"Italy and Poland united in the name of Pope Wojtyła," reads one of the headlines in the regional Bari press. The exhibition of the Institute of National Remembrance about the first pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland, “Let us rise and move forward… The first pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland" is being presented at the ancient basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari, Italy as part of the fourth Polish-Italian Culture Week, organized by the Apulian Italian-Polish Association.

The opening of the exhibition will take place on Sunday, 18 October 2020, at 8.00 p.m.

The exhibition, prepared on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the memorable 1^st Pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland, was opened for the first time a year ago in the courtyard of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. It will now be presented in Bari to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Polish Pope, also beloved by Italians, and to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the ‘Solidarity’ movement. "The pilgrimage sent a strong signal not only to the communist government of Poland, but to all totalitarian regimes that crumbled during his pontificate," writes the Italian author Livio Costarella. Indeed, this first visit of John Paul II to Poland in 1979 was an important impulse for the great national uprising that took place a year later and marked the beginning of the end of communist totalitarianism in Europe.

Photos: IPN Katowice

The exhibition was prepared by the IPN Branch in Katowice. The 4th Polish-Italian Culture Week of the Apulian Polish-Italian Association is organized in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Rome, the Diocese of Bari, the City of Bari, the Apulian Regional Directorate of Museums, the Apulia Region and the Apulian Regional Multimedia Library.

The exhibition is open to visitors from 6 October  to 11 November 2020.

More:

The first pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland

International scientific conference on the 40th anniversary of the election of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła as the head of the Church

Publications on the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II

The IPN portal: pierwszapielgrzymka.ipn.gov.pl devoted to the first pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Poland