Christmas Competition Kicks Off
The celebrated Christmas Nativity Scene competition (Szopki) was launched this morning as hundreds of Cracovians, young and old, gathered around the tower of the old Town Hall.
Maciej Moszew has entered the competition some 45 times. Luckily, he has collected a prize 23 times out of the 45 years.
'All in all I spent 300 hours making this' he says with pride. Moszew's is a classic model, resembling the kind of rainbow coloured castle that one sees in a Slavonic fairy tale. Yet his creation is just one of the smaller ones.
Pawel Nawala has built a huge, gotham-like black confection, a sort of Batman version of the traditional model.
"This is my sixteenth time' he says, looking a tad fatigued by the marathon undertaking. He has spent over 1000 hours on the construction. But the results are impressive. He confesses that he too has won the odd prize.
Of course, the jury's still out on this years entrants, and we'll have to wait until Sunday to see who wins the top gong. Following the decision - a rather nail-biting moment for those who have sacrificed everything over the last few months - the most beautiful scenes will be put on display at the Cracow History Museum (Rynek Glowny 35) until mid-February.
Next year the initial display will switch from the Town Hall back to the Mickiewicz statue, the traditional venue for unveiling the szopki. The monument was inaccessible this year due to continuing renovation works.