SULECHÓWKO

ASSUMPTIONS OF THE SULECHÓWKO CAMPAIGN 1999

Between September 26 and October 2, 1998, reconstruction and protective works were carried out on the mausoleum of the von Schliefen family in Sulechówko, Malechowo municipality, Koszalin Voivodeship (today West Pomeranian Voivodeship), which had been devastated after World War II. The initiative to restore the site was launched in the summer of the same year by the local landowner Marian Zając, Maciej Śmietański, a surgeon with artistic interests, and Jacek Kornacki, a painter.

The works included clearing and inventorying the mausoleum and its burial crypt (cleaning and relocating coffins, organizing and burying human remains), reconstructing parts of the spatial layout of the former cemetery complex, including a stone cross and its surrounding votive wall in the section of symbolic graves. The project concluded with a church service held by the parish priest of Sulechówko, attended by invited local authorities and residents.

Documentation of the reconstruction stages was also conducted (photographic records and VHS recordings).

The activities in Sulechówko mark the beginning of an artistic campaign planned by Maciej Śmietański and Jacek Kornacki for the summer and autumn of 1999. The authors wish to break a 50-year cultural silence in the former German territories with a symbolic dialogue expressing contemporary creators’ attitudes towards Christian religion and the place of biblical messages in today’s world. The aim is to preserve the cultural heritage of the region, recall the history of the place, and through contemporary actions, give it a supranational character.

Although Sulechówko is the campaign’s central point, the authors do not seek to establish a universal modus operandi; instead, they present only one possible form of dialogue, leaving the opportunity open for others to engage creatively in this dialogue.

The campaign will culminate with the consecration of the cross in Sulechówko on October 30, 1999, followed a few days later by the opening of an exhibition documenting the process and aims of the project.