He may never have set foot in Cracow but his popularity was such that his statue was given centre stage in the city's grand market square. That very monument was torn down by the Nazis during the Second World War and the square was renamed Adolf Hitler Platz.
Sixty years later, Poland is independent again and a part of the EU. The German Goethe Institute sits comfortably on the square, actually facing the Mickiewicz statue, a happy coincidence seeing that the great German writer cordially received the Polish bard back in 1823.
This weekend sees the 150th anniversary of the passing of Mickiewicz and television channels will be queuing up to pay tribute to the master. Mickiewicz remains the undisputed King of Polish literature and ever popular with the public. He is the Romantic of the Romantics.
Although Mickiewicz was obliged to spend many years in exile in France, he was eventually laid to rest in Cracow's Wawel Cathedral, the foremost national shrine. A special commemorative mass will be held there tomorrow at 10am. In the evening, new productions of his dramas will be staged across the country.
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