HOLISTIC HERITAGE

This year’s edition of the Małopolska Cultural Heritage Days — winner of the 2025 European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award — was held under the theme “Light”. Capturing its historic reflections with a microphone was no easy task, but two brave members of our team took it on! John Beauchamp and Dr Katarzyna Jagodzińska, Head of the Heritage Hub, visited three sites along the 2025 Małopolska Cultural Heritage Days trail — all of which feature in the latest, 17th episode of the Holistic Heritage podcast.

What exactly is a post-museum? How can museums – as custodians of knowledge – open up their collections and involve the public in their interaction? Or should they not do so at all? In the latest podcast in the Holistic Heritage series, John Beauchamp talks to Dr Katarzyna Jagodzinska about her latest book which explores the theme of participation and the concept of the ‘post-museum’. The setting for the discussion is the picturesque historic garden of the Royal Łazienki Museum in the heart of Warsaw.

“When the hands work, the mind rests,” highlights Łucja Cieślar, a team member of Serfenta Association. In the latest episode of the “Holistic Heritage” podcast, John Beauchamp and Dr Katarzyna Jagodzińska discuss traditional basket weaving and the tranquillity it offers, as well as the relaxing “speech” of reeds and straw, with members of the Serfenta team: Paulina Adamska, Łucja Cieślar, and Urszula Szwed.

Heavy industry in Silesia is changing… Adaptation to new functions often becomes the only chance for the survival of industrial heritage. How can we best protect and manage these sites? In the next episode of the podcast “On The Road,” Katarzyna Jagodzińska and John Beauchamp will explore the industrial trail between Zabrze, Ostrava, and Świętochłowice, listening to the echoes of former industrial plants in Silesia.

In the inaugural episode of our new podcast series “Heritage Hour,” we talk to leading experts about the preservation of Jewish heritage in Poland.The discussion surrounds the synagogue in Orla, located near the Polish-Belarusian border. This site has been nominated for this year’s edition of the 7 Most Endangered programme run by Europa Nostra.

In the next episode of the “Holistic Heritage” podcast series, Dr. Katarzyna Jagodzińska and John Beauchamp, in conversation with Augustas Serapinas and Matthew Post, the curator and concept developer of the exhibition, reflect on the situation of endangered vernacular wooden architecture in Podlasie and its surroundings. Increasingly, homes constructed from pine, spruce, and aspen beams are disappearing from the landscapes of local villages and towns. Some are decaying, while others are sold for timber or refurbished, losing their original appearance. Occasionally, they burn down, making way for new investments. Is their fate already sealed?