Rok 1836: Juliusz Słowacki pod piramidami

THE yEAR 1836: JULIUSZ SŁOWACKI By THE PIRAMIDS Among the many Polish travellers who visited Egypt in the 19th century, Juliusz Słowacki deserves special attention. He stayed in Egypt from October 20th, 1836, to the end of that year. Słowacki’s companion in the travel was Zbigniew Brzozowski, and also, though separately, two brothers and their friends Stefan and Aleksander Hołyński made a trip to that country. All of them, with the exception of the émigré poet, were wealthy landowners. Słowacki robbery of Egyptian antiquities done by art An effect of Słowacki’s travel were poetic reflections about the history of Egypt and the monuments of Egypt. The reflections surpass the “Egyptian” pieces by Western poets contemporary to Słowacki, not excluding Ozymandias by Shelley who, after all, never went to Egypt. Słowacki’s notebook from his travel to the East, containing images, notes and poems, has re cently been found. A part of Krasiński Library collection, for many years considered as destroyed dur ing the war, the notebook, following many war vicissitudes, reached a library in Moscow and is pres ently a subject of editorial activities performed by Polish specialists within the framework of the project sponsored by the Polish National Centre for Science (grant nr. NCN 2014/15/B/H52/01360) and di rected by professor Maria Kalinowska.