The City Of The Dragon: A History Of Krakow

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Douglas Skeggs

Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. In that time he has given over 4000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies. He was the director of ‘The New Academy of Art Studies’ for 3 years and is presently a regular lecturer at ‘The Study Centre’, ‘Christie’s’ course ‘The History of Art Studies’ and other London courses. He has written and presented various TV documentaries, notably the Omnibus programme on ‘Whistler’ and the exhibition video on ‘William Morris’. Three one-man exhibitions of his paintings have been held in England and Switzerland. He has published six novels, and his book on Monet, ‘River of Light’ has sold 30,000 copies.

Founded back in a time when history is indivisible from legend, Krakow was the ancient capital of Poland until the 17th century. Its great market square, the web of medieval streets, the curiously irregular towers of St Mary’s with its magnificent carved altarpiece, the university where Copernicus first studied the stars, and, above all the majestic cathedral over-looking the Vistula, where the kings of Poland are buried, tell the story of this turbulent country. This lecture is a brief and personal tour of Krakow in search of the gems of art and architecture.

This lecture, as well as fascinating in its own right, was an interesting precurser to our Society’s first overseas trip to Krakov on 24th May 2011.

Below are photos of this lecture and the AGM