Rafał Blechacz
Information about the Title Conferral Ceremony:
The official celebrations Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship Day took place on June 6, 2016, in Toruń. During a ceremonial session of the voivodeship assembly, piano virtuoso Rafał Blechacz received the title of Honorary Citizen of the Voivodeship, and two successful companies from the region – Bydgoszcz-based PESA and Toruń’s Opatrunki – were awarded the Stella Copernicana Cuiaviae et Pomeraniae honors. By decision of the heads of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie dioceses, June 7 – Voivodeship Day – is also celebrated as the Patronal Day of Saint John Paul II.
The Voivodeship Day, which has now become a permanent fixture in the region’s most important events, is celebrated annually on June 7. This date symbolically links the three largest cities in the region through the pilgrimages of Saint John Paul II: Włocławek, visited by the Pope on this day in 1991, and Bydgoszcz and Toruń, included in the papal itinerary in 1999.
The 2016 celebrations, held during the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland, were particularly connected to these historical events. In February 2016, the Voivodeship Assembly adopted a resolution to designate Saint John Paul II as the patron of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship. The assembly members requested the bishops whose jurisdictions cover the voivodeship (the Archdiocese of Gniezno, the Dioceses of Bydgoszcz, Pelplin, Płock, Toruń, and Włocławek) to support their efforts and to establish June 7 as the Patronal Day of Saint John Paul II in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region.
The official voivodeship celebrations began with the unveiling of a plaque at the Aeroclub of Pomerania’s Toruń airfield, commemorating the apostolic visit and the mass celebrated there by Saint John Paul II on June 7, 1999. A noon mass in the Church of St. John’s was held in honor of the region’s residents, followed by the opening of the exhibition “Project 966: National Jubilee – Polish Art 2016” at the Nicolaus Copernicus University’s Collegium Maximum. The exhibition, curated by Prof. Kazimierz Rochecki and Prof. Mirosława Rochecka, brought together artists of different generations, disciplines, and traditional artistic techniques.
The culmination of the celebrations was the ceremonial session of the Voivodeship Assembly held at the Marshal’s Office, attended by representatives of the political sphere, local government officials, representatives of the state administration and Catholic Church hierarchy, rectors from regional universities, and other distinguished guests. The session was streamed online. In the first part of the session, the bishops’ statement supporting the voivodeship’s efforts to designate Saint John Paul II as the patron of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship, and June 7 as his Patronal Day, was formally announced.
The pianist Rafał Blechacz, a native of Nakło nad Notecią and winner of the 15th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, accepted the title of Honorary Citizen of the Voivodeship.
