Krakow's Nativity Crèche

January 2012

In 1989, Family Rybinski, Polish refugees from Kraków who escaped from behind Communism’s brutal Iron Curtain, found freedom and new life through the Refugee Resettlement efforts in Memphis and Calvary Episcopal Church. From their arrival in Memphis, through their later move to Chicago and into the present, Family Rybinski has remained close and dear to our family. At Christmas time in 1999, marking the 10th anniversary of their new life in America, Family Rybinski gifted Family Bailey with a touching and memorable Christmas gift: a Krakovian “Szopka".

A “szopka" is a nativity crèche made only in their Kraków. From ancient traditions, each crèche is uniquely crafted by hand. It’s amazing uniqueness is that this crèche appears not in church buildings but on the public porches of Kraków's city buildings. Using the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture of Kraków's actual public buildings, each artist  “demonstrates” the nativity scene in the heart of the city, to be discovered and encountered by all who walk the streets.

What a great portrait for the authentic reality of Christmas: The Light of Christ in the marketplace. The Hope of Christ in the city. It is a sacramental reminder (physical and spiritual) of God's Christmas mission through Krakóvian Szopkas.