Father Mieczysław Mieszko Centre of Kurpie Culture in Kadzidło

A rapid stream of culture

Many great people, animators of social and cultural life, worked with dedication for many years to achieve such a high level, and such a broad offer of the present Kurpie Culture Centre in Kadzidło. High attendance during cultural events as well as classes and activities organised by the Centre is a proof that the held initiatives are well evaluated, and thus much needed by the community.

Initially, a Municipality Culture Centre (MCC) was organised here. It used the room of the Folk and Artistic Handicraft Cooperative Kurpianka. However, the MCC quickly found a home in the newly built facility, which allowed for the development of its activities. In 2009, new, more broad tasks appeared, and so the centre was renamed the Father Mieczysław Mieszko Centre of Kurpie Culture in Kadzidło. The name given to the centre has ample justification. The patron of the KCC, Father Mieczysław Mieszko, the parish priest in Kadzidło, was a great promoter of the Kurpie culture. He appreciated the culture and became its great supporter. He contributed to the emergence of the Folk and Artistic Handicraft Cooperative Kurpianka, and a folk ensemble of the same name. Thanks to him, the Kurpie community clearly felt how important their own heritage was.

The KCC carries out a broad spectrum of activities as the organizer or co-organizer of local events in both Kadzidło and the neighbouring localities. It carried out, among others, the national programme of the Ministry of Culture and Art, Disappearing Occupations, dedicated to reactivating traditional Kurpie occupations. For several years now, every year at the beginning of September the KCC organizes the Kadzidło Sunday and the Tournament of Villages in Zagroda Kurpiowska. At the Centre operates and rehearses a folk ensemble, Cepelia-Kurpianka.

Among the initiatives of the KCC are concerts, organised both on the spot, as well as in the parish church, featuring outside guests. It also hosts performances of the Kurpianka ensemble, Christmas and Easter markets, regular events of the series Tracing the Kurpie (February) and Kurpie Wedding (June), as well as competitions: for the best Kurpie Easter palm and cut-out. Also, picnics are organised from May to August in every sołectwo. You can come to the KCC for a dance class (conducted both on-site, as well as in the sołectwas of the municipality), or for workshops in paper flower making or decoupage. The KCC website includes a database of Kurpie artists, together with their contact details, as well as photographs and descriptions of exemplary products of different crafts The local character does not exclude KCC’s broader cooperation in the implementation of various projects, to which the centre is always open.