On the initiative of the Mayor of Wroclaw Rafał Dutkiewicz, with the support of Józef Kupny – Archbishop of Wroclaw, the application for inscription of the Book of Henryków on UNESCO’s list together with a letter of intent was sent to Warsaw. There, during the session of the Polish National Committee for UNESCO, it was decided that the Book of Henryków would one of the two Polish nominations for inscription on UNESCO’s list. The second nomination was ‘Akta Braci Czeskich w Wielkopolsce’ [‘The Files of the Czech Brothers in Wielkopolska>>'<<] from the 16th century.
A year ago, Rafał Dutkiewicz said about the submission of the candidature of the Book of Henryków for UNESCO’s program: ‘This decision is like an Oscar nomination; now we are waiting for the announcement of the winner. We will make every effort to fulfil our wish that a work from Wroclaw – the European Capital of Culture 2016 – be present on the UNESCO list.’
Today we have heard that the final decision was favourable for Wroclaw: the Book of Henryków, one of the most valuable exhibits of the Archdiocesal Museum in Wroclaw, was officially inscribed on UNESCO’s ‘Memory of the World’ list.
I am very happy to tell you that the Book of Henryków was inscribed on UNESCO’s ‘Memory of the World’ list. #duma
— Rafał Dutkiewicz (@dutkiewiczrafal) October 9, 2015 A unique book
The decision on the inscription of new items on the ‘Memory of the World’ list is made every two years during a session of the nomination committee. A year ago, Professor Władysław Stępniak, Chairman of the Polish Committee for UNESCO’s ‘Memory of the World’ Program, explained: ‘Till the end of March, the application concerning the Book of Henryków will be forwarded to Paris, where it will be evaluated for 3-4 months. In respect of documents placed in this special list, Poland ranks third together with Russia – the register already contains the manuscript of Nicholaus Copernicus’ work, Fryderyk Chopin’s scores or the Warsaw Confederation of 1573. If the Book of Henryków is to be inscribed on the list, its huge regional and universal value must be proved in the evaluation. This item must go beyond the time and place of its creation, and we think that it deserves nomination,’ said Professor Władysław Stępniak.
A similar opinion is shared by the author of the application – Professor Wojciech Mrozowicz from the University of Wroclaw. ‘The book is a historic work that describes cultural exchange in Silesia and, in general, in Central and Eastern Europe. This book is important not only from the Polish, but also German point of view, because it documents the achievements of German settlers in this area,’ explains Professor Mrozowicz.
’It is also worth stressing that the first sentence in Polish was written by a German abbot in Latin, and it was spoken by a Czech to his Polish wife,’ stresses Rev. Professor Józef Pater, Director of the Archdiocesal Museum in Wroclaw.
A 13th-century work
As you may remember, the Book of Henryków (Latin: ‘Liber fundationis claustri sanctae Mariae Virginis in Heinrichow’) is a chronicle of the Cistercian abbey in Henryków. It was written in two parts in the 13th century.
The Book of Henryków contains the first sentence written in Polish: ‘Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai’, which can be roughly translated as ‘Let me, I shall grind, and you take the rest.’ These words were spoken by a Czech peasant Bogwal to his Polish wife, described as ‘a fat and awkward wife,’ for whom the task of grinding seeds was too difficult.
