From the World of Borders to the World of Horizons [antikvár]

Jacek Purchla Instead oi a PrefaceCelebrating the tenth anniversary of its existence, the International Cultural Centre in Cracow has grown out of the spirit of the new political era in Poland and other countries of Central Europe after 1989. The decision to establish the International Cultural Centre in Cracow was officially announced by the Polish Government at the CSCE Paris Summit in November 1990. The Centre was inaugurated on 29 May 1991 during the CSCE Symposium on Cultural Heritage in Cracow. The output of the CSCE Symposium was - and in somé respects still is - an important point of reference for the Centre. In its programmes the Centre pays special attention to the issues which have so far been difficult and underestimated.The Centre's fundamental mission is to form and promote a new attitűdé, a new awareness towards common European heritage. This attitűdé must not be encumbered with the disease of nationalism and it must place greater emphasis on the issues of identity, individual tradition and the native character of particular cultures. In our work, the open-minded and comprehensive approach to the extensive problems of cultural heritage goes hand in hand with a need for the emergent problems to be constantly identified - and often alsó forestalled - by maintaining international dialogue. This difficult and often unappreciated role of pioneers and inspirers of the new awareness results from the challenge posed by the continuous and now extremely dynamic relationship between the broadly understood civilisation of the late 20th century and the heritage of the past. There is a feedback effect involved: con-