ON THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF BALTIC SEA

RELATIONS BETWEEN SCANDINAVIAN AND CENTRAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Wroclaw, 25-30 November 2003

One of the most important historical events, which determine a contemporary cultural identity of Europe, is the permanent presence of mutual relationships between Scandinavia and the central and east part of the continent. Baltic Sea as an area connecting those regions was not only a stage of battles and a border, but a platform connecting nations as well. It was a bridge by which the spiritual and material heritage of those nations could be disseminated. An intensivity of those relations, which were present as early as in the beginning of the Middle Age, is testified by concrete dynastic relations, by a mutual dialogue of confessions as well as by examples of cooperation in the realm of art. In order to reconstruct those relations, new attempts have been undertaken in the recent years. More intensive studies focusing on old and contemporary contacts in politics, economy and culture are being performed. More frequent meetings, in which scholars present results of their researches, became a platform of a scientific exchange. The aim of the proposed conference is to undertake the first approach to the important, though not complex performed problem of mutual influences between Scandinavian and Central European countries. The project is thought to highlight the problematic from different perspectives, seen from many humanistic disciplines.

The advanced progress of studies on the Scandinavian - Central European contacts in the Middle Age, turn the scientifical directors and organisers of the conference to propose the mutual relations from the Early Modern time up to the nowadays as a main topic of the meeting. While the organisers tend to create a wide interdisciplinar forum, the invitation is directed to art historian, scholars of culture, specialists in history of religion, literature, music, science and military. The main topics presented at the conference will be - as we think - problems of mutual political, confessional and cultural relations, thought as general processes as well as particular occurances. Among questions, which are expected to be presented at the conference, will be a problematic of the Thirty Years War and that of the important role of Sweden during that time as well as the problem of the King Gustav Adolf II as a guarant of confessional rights of Protestants in the Central Europe. Also an artistic heritage of outraged Scandinavian artists active in the Middle Europe as well as that of artists from Poland, Bohemia and Germany, travelling to Sweden, Danemark and Norway in order to find commissions, will be taken into account.

Wroclaw as the capital of Silesia, a region, where those connections can be noticed in a significant and a different way, had been chosen as a place of the planned conference. To mention an example, the period of Thirty Years War was not only the stage of Swedish troops’ occupation in Silesia and in Wroclaw, but also the time, when the king Gustav Adolf II was comprehended as a heroic defender of the Lutheran Confession. Moreover, that point of view was very important for the confessional identity of the region. Also in the next century, another Swedish king, Carl XII, a promoter of the Convent in Altranstädt in 1707, was regarded by Silesian Protestants in a similar way. An admiration for the old Scandinavian culture and art in Silesia can be evidenced by a fact, that a wooden medieval church from the Wang lake in Norway was transferred to Karpacz in 1851. The constancy of the mutual relations is testified by existence of The King Gustav Adolf Foundation in Wroclaw up to the nowadays.

The organisers of the conference, planned for the end of November 2003, are: the University of Wroclaw, Polish Society for Reformation Research, the Study of Art Committee at the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish-Swedish Association. The scientifical directory of the conference is held by Prof. Dr. Jan Harasimowicz, the chairman of the Polish Society for Reformation Research. Participants invited to participance in the meeting are excellent specialists from the most eminent North and Central European universities and research centres from such countries like: Sweden, Norway, Danemark, Finland, Eastland, Latvia, Germany, Great Britain, USA and Poland. The proposed conference is thought to be as accompanied by an exhibition, presenting first of all connections between Silesia, Poland and Scandinavian countries. The base for that exhibition would be collections from Wroclaw (the Department of Old Prints of the University Library in Wroclaw and the Library of Ossolineum Foundation). The organisers intend to publish materials from the conference.

The planned meeting 'On the Opposite Sides of Baltic Sea'. Relations Between Scandinavian and Central European Countries will be held paralell to Polish efforts to join the European Community. One of assumptions of the European integration is a reconstruction of old contacts which connected the countries on the opposite sides of Baltic Sea. Only a mutual acquaintance can guarantee the success of such ambitious entertainment like the unification of Europe.