History of Cities in the Region
The CoC's newest undertaking will explore
the rich and diverse heritage of the Baltic region in a
project entitled "A Strand of Baltic Pearls: A History
of Cities in the Region." This project will look at
the roles played by key cities throughout the centuries
in a series of essays, a proposed series of lectures and
the compilation of a resource base of new, archived and
specially commissioned materials.
Written by scholars from around the Baltic,
each essay will be devoted to a century of Baltic history
and the city or cities that exerted the most influence during
the period. The essays will examine the rise to prominence
of each city and the ways it influenced regional development
during its century of dominion.
Among the proposed cities to be profiled are: Haithabu and
Reric - important for the Baltic region in VIII century;
Wolin in XI; Lübeck in XII; Visby in XIV; Gdansk in
XVII, St. Petersburg in XVIII or Helsinki in XX century.
Szczecin also will receive treatment with the theme of 'city
of 21st century'.
The essays will provide detailed accounts
of maritime activities, daily life, the roles of women in
those societies, as well as the relations among ethnic segments
of the population. The commission will then publish these
essays in book form, as well as leading symposia in each
of the cities profiled in the essays. The book will also
include a geologic and topographic history of the sea and
the lands around it.
The book will conclude with a timeline of
Baltic history and predictions for the future of the region,
including the environmental, political and social threats
it faces as it enters this new era.
The commission has begun the first step in
the process and is currently working to empanel an editorial
board of authors from each city and create an administrative
secretariat to support the project. The board then will
collect commissioned and historical writings, photographs,
drawings and other significant archive materials that will
be entered into a computer database. This information-gathering
phase will provide an opportunity to stage seminars and
symposiums on local history in those cities. The first edition
of the book will comprise Polish- and English-language versions
and will be launched at ceremonies in cities around the
region.
The commission encourages interested parties to participate
in this project and all its activities.
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Further information:
Ms Marlena Chybowska
Commission on Culture
e-mail: mchybow@um.szczecin.pl
Tel.+48 9142 45 660
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