A year ago this month, Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz was laid to rest in the Crypt of Honour at Cracow's Church on the Rock. To mark the anniverary of the departure of this distinguished poet, the Mayor of Cracow Jacek Majchrowski will unveil a plaque at the house where Milosz lived for ten years.
Like Adam Mickiewicz, Poland's greatest poet of the nineteenth century, Milosz hailed from lands that are now in Lithuania. Both poets were brought up in small country manors there and both were compelled to leave their homeland for political reasons. The two men also shared a period in exile in Paris, where they produced their greatest works, the latter's being a devastating satire on the nature of the Communist state, entitled 'The Captive Mind.'
However, unlike Mickiewicz, Milosz was finally able to return to Poland with the passing of totalitarian rule. He died in Cracow aged 92.
The new plaque will be unveiled on Boguslawskiego Street on Sunday 14th August at midday. This small street lies a short walk south east of the Planty Gardens between ul. Sarego and ul. sw. Sebastiana. Many of Milosz's friends at the university are expected to attend the short tribute.
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