Wartościujemy posiadane rzeczy, tworzymy ich hierarchie, wymieniamy na inne. Są jednakże przedmioty, których utraty nie zapomnimy, gdyż stanowiły naszą niezbywalną własność.

The article attempts to reach the elements that control the efforts of constituting a specific type of vision of the past, with which — as I believe — we are dealing in the contemporary public discourse about history.

The phenomenon of the so-called Polish monumental theatre has for nearly a century resisted attempts at conceptualization. Created by artists living in a transitional period and formed in a peculiar “trans-era” mental space, this theatre was wrought from a hybrid substance that combined a Romantic and post-Romantic content with an avant-garde form. Being “simultaneously national and supra-national”, it appeared as a unique conceptual and artistic construct; a construct that was touted as the innovative Polish input into the reform of European theatre. Owing to the heterogeneity of its subject-matter, it was at times included into, and at other times excluded from the body of endeavours of an avant-garde nature; the correct categorization was until now made difficult by the conceptual template constructed around the dogma concerning the incompatibility of the two areas: the avant-garde and the so-called national duties. Seen in the perspective of modern-day research on the variegated nature of Modernism and on its inner tensions, however, this phenomenon may emerge as an interesting illustration of the synthesizing efforts of Modernism.