Nauka czytania świata

• Authors: STOKOWSKI MAREK

Title variants

EN

Learning to read the world

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

We learn to read throughout our lives. Our learning how to put together letters written on paper when we are children is just the beginning of a process in which we keep refining our skill of reading various texts of nature and of culture. In Western culture, the most helpful tools for learning to read the world of nature and man are the instruments developed by our ancient forbears, namely universities, libraries, and museums. The meanings of their notions have been redefined over the centuries, but they still remain – in one form or another – the key tools of public education. In recent decades, we have acquired another instrument which can be used for in-depth reading of the world, namely the constellation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The World Heritage List has become a peculiar reading list for civilised man. By analogy to literary canons, which have been created for centuries, the international community has been highlighting the unique value of selected items of cultural and natural heritage for several decades now. Thus they have been creating a canon of ‘cultural and natural texts’ thanks to which we can explore the history and character of our planet, as well as the history of our own species – Homo sapiens. * Malbork Castle entered the ‘world canon of reading’ in 1997. The castle is one of the finest examples of Gothic brick architecture in Europe. It is also a testimony to pioneering restoration achievements at the turn of the 20th century, as well as to the huge effort and artistry of the Polish restorers who raised the “highest mountain of bricks north of the Alps” from ruins after World War II. Most importantly, however, it is a narrative about the dramatic history of Western Christianity. An attentive reader of its walls will be able to find here questions about the spiritual and material foundations of European civilisation, and thus, also questions about war and peace, savagery and culture, power and service, richness and poverty, body and soul. The secret text inscribed in the bricks is multilayered and difficult to read; therefore one of the most crucial missions for the host of this historic building is to help visitors to understand the language of the walls as thoroughly as possible. Since 1961, The Malbork Castle Museum has been the host. It communicates the key messages of the fortress on the Nogat River through exhibitions, the narration passed on by its guides, internet applications, and the information materials available on the institution’s website, as well as books and scientific conferences. These and the other educational activities delivered in the castle and in the media may be likened to ‘making the place more legible,’ bringing out its meanings. However, in addition to making the reading easier for visitors, there is also a need for educational work, such as to offer audiences help in refining their own ‘wall reading’ skills. The Malbork Castle Museum has been pursuing such programmes, especially for children and youth, for a long time. * As in most other European museums, the educational activities in the Malbork Castle are conducted by a specialised Education Department, whose personnel mainly work with children. The activities comprise thematic classes aimed at promoting intellectual and creative interest among the participants. This is delivered by using theatre and singing techniques, as well as historical clothing and props. Experience gained during work with smaller groups of school pupils led to the creation of the Route of the Castle Mysteries, which has been available to a very wide public since 2015, and is addressed to groups of school children, as well as kids accompanied by parents. Instead of the traditional visiting formula, the Castle Museum proposes a twohour historical game. Its participants form teams of knights. Under the care of a qualified guide addressed as the Route Master, each team travels a castle trail, solving a sequence of tasks. Many of them are practical in nature, and require the participants, for example, to discover hidden items, put together replicas of the capitals of columns, or make an architectural structure with their own bodies. Each task solved is rewarded with a letter. At the end of the game, the successive letters put together form a password by means of which children can open a treasure of mysteries. Naturally, young people who participate in the castle game acquire a great deal of information about the fortress on the Nogat, the Teutonic Order, the Kingdom of Poland, and the culture of the Middle Ages. What is equally important, however, is that during the adventure children come to realise the importance of a careful examination of reality, linking facts together, searching for solutions, and drawing their own conclusions. * The Malbork Castle Museum has another tool helpful in teaching young visitors to read the walls on their own, namely the Young Circle of Friends of the Castle. It has been active for more than three decades and works with secondary school students grouped by age. The training sessions, which are free of charge, are attended exclusively by individual volunteers and not school classes, with the weekly sessions of each group lasting approximately ninety minutes. The Museum treats the activity as a public service. During the first 6-month period, the classes focus on the history of the Teutonic Order, while in the second, those attending explore the entire complex of castle buildings. In the season which follows, they mainly deal with topics related to Malbork after 1466. Young people learn about the Polish garrison of the castle, as well as construction techniques, writing, religious life, hygiene, and medicine in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The focus of the third season is on reading old and contemporary poetic texts, which is intended to be a bridge to the reading of the substance of the castle. During this exercise young people become aware that the fortress is, in fact, a grand, multi-layered book on Western civilisation. The Club’s classes are not based on the written word, image and exploration of the castle alone. They also involve historical games and workshops. Other activities include field trips around the Malbork area, which are helpful in understanding the geographical, natural and economic context of the castle. Some of these activities are organised in collaboration with educators and youth from other countries. * The members of the team of educators teach children and youth how to read the medieval walls not only to pass on knowledge about Malbork. They work in the hope that thanks to reading the medieval buildings, young people will find it easier to read many other ‘texts of culture and nature’ on their own, both in Poland and worldwide. This is done as an expression of the conviction that reading schoolbooks is not enough to become a responsible heiress to the heritage of our civilisation and a rational inhabitant of the Earth. Indeed, we need also read stones and bricks, musical instruments and vehicles, the lines of roads and channels, the layout of buildings, towns and gardens, human gestures, the colour of leaves, the silence of the forest, the power of canyons, the blessed presence of animals and oceans. Without this skill we are losing our chance of living a conscious life full of delight – after all this is the only life we have on this, the third planet from the Sun.

Keywords

PL

nauka czytania świata; Lista światowego dziedzictwa; zamek w Malborku; Malbork; zabytki gotyckiej architektury ceglanej w Europie; Muzeum Zamkowe w Malborku; Młodzieżowe Koło Przyjaciół Zamku w Malborku; czytanie średniowiecznych murów

• Publisher: Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa
• Journal: Ochrona Zabytków
• Year: 2017
• Issue: Dodatek Specjalny. Dziedzictwo w Polsce.
• Pages: 165-168

Dates

published

2017

Contributors

author

STOKOWSKI MAREK

• Muzeum Zamkowe w Malborku
• The Malbork Castle Museum

Identifiers

ISSN

0029-8247