The “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre in Lublin is a local government cultural institution. It works towards the preservation of cultural heritage and education. Its function is tied to the symbolic and historical meaning of the Centre’s location in the Grodzka Gate, which used to divide Lublin into its respective Christian and Jewish quarters, as well as to Lublin as a meeting place of cultures, traditions and religions.

Part of the Centre are the House of Words and the Lublin Underground Trail.

The “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre in Lublin is a local government cultural institution. It works towards the preservation of cultural heritage and education. Its function is tied to the symbolic and historical meaning of the Centre’s location in the Grodzka Gate, which used to divide Lublin into its respective Christian and Jewish quarters, as well as to Lublin as a meeting place of cultures, traditions and religions.

Part of the Centre are the House of Words and the Lublin Underground Trail.

Władysław Panas (1947–2005) ENGLISH VERSION

City is a book, it can also be that city is a poem – professor Panas was the first to treat a particular city that way. Thanks to this he became the discoverer of magical Lublin and its multiculturality. He was also an writers of Jewish origin works interpreter. He gave inspiring lectures, wrote numerous articles and books which put works by Brunon Schulz in new light.

Władysław Panas
Władysław Panas (Author: Kubiszyn, Marta)

Place of BirthDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

Władysław Ludwik Panas, literature theoretician and historian, was born on 28th March, 1947, in Western Pomerania. He was born in Dębica, in Kołobrzeg poviat. He passed matura exam in 1966 in a High School in Kołobrzeg.

Student yearsDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

He started studies on Polish Philology in the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań. There, he took part in famous March demonstrations. In March 1968 he took part in students' protest – which led to his arrest by SB (communist Security Service) on the second day. He was sentenced to two years in prison, and later relegated from the university.

Then, he came to continue his studies in Lublin in The Catholic University of Lublin (KUL). His debut was a critical essay on Tadeusz Gajcy's poetry in "Polonista" magazine. In 1972, he completed the faculty of Polish Philology and defended his MA thesis – On the Concept of Language in Bruon Schulz prose.
In the 1970s he cooperated with the underground periodical "Spotkania".

He was editing staff member of "Miesiące" in the period when the "Solidarity" was forming. During the martial law he wrote articles under different pseudos.

Didactic WorkDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

1974 – Employed as trainee assistant in the Polish Literature History Department of the Catholic University of Lublin.
1984 – He defended a Ph.D. thesis "W kręgu metody semiotycznej. Literatura – sztuka – kultura" (On the Semiotic Method. Literature – Art – Culture).
1997 – Publishing of a thesis presented to qualify as an assistan professor "Księga blasku. Traktat o kabale w prozie Brunona Schulza" (The Book of Radiance. A Treatise on The Kabbalah in Brunon Schulz's Prose).
1998 – Obtaining associate professor's title.
2000 – Head of Interdepartamental Research on Religious Literature Division KUL; nomination for KUL professor.
2000–2005 – Head editor of "Roczniki Humanistyczne" ("Humanities Yearbooks") KUL.
2003 – Obtains full professor's title.
For many years he was the head of KUL Department of Literature Theory and a member of, among others: Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL (KUL Academic Society), Towarzystwo Literackie im. Adama Mickiewicza (Literary Society of Adam Mickiewicz), Rada Naukowa IBL PAN (IBL PAN Academic Committee), Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Polskich (Polish Writers' Association).

Professional FascinationsDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

The professor was fascinated by vanished world of Lublin Jewish culture. He was inspired by Hasidic Judaism and mistical Kabbalah. He gave a particular contribution to revealing the intriguing history of Grodzka Gate and its multicultural tradition. He saw it as the center of the world and read its magical space, seeing analogies in equal distances from the Grodzka Gate to Po Farze Square and from the Gate to the tzadik's house at Szeroka 28 St.
One of his essays – "Oko Cadyka" (Tzadik's Eye) – became sort of "alternative guidebook" around the city. There, he presented his reading of contemporary Castle Square as a kind of "center of the world", Axis Mundi, the place where time stops and the forces of Good and Evil are still fighting with one another. This is how he saw the space which used to be a Jewish district with an important tzadik, Jakub Izaak Horowitz, known as "The Seer from Lublin's" home.
He actively supported promotion of Schulz's works in his hometown, where he became the się spiritus movens of establishing Museum of Brunon Schulz and the International Festival in Drohobycz. He organized the biggest scientific and cultural session in Poland on 110th anniversary of Brunon Schulz's birth and the 60th anniversary of his death. Drohobycz in Ukraine was a town dear to him, which is proven by his last book.
He was also interested in output by Józef Czechowicz, Zbigniew Herbert, Leo Lipski and Aleksander Watt. His studies included also orthodox tradition and icons.

AwardsDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

2003 – Awarded Nagroda Artystyczna Miasta Lublina (Lublin City Artistic Award) for culture spreading for the year 2002.
2005 – He was given a honorary degree by the University of Ivan Franka in Drohobycz.

Major PublicationsDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

Władysław Panas, "W kręgu metody semiotycznej", Lublin 1991.
Władysław Panas, "Pismo i rana. Rzecz o problematyce żydowskiej w literaturze polskiej", Lublin 1996.
Władysław Panas, "Księga blasku. Traktat o kabale w prozie Brunona Schulza", Lublin 1997.
Władysław Panas, "Bruno od Mesjasza. Rzecz o dwóch ekslibrisach oraz jednym obrazie i kilkudziesięciu rysunkach Brunona Schulza", Lublin 2001.
Władysław Panas, "Oko Cadyka", Lublin 2004.
Władysław Panas, "Tajemnica siódmego anioła. Cztery interpretacje", Lublin 2005.
Władysław Panas, "Willa Bianki. Mały przewodnik drohobycki dla przyjaciół", Lublin 2006.
Władysław Panas, "Znak kabalistyczny. O "Poemacie" Józefa Czechowicza. Fragmenty", Lublin 2006.

He died on 24 January, 2005. He was buried on the cemetary at Lipowa St.

We thank Professor Panas's family: wife Teresa and children: Marta, Paweł and Rafal
for help with creating the site and for texts and documents from their famil archive.

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