Research on roadside crosses and chapels based on historical witnesses’ accounts

• Main Author: Agata Tatarenko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ośrodek "Pamięć i Przyszłość" - "Remembrance and Future" Centre 2020-06-01
• Series: Wrocławski Rocznik Historii Mówionej
• Subjects: small sacral architecture; testimonies of witnesses to history; regional history; public history
• Online Access: https://wrhm.pl/wrhm/article/view/244/212

Between June and September 2018, one of the local public libraries in eastern Poland implemented a project documenting roadside crosses and chapels. Information on these small forms of sacral architecture were gathered thanks to the testimonies of witnesses. Next, a book containing photographs of the objects accompanied by brief descriptions based on the recollections of the founders and the representatives of the local community was published. Using the example of this project, this article presents selected problems related to local history using the accounts of witnesses. Both the benefits of these activities (activization of the local community, increasing interest in the past, and increasing social dialogue) as well as the possible dangers (abuses and the expropriation of accounts) were noted.Between June and September 2018, one of the local public libraries in eastern Poland implemented a project documenting roadside crosses and chapels. Information on these small forms of sacral architecture were gathered thanks to the testimonies of witnesses. Next, a book containing photographs of the objects accompanied by brief descriptions based on the recollections of the founders and the representatives of the local community was published. Using the example of this project, this article presents selected problems related to local history using the accounts of witnesses. Both the benefits of these activities (activization of the local community, increasing interest in the past, and increasing social dialogue) as well as the possible dangers (abuses and the expropriation of accounts) were noted.