Every five years, Slavic specialists from all over the world meet in a selected Slavic country for the traditional International Congress, the records of which date back to 1929. Slavic studies, which also covers Polish studies, are a vast and vital part of the humanities, focusing on literature, languages, culture, folklore, history, genealogy and the mutual interrelations of Slavic peoples. Let us remember that Slavs occupy a large and important part of Europe, both as far as size and population are concerned. They have played and still play an important role in historical and cultural development.

The 12th consecutive Slavic Congress was held from August 27 to September 2 in Krakow. The Congress was organised by Jagiellonian University and the East Slavic Philology and Sciences Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. with Lucjan Suchanek as Chairman and Jerzy Rusek as Deputy Chairman.

The selection of the host city for the Congress is usually made using such guidelines as the strength and status of its academic circles. Krakow with its universities, Polish Academy of Sciences, and Polish Academy of Skills is among the strongest, most dynamic, and highly valued Slavic centres in the world. It should also be noted that the Jagiellonian University has one of the world's oldest traditions of Slavic studies, including, above all, three groups of Slavs: Eastern, Western, and Southern.

In addition, the selection of Krakow was also determined by the historic and cultural values of the city, its beautiful architecture and magnificent historic buildings. For Slavic specialists from other countries, among them many experts on Polish studies, an encounter with this historic city is always very special. The International Congress also means promotion of Polish culture and popularisation of the spiritual capital of Poland.

The high status of the Slavic Congress is also highlighted by the nurturing it has received from the President of the Polish Republic. President Ignacy Moscicki began this tradition back in 1934. President Aleksander Kwasniewski came to Krakow to open the Congress and to give an opening speech in which he said "the human sciences have gained from the surrounding world. With all the great social and political changes new fields for research and observations are opened. The radically changed political reality in which Slavic countries and nations find themselves poses new challenges for researchers. New issues are still accumulating which need to be studied, described, and clarified so that they speak to contemporary people /.../. The process of European integration is irrevocable. Negotiations which have been started should fairly soon, at the beginning of the new century, result in the participation of our countries in the most successful political and economic enterprise on our continent - the European Union. I am confident that the Slavic factor shall soon add new dynamics to our old Europe, and that it will strengthen its identity and will help put an end to historic disputes."

Prime Minister of the Polish Republic, Professor Jerzy Buzek, who, due to an unexpected government engagement, could not take part in the opening ceremony, said in his letter to the participants and guests: "I am convinced that the sessions of the Congress will be fruitful and will greatly contribute to the knowledge and contacts between the nations of Central and East Europe and to the integration of Slavic countries with Western Europe. I also believe that the 12th International Slavic Congress held in Krakow on the 200th birthday of Adam Mickiewicz will go down in history as a very important scientific and cultural event of significant influence on the image of Poland both in the West and the East."

Among the Honorary Committee members and honorary guests, the opening ceremony was honoured by the presence of Professor Jerzy Zdrada (representing the Ministry of Education), the Minister of Culture Joanna Wnuk Nazarowa, Head of the 1st Department of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Professor Janusz Tazbir, Governor of Krakow, Ryszard Maslowski, and his Eminence Cardinal Franciszek Macharski. The University was represented by Vice Rectors Franciszek Ziejka and Marek Szymonski, and the Philology Department by Dean Halina Kurek. Vice Rector Ziejka gave a welcoming speech on behalf of the University authorities, highlighting the rich Slavic tradition cultivated at the Jagiellonian University.

Due to bad health Professor Henryk Batowski, a participant at the 1st International Slavic Session in Prague in 1929, was unable to participate in the Opening Ceremony. Luckily Professor Stanislaw Urbanczyk, who, as a young academic, helped to host participants of the 11th Slavic Session held in Warsaw in 1934, was present.

The Head of the Committee of Scientific Studies (KBN) Professor Andrzej Wiszniewski, who was unable to participate in the opening ceremony, wrote: "The royal city of Krakow is an especially suitable location for hosting Slavic studies specialists from all over the world." Mayor of Krakow, Jozef Lassota said: "I hope that the impressions your are going to take with you will be kept long in the memory and recollections of our guests and that they will encourage them to visit our city again."

