Discovery focuses on Krakow as capital
Discovery Historia, the Polish branch of the Discovery History TV channel, and Krakow will cooperate to organize several artistic events and to promote the city on TV.
On Thursday, Barbara Bilinska, the director of Discovery Historia, and Jacek Majchrowski, the mayor, signed a contract for cooperation to produce programs on Krakow’s historical attractions. Bilinska said that Discovery Historia’s motto is “Be there where history was made” and that Krakow is exactly the kind of place to report from.
The cooperation with the TV channel actually began last November when Discovery Historia and Krakow organized a happening on Market Square entitled “Painting Matejko.” Matejko was a famous 19th-Century Polish painter, and the event was a part of the 750th anniversary of Krakow’s incorporation and city charter. Discovery also is broadcasting “Krakow’s Memoir,” showing the process of urban changes. And Discovery will launch this week a series of programs entitled “What if Krakow was the capital of Poland?” These are light stories presented in the form of questions asked by journalist Brian Scott, with answers given by Michal Niezabitowski, the director of the Krakow’s Historical Museum. Niezabitowski walks Scott around Krakow and tells interesting and funny stories about Krakow and its history.
The script for the show was written by well-known satirists Lukasz Rybarski (the “Pod Wyrwigroszem” cabaret) and Tomasz Olbratowski (radio journalist and author of biting and funny features).
Another Discovery venture is planned for Sept. 12, the 325th anniversary of the Battle of Vienna. In 1683 the Polish King Jan III Sobieski, commanding Polish, Austrian and German armies, defeated a Turkish army that had besieged Vienna, thus relieving Western Europe from the threat of Turkish conquest.
On Sept, 12, Krakow will present a commemorative show in the Market Square. The dramatic program will feature King Sobieski presenting war trophies from Vienna, his army re-enacting the battle and many more activities.
Discovery channel will televise all of this live, and in the future more enterprises are planned. It is speculated that Discovery will also help celebrate the 90th anniversary of Krakow’s liberation after World War I.