The weekly Dookoła świata [Around the World] (1954–1976) was intended to be a sort of travel magazine and “a window to the external world” for Polish teens in the Polish People’s Republic – see here [entry “Z antycznego świata”, Dookoła Świata 13 (1957)]. 

The article focuses on the Roman circus and amphitheatre. Both are presented as a building and as an institution. First, Parandowski writes about the beginning of the circus between the Palatine and Aventine Hills as a naturally convenient location and then describes the building founded by Julius Caesar and finished by Augustus. Next, Parandowski presents spectacles that took place at the circus providing a religious and socio-political background and using historical examples. In the second part of the text, amphitheatres and various games performed there are described in detail, with a particular focus on people, animals and their traditional roles. The third part, and the most extensive, discusses the Flavian Amphitheatre, its history and the phenomenon of its longevity in literature and culture of all ages.

Although the article refers to history, it is in line with the other contents of the magazine, presenting fascinating places and cultures outside of communist Poland of the 1950s. Rome has become an extremely popular city since the movie Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck was released in 1953 (dir. William Wyler). Young people in Poland, unable to travel, wanted to watch and read about places their favourite couple drove around on a Vespa. As one of the most important and characteristic places shown in the film, the Colosseum was widely known, but this knowledge was superficial. Everyone knew what it looked like on screen, but the broader understanding was sparse. The text aims to fill this gap and to familiarize the reader with two institutions of ancient Rome. It achieves its goal as it provides, in an accessible manner, not only textbook facts but also vivid genre scenes depicted by the author, which are easy to imagine and remember. These scenes, referring to entertainment as a field important to young people, break the convention of didacticism to ensure that young people fully benefit from the article.

Selected bibliography concerning Jan Parandowski’s work and life see here.

Frycie, Stanisław, “Czasopisma dla dzieci i młodzieży okresu powojennego (1945–1970)”, Kwartalnik Historii Prasy Polskiej 3 (1977), 49–73.

Harjan, George, “Jan Parandowski: A Contemporary Polish Humanist”, Books Abroad 34. 3 (1960): 223–226.

Waksmund, Ryszard, “Periodyki dziecięce w systemie prasy. Propozycje metodologiczne do badań nad czasopiśmiennictwem