The organisers of the Congress sent a letter to the Pope, himself a Slav, who shows lively interest in Slavic issues, evidenced by a colloquium organised on his initiative in Castel Gandolfo in 1996 and which was devoted to Slavs. John Paul II sent a telegram to Krakow which read as follows:

"To the hands of the Cardinal I am sending these words of my spiritual unity with the participants of the International Slavic Congress, which is currently being held in Krakow. I am happy that such renowned researchers of Slavic languages, literature and cultures have come this year from all over the world to Krakow, to the city in which centuries of Slavic heritage are so wonderfully reflected and where this heritage has found all sorts of sources. I had an opportunity to witness it myself during the short period of my studies of Polish sciences. I was happy to reach back to those spiritual experiences two years ago when I was hosting Slavic scholars at Castel Gandolfo. Ii is my earnest wish that these sessions in Krakow be creative and fruitful for the organisers and participants of the Congress. I am sending you my heartfelt Apostolic Blessing."

Castel Gandolfo, August 29, 1998. John Paul II, Pope

Traditionally, the goal of each Slavic Congress has been to present the scientific and academic output for the past 5 years. The scale of work done in Slavic sciences is best reflected by the exhibition of publications produced in this field of studies and presented during the Congress. As Jagiellonian Library Director Krzysztof Zamorski said, the exhibition held about five thousand publications. It should be highlighted here that all of them, often very expensive, rare, or inaccessible specimens are donated to the Jagiellonian Library.

The 12th International Slavic Congress, with the largest to-date attendance, brought together over a thousand of researchers from 41 countries, who gave lectures and short speeches, and participated in discussions and subject sessions. The sessions were held in two groups focusing on linguistics and folklore, and literature and culture. In both these groups, subject subgroups were created, among them a subgroup on Mickiewicz, whose 200th birthday anniversary comes this year. Professor Julian Maślanka of the Polish Philology Institute gave one of four inaugural lectures on Slavic literature in the lectures on Adam Mickiewicz. The participants of the Congress decided to honour the memory of the great Russian poet Alexader Pushkin, who was one year younger than the author of Pan Tadeusz.

The participants of the Congress took part in two panel sessions. These being Polish Language Abroad (headed by J. Siatkowski) and Emigrationology - science on the literature and culture of emigration (headed by L. Suchanek).

The full evaluation of the Congress and its achievements and shortcoming will take some time. Professor Oleg Trubaczow, Zuzanna Topolinska, Sante Graciotti, Giovanna Broggi-Bercoff, and Andriej Shishkin made an ad hoc attempt to discuss the Congress's achievement and spoke of their impressions, characterising subsequent sections and their levels, noting shortcomings, and speaking of new ways of lecturing, the so-called blocks, so popular in the United States but often introduced with difficulty in Europe.

The World Slavic Congresses are not only academic events. They are also an opportunity for acquiring better and deeper knowledge of the host country. Therefore the schedule for the Krakow Congress included four field trips to Zakopane, Oswiecim, Wadowice - Czestochowa, and Wieliczka - Pieskowa Skala. The participants also had an opportunity to see a performance of Dziady at the Old Theater and a soiree of Adam Mickiewicz songs organised at Collegium Maius, and a performance by the folk group Slowianki. The Congress was a promotion of Polish culture and our country. Let us not forget that our Slavic guests back in their own countries play the roles of opinion makers on Poland, and in this they are as important as politicians and journalists.

Slavic specialists have their own organisation, the International Slavic Committee, which concentrates research from all over the world. Among the heads of 28 scientific commissions affiliated to the Committee, the best represented are Poles, which strongly evidences the rank of Polish Slavic studies and its potential.

During each Congress the Chairman is elected for the following 5 year's tenure. In Krakow, Professor Janusz Siatkowski of Warsaw was replaced by the first woman Chairman, Professor Alenka Szivic-Dular from Slovenia, where the next Congress will be held. After her speech during the closing ceremony the newly elected Chairman invited all participants to the 13th Slavic Congress in Lubljana.

It should also be noted here that during the Congress, Professor Heinz Schuster-Szewc from Germany, representative of the smallest Slavic nation, the Lusatian Serbs, was awarded the Honoris Causa award. Rector Aleksander Koj, in his speech welcoming the honorary scholar, underlined that "although he arrived in Krakow from Lusatia, in truth he should feel at home in Krakow because it is in our Alma Mater that he aspired to scholarship, writing his Master Thesis under the supervision of Professor Tadeusz Lehr-Splawinski."