Culture/Kultura - 16 September 2015

This is an observation on culture in the Warsaw of today which might well have analogies across our shrinking world.

Warsaw's tallest building is the Stalinist (1955) Palace of Culture and Science [Pałac Kultury i Nauki]. Some people recoil from the Socialist Realist style but I like it enormously and can see many of its purported influences. The Empire State Building is quoted as one. Whatever Stalin's original intent, American cultural influence is now a definite neighbour of his 'gift' to the Polish people (completed after his death). Poland's first Hard Rock Cafe is in the adjacent Złote Tarasy complex and their trademark guitar stands on a Pepsi plinth bearing a slogan which translates as 'The taste of summer is the taste'.

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