Renovation is due to finish this week in one of Cracow's most glorious buildings, the turn of the century Slowacki Theatre.
The theatre, which is a miniature version of Charles Garnier's celebrated Parisian Opera House, has hosted many legendary premieres over the years, including posthumous stagings of plays by national bard Adam Mickiewicz, and perhaps most famously, Stanislaw Wyspianski's 'Wesele' ('The Wedding'), which drew instant acclaim following its debut in 1901.
A fresh staging of Poland's best-loved opera, Stanislaw Moniuszko's 'Straszny Dwor' ('The Haunted Manor' compl. 1864) is set to kick off on Sunday 30th January.
We hope that we're proved wrong, but a little bird has told us that the new staging is not the most memorable production of Moniuszko's classic. However, for visitors to the city, it's worth bearing in mind that seats are only a fraction of what they are in Vienna. And such is the splendour of the interior that it would be worth dropping in even if it is only for the first act - the theatre is alive with the spirits of Cracow's fin-de-siecle.
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