Słowacki in Lebanon. Exhibition at the Monastery of St. Anthony in Ghazir

“I would like to be in Lebanon once more” – wrote Juliusz Słowacki in a letter to his mother, sent from Florence in 1837. In November 2022 the poet will symbolically return to Ghazir, where the second edition of the exhibition “Słowacki in Lebanon” opens at the monastery of St. Anthony.

“In this monastery Juliusz Słowacki stayed in 1837 and wrote Anhelli” reads the plaque set into the stone wall of the monastery of St. Anthony (Betcheszban) in Ghazir, near Beirut. Słowacki lived there for over a month (from 20 February to about 1 April), learning Arabic and spending time with the monks. The first version of the poem “Anhelli” was written in Betcheszban, and one of its figures, the angel Eloe, was born from legends he heard from the monks.

In his drawings and watercolours he depicted the monastery and the views opening out from it: the mountains of Lebanon, the bay and the starry sky, with his favourite constellation, Orion. Słowacki left the monastery with regret: “I will never forget the impression it made on me on the last morning, when I woke to the knocking at the doors that roused the monks sleeping in their cells. So it was that morning, so it would be tomorrow, always so for them – while I was leaving for Beirut, where I was to board a ship and sail for Europe, where no one is waiting for me” – he wrote in a letter to his mother.

In the monastery at Ghazir, in the cell where the poet lived, installation work is currently under way for the second instalment of the exhibition “Słowacki in Lebanon”, prepared by the Adam Mickiewicz Museum of Literature. The display presents the history of the poet’s journey to Lebanon and his stay in Betcheszban. The solemn opening of the exhibition will take place on 7 November in Ghazir.

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The exhibition was created with the participation of, and under the patronage of, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Beirut.

The exhibition is part of the celebrations of the Year of Polish Romanticism (2022) and of the project “Juliusz Słowacki in Lebanon”, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland.

Scenario author: Agnieszka Papieska

Curators: Agnieszka Papieska, Jan Owczarek

Scientific consultation: dr hab. Olaf Krysowski

Project coordination: dr Anna Lebensztejn

Collaboration: Izabela Zychowicz

English translation: Alicja Rosé (poems of Juliusz Słowacki), Agnieszka Walulik

Graphic design: Kuba Maria Mazurkiewicz

Thanks for help in realising the exhibition go to: dr hab. Henryk Głębocki, prof. dr hab. Maria Kalinowska, Edyta Kędrek-Motyka