The Seminar and Exhibition \u201cNative Europe: Photographs of Ukraine 1902-1903 & the Polish
\nCitizenship of Constance Markievicz\u201d, 16 th June 2024.<\/p>\n
Poland was first to help! \u2013 were the words of the Polish ambassador to
\nIreland, Prof. Arkady Rzegocki at the Polish House in Dublin during the
\nopening of the exhibition of the Irish-Polish Society on the occasion of the
\n20th anniversary of Poland\u2019s accession to the EU. Today, Poland is a modern
\nand strong country, a member of the European Union and NATO, with strong
\nties with Ukraine and its historical ties with Ireland, dating back even to the
\nearly Middle Ages, added the Polish diplomat. Stay with us! Stand by us! \u2013 this
\nis a strong message from the ambassador of Ukraine in Ireland, Larysa
\nGerasko, who was visiting our Polish centre on the invitation of the Embassy
\nof the Republic of Poland. I was there in Moscow when Ukrainian national
\nconsciousness was emerging and when the Soviet Union was falling apart,
\nrecalled the former Irish ambassador to Poland and the USSR, Patrick
\nMcCabe. And I saw the dissatisfaction on the faces of Soviet comrades, added
\nthe distinguished guest. My parents are in Ukraine, at home… and they are not
\nafraid, said Ambassador Larysa Gerasko later on the sidelines.<\/p>\n
The exhibition entitled Native Europe is a journey through time. It shows the image of Ukraine from
\n1902-1903, captured in original sepia photographs, seen through the eyes of a young Irish woman,
\nConstance Markiewicz (n\u00e9e Gore-Booth), wife of the Polish noble, Kazmierz Markiewicz, from the
\nmanor house in \u017bywot\u00f3wka near Orat\u00f3w in western Ukraine. The photographs she took, shown for the
\nfirst time publicly at the Polish House in Dublin on June 16, 2024, are also a\u00a0retrospective look at the
\ncommon European identity of three nations: Polish, Ukrainian and Irish.
\nThe title of the exhibition refers to the book by Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz, entitled Native Realm (in Polish,
\nliterally: Native Europe), published in Paris in the 1950s and telling the story of the multicultural
\nVilnius of the Polish Nobel Prize winner's youth. This microcosm of nations is also visible in the
\nphotos of Constance, where, next to a Ukrainian bride and groom, or Ukrainian peasants, you can see
\nJewish merchants on the market square in Orat\u00f3w, Polish children playing around a typical Polish
\nmanor and images of the noble Markiewicz family. This part of history was presented to the audience
\nby the Chairman of the Irish-Polish Society and the author of the English-language trilogy about the
\nMarkiewicz family, Patrick Quigley. The author has travelled many times around Poland and Ukraine,
\nat the invitation of various institutions and schools, and in 2016 he also visited the Old Polish
\nUniversity in Kielce, during a special conference entitled "Ireland 1916-2016: an Age of Change". Dr
\nKatarzyna Gmerek from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna\u0144, who came at the invitation of
\nOgnisko Polskie CLG (management board of the Polish House), told the guests about her work on the
\nPolish translation of Patrick Quigley's latest book, which is a compilation of the author's Irish trilogy.
\nThe translator also presented recordings of a patriotic song by Constance Markiewicz from the period
\nof the Irish Easter Rising of 1916 and an earlier Polish song entitled With the smoke of fires, created in
\nthe mid-19th Cent. but popular later, especially during the January Uprising of 1863 in the former
\nPolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Both songs, although sung in different languages \u200b\u200band with
\ndifferent content, have the same melody line and a similar national liberation message. This is another
\nparallel that binds our nations, noticed by Dr Gmerek. The story of the saga of the Markiewicz family
\nis also an opportunity to familiarize listeners with unique documents confirming Konstancja
\nMarkiewicz's Polish citizenship. Their analysis in the political and constitutional context was<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
undertaken by Dr Jaros\u0142aw P\u0142achecki, representing the management board of the Polish House as well
\nas the Dublin Branch of the Old Polish University of Applied Sciences in Kielce. In 1921, Konstancja
\nMarkiewicz applied for Polish citizenship as a\u00a0member of the Irish Parliament, while also serving as
\nMinister of Labour in the informal government of Ireland. She received her Polish passport in 1922
\nand never applied for an Irish or British passport. She died in 1927 as a Polish citizen. This personal
\nstory of Ireland's national heroine, suffragist and the first woman elected to the British Parliament, is
\nnot well known by the Irish, nor by the Polish community in Ireland.
\nThe opening and conference were organized thanks to the help of the team of the Embassy of the
\nRepublic of Poland in Dublin, members of the Irish-Polish Society, the support of Ognisko Polskie
\nand the Old Polish University of Applied Sciences in Kielce. In addition to representatives of the
\nPolish diaspora and the Polish and Ukrainian diplomatic corps, the guests also included: Dr Emily
\nMark-Fitzgerald (Prof. of Art History of Art and Cultural Policy at UCD), Senator Gerry Horkan,
\nHelena Johnston (secretary of the Irish Polish Society in 1979), Dermot Manning (former President of
\nthe Kildare Street and University Club), Verity Swan (Irish-Japanese Society), Ray Bateson (historian
\nand author of Memorials of the Easter Rising) and Muriel McAuley (granddaughter of one of the
\nleaders of the Easter Rising, Thomas McDonagh). The exhibition organized by the Irish Polish Society
\nis just one of the activities of the Polish House in Dublin in its new function as the Institute of Polish
\nCulture and Research in Ireland. Coming soon, in addition to cultural and scientific events, there will
\nbe more new Polish publications.<\/p>\n
In the photos: 1) Welcome to the Polish House (from the left): H.E. Ambassador of
\nUkraine in Ireland, Larysa Gerasko, Chairman of the Irish-Polish Society, Patrick
\nQuigley, host of the opening, Dr Jaros\u0142aw P\u0142achecki, H.E. Polish Ambassador to
\nIreland, Prof. Arkady Rzegocki and Dr Katarzyna Gmerek from Adam Mickiewicz
\nUniversity (standing back). 2) Inaugural lecture by Prof. Arkady Rzegocki on the
\nhistorical and present day trilateral relations between Poland, Ukraine and Ireland, 3)
\nH.E. Ambassador of Ukraine Larysa Gerasko speaking about Russian aggression in
\nUkraine, 4) Poland, Ukraine and Ireland – the saga of the Markiewicz family by
\nPatrick Quigley, 5) Dr Katarzyna Gmerek compares recordings of Polish and Irish
\nuprising songs, 6) Dr Jaros\u0142aw P\u0142achecki, Director of the Branch of the Old Polish
\nAcademy of Applied Sciences in Dublin, about documents confirming Polish
\ncitizenship of Konstancja Markiewicz, 7) Patrick McCabe, former ambassador of
\nIreland to Poland (1905-2001) in conversation with Helena Johnston, co-founder of
\nthe Irish-Polish Society in 1979. All photographs by Mariusz Kowalczyk (the Polish
\nEmbassy Dublin).
\nVideo link from the Exhibition by Pawe\u0142 Bury: https:\/\/fb.watch\/sOMImXNGbM\/<\/p>\n
The note was prepared by Dr Jaros\u0142aw P\u0142achecki 20\/06\/2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n The Seminar and Exhibition \u201cNative Europe: Photographs of Ukraine 1902-1903 & the Polish Citizenship of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3662"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3763,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3662\/revisions\/3763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/irishpolishsociety.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}