Poznań feuilletons of the 20th century as a significant source for the research of the city history and the cultural tourism connected with it (with the “Letters of Wojtuś form Zawady” by Marceli Motty as an example)

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present journalist genre called the feuilleton, developing since the

Enlightenment period, as a precious source of knowledge which is useful in historical

research and in cultural tourism for both cultural tourism organizers and tourists themselves.

The subject was described with the use of excellent 19th century series of feuilletons by

Marceli Motty called the “Letters of Wojtuś from Zawady”, which are a treasury of

information about Poznań and its inhabitants in the 19th century. Marceli Motty draws the

picture of the Greater Poland’s capital in the 1860s. Rich language and unusual timeliness of

the feuilleton makes them an interesting completion of the guiding commentary meant for

inquisitive cultural tourists who are not satisfied only with general or guiding publications.

The “Letters of Wojtuś from Zawady”, as well as feuilletons of other authors from that

period, can enrich Poznań’s biographical, literary, museum, urban, educational offer, as they

constitute an excellent material for designing new tourist-cultural routes around the city of

Poznań. The routes can consider a widely-understood cultural theme (visual arts, literature,

theater, music), biographical-literary (outstanding citizens of Greater Poland as well as

famous culture creators), socio-traditional (everyday lives of the city inhabitants in the period

of annexation, fashion, bon ton, language uniqueness, the activity of societies and

organizations, education), etc.