Lalka. Reading Warsaw Anew – the Hottest Addresses of the 19th Century

In the Warsaw described in "The Doll," an address could say almost as much about a person as a surname. What mattered was which street they lived on, whose salon they were invited to, and to whom they themselves opened the door. Participants will hear excerpts from "The Doll" and discover places connected to the fates of Stanisław Wokulski and Izabela Łęcka. Wokulski, a wealthy merchant, can afford a great deal, but money gives him only part of what birth guarantees in Izabela's world. The scenes read during the walk will allow participants to examine how these differences manifested in everyday situations – during visits, conversations, and meetings where it was decided whom society would receive. Alongside the addresses known from the novel, a biographical thread will also appear. Bolesław Prus spent the last years of his life on Wilcza Street. The writer's modest apartment provides an interesting counterpoint to the salons his protagonist so desperately wanted to enter. Juxtaposing these two worlds allows us to look at Warsaw through the eyes of both Wokulski and the author, who observed the life of the capital for years also as a journalist. The walk will be led by Marzena Szugiero, a historian, Polish philologist, and cultural studies scholar, who in her guiding work brings out the stories of individual places and their inhabitants. Event details on the museum's website