzie Nie Liczby”), which resulted in restoration of Jewish cemetery in Krościenko nad Dunajcem and creation of a monument with names of the victims of the Holocaust on it – former Jewish inhabitants of Krościenko. To erect the monument, we have acquired a grant from the Jewish Historical Institute Association. We’ve also supported the meeting with Anna Bikont, author of the book „Sendlerowa. W ukryciu”.

We’ve also been busy in our atelier. Among others, royal garments for the Slovak association “Bratislava of Coronations” were created, attires for the exposition in the Museum in Limanowa and in Museum in Przemyśl; for the latter we have created a silk dress of queen Hedwig and garments of kings Casimir the Great and Władysław Jagiełło. We have also prepared garments and costumes for several live shows as well as cinematic and educational endeavors. We were also busy with our own live shows and artistic performances with recreated garments. This year we took part i.e. in the opening of the new building of Regional Museum in Nowy Sącz, in the St. Margaret’s Fair in Nowy Sącz and in the 1st Festival of the Eagles’ Nest Trail in Pieskowa Skała Castle.

This year we have organized and helped organize three exhibitions: “Charles Merrill’s journey through life”, telling the story of this incredible man, our benefactor, through memorabilia and items connected to his life, prepared and shared for the exhibitions by Mr Merrill’s wife, Mrs Julie Boudreaux. Our classic exhibition “The Fairy-Tale Kingdom” has been presented in the Regional Museum in Limanowa and in Nowy Sącz in the Voivodeship Pedagogical Library the “Fashionable in Independence” exhibition took place, where our recreated garments, original accessories and reproduced photographs from the years 1908–1939 could have been seen. The Nomina Rosae Theatre presented itself this year at the opening of the new building of the Voivodeship Pedagogical Library in Nowy Sącz, performing one of its most popular plays, a steampunk-magical “Clockwork Heart” starring Justyna Stasik, Ola Powęzka and Łukasz Oleś. We have also prepared a theatralized poetry evening during the August anniversary of the ghetto liquidation.

We hope that the new year of 2019 will be equally interesting and busy for us – even now we have reasons to believe it will be! We thank everyone who were with us during our activities, we thank our partner institutions, our benefactors and donors – without them the things we do would be very hard to do – we thank our beloved volunteers for taking part in the live shows, and also teachers and students for their interest in the Labyrinth of History. We thank all the people, who support us spiritually and financially and we hope you will be with us in the upcoming year as well 🙂