Śniadanie z Mistrzem 2020 - 2026 · Szkoła z Charakterem

Krzysztof Rutkowski 13.02.2026

·28 min·2 clips

Who was Teodor Ernest Rutkowski, the calligraphy teacher who became entangled in Adam Mickiewicz's mystical circle?

The episode features an interview with Professor Krzysztof Rutkowski about his play centered on Adam Mickiewicz. Rutkowski begins by introducing Teodor Ernest Rutkowski, a minor historical figure who was a teacher of calligraphy and a poet. He explains how this Rutkowski became involved with Adam Mickiewicz through the mystical 'Circle of God's Law'. Rutkowski describes how Teodor Ernest Rutkowski fell in love with a French woman named Marie Lemoine. To legitimize their relationship within the circle, they pretended to have spiritual experiences, with Marie performing dramatic acts to prove her worth. She was eventually accepted, and they married with Mickiewicz's blessing. Years later, Marie confessed that she had faked her spiritual ecstasies solely to be with Rutkowski. The professor then shifts to another Rutkowski, Ludwik Rutkowski, who served in Mickiewicz's Legion in Italy during the Spring of Nations in 1848. Ludwik Rutkowski is depicted as a drunkard who committed sacrilege by tearing off and trampling the sacred white crosses sewn on the legionnaires' uniforms, an act seen as a betrayal. A third Rutkowski is briefly mentioned as a book smuggler. The host then asks about a specific scene in the play involving a letter, which Rutkowski reveals is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Purloined Letter'. The conversation moves to the historical event of Andrzej Towiański giving a speech in Notre Dame Cathedral in 1841. Rutkowski details how Towiański, a layperson, spoke to Polish emigrants after a mass, promising a new era and their return to Poland, an event unprecedented in the cathedral's history. The episode concludes with thanks to Professor Rutkowski for sharing these non-textbook insights into Mickiewicz's life.

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