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| Alchemia Club on Cracow`s Kazimierz, Nowy Square - concerts, cinema, theatre, gallery |
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| | | | | Plac Nowy is a true village square. Since 1999, it has come to life again from what was once a sleepy square into a lively, vibrant centre of attraction for young people.
During this time, Alchemia opened its doors to the public – a typical Polish cluttered pub with old battered furniture in a dark and smoky atmosphere. In the cellar they created a private theater with about hundred seats and setup a very lively program of jazz, rock, poetry, avant-garde movies and plays.
Alchemia became a role model for other cafe’s and theatres in the square and the surrounding streets. Most buildings have now become a pub, restaurant, theater, hostel or Bed & Breakfast. The character of the square has changed substantially in less then ten years.
Before 1999 one could find all sorts of trades and a shabby, snuggery pub called ‘Singer’. The pub, whose tables serve well, was named after the producer of sewing machines and not after the well-know Polish writer Isaac Bashevis (Backfisch) Singer.
Plac Nowy has a whole range of activities and functions. On Saturdays there is an antique’ market; on Sundays a flee-market. On Tuesdays and Fridays, they also sell pigeons. In the evenings there are theater performances and, during the summer, they have concerts ‘on the roof’. The place is also a regular stop for (holocaust) tourists.
Around a small building in the middle of the square is a ring-shaped second building with all small shops. These shops are not big enough to be entered by customers. On the outside there are windows where you can order groceries, Polish fast food, bread and meat. There was also a hairdresser. These days they mainly sell Kebab and ‘zapiekanka’. Around these buildings there are stalls for fruit, vegetables and flowers, which are operating during the week. During the Summer time they have a stage between the two buildings for ‘concerts on the roof’.
Plac Nowy has also become an entertainment centre. Every pub attracts its own public. An emerging richer group in both Cracow and Warsaw, the frontrunners of tourism, accompanies the young and creative people. The Britons fly in with budget-airlines. A special group of tourists is those interested in the holocaust, especially the Jewish Israelite adolescents under the tight surveillance of security people.
The streets and pavements of Plac Nowy and its surrounding streets are in extremely bad shape. One can hardly walk on the pavements, because the cars are parked on them.
The police on the streets are permanently dressed in combat uniform. Their attention is obsessively focused at homeless people. They scrutinize or hand out fines to people for standing on the street with a glass of beer or wine.
Fred Gijbels, Polish translation Olimpia Maciejewska |
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All rights reserved. Copyright Alchemia Civil Co.
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