We associate Alfonsa Mucha mainly with interesting posters, among others advertising Sara Bernhardt. However, not everyone knows that Alfons Mucha besides created a series of 20 paintings entitled “Slavic Epopeia”. I would like to introduce this cycle to Polish readers 2031, due to the fact that it is truly interesting.
The first image of “The Word on the Land of Fathers” has an explanation “between the Turkish whip and the Gothic sword.”
The Turkish whip is the peoples of Central Asia, and the Gothic sword can mean both those who were west of the Slavs and east. Both the Turans and the Goths are highly aggressive types whose "civilizations" were highly military.
And the mediocre Slavs can only be sympathetic. Fortunately for us, the communicative of the Slavs is not only the whips and swords of our neighbors. I read online:
Examples of towns with Slavic roots are truly impressive: Aquizgran (Aachen), Bremen (Bremen), Brunswick (Braunschweig), Budziszyn (Bautzen), Chociebuż (Cottbus), Dresden (Dresden), Getynga (Göttingen), Hanover (Hannover), Kilonia (Kiel), Koblenz, Cologne (Köln), Leipzig (Leipzig), Lubeka (Lübeck), Misnia (Meißen), Munich (München), Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Potsdam (Potsdam), Ratyzbona (Regensburg), Trewir (Tübingen), Vienna (Wien) and Zittau.
Some of these names have maintained a direct link with Slavic terms. Leipzig originates from a "lipa" and was originally a Slavic settlement, while Dresden originates from "Drežďana", or people surviving by reeds.
Further paintings of the Fly of the Slavic Epopeia soon.
Michał Leszczyński
