The programme includes concerts, exhibitions and the world premiere of an opera entitled The Best City in the World.
Warsaw’s Deputy Mayor Aldona Machnowska-Góra told a press conference that the year-long programme pays tribute to the architects, city planners and ordinary citizens who contributed to the nationwide effort to rebuild the capital from ruins.
She recalled that 65 percent of Warsaw was destroyed during the war, with the Old Town district and city centre razed to the ground by the Germans.
Michał Krasucki, head of Warsaw’s Heritage Protection Department, said that the Capital City’s Reconstruction Office was set up on February 14, 1945—while the war was still ongoing.
“Within a year, its staff grew from just a few dozen to around 1,500 people—architects, urban planners, art conservators and craftsmen—a massive workforce dedicated to rebuilding the capital,” he said.
Among the highlights of the anniversary celebrations is the premiere of An Opera About Warsaw – The Best City in the World, a musical tribute to the monumental national effort to restore the city from the devastation of WWII.
The work, composed by Cezary Duchnowski with a libretto by Beniamin Bukowski, is inspired by motifs from Grzegorz Piątek’s book The Best City in the World. Rebuilding Warsaw 1945-1949.
The opera's two main protagonists are an architect who argues that too little remains of the city’s original fabric and insists that Warsaw must be rebuilt anew, and an American journalist who arrives in Warsaw to confront her communist ideals with reality.
Set to premiere in mid-September, the opera is a collaborative effort by the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, the Polish National Opera, the Warsaw Autumn Contemporary Music Festival and the Museum of Warsaw.
This year also marks the 45th anniversary of Warsaw’s historic centre being added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. A special concert celebrating the occasion is scheduled for late July, featuring internationally acclaimed countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński among the performers.
(mk/gs)