Prof. Marzanna Kuczyńska from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań is visiting the Cyrillo-Methodian Research Center of BAS in July. The visit is taking place as part of the “Development and Promotion of Bulgarian Studies Abroad” National Scientific Program.
Prof. Kuczynska is a Bulgarian studies scholar and Slavicist specializing in medieval studies and the author of three independent scholarly monographs. Currently, Prof. Kuczynska serves as chair of the Committee on Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznan and as a member of the Balkan Studies Committee of PAS in Poznan. She has served as editor and co-editor of the renowned Polish scholarly journals and series: Poznan Slavic Studies, Krakow-Vilnius Slavic Studies, and Annals of the Supraśl Academy as well as individual books and collective monographs.
During her research visit to CMRC, Prof. Kuczynska is conducting individual research in the CMRC library and the Central Library of BAS. She participates in working meetings with fellow medievalists and specialists in the fields of hagiography and hymnography, and exchanges expertise with the CMRC publishing department on issues related to the specifics of publishing scholarly medievalist literature.
On July 16, 2026, a public lecture by Prof. Kuczynska on the topic “The Cult of St. Petka in Poland” was organized at CMRC-BAS. Drawing on medieval Bulgarian texts about St. Paraskeva-Petka, the lecturer introduced the audience to traditions within the Polish Cyrillic Orthodox and Greek Catholic (Uniate) traditions dating back to the 15th century. She presented a wealth of iconographic material, and her analysis covered the naming of the Balkan saint in Poland, the conflation of various female saints bearing the same name, and all of this was presented against the backdrop of the complex history of religious denominations in Polish lands throughout the country’s various historical periods.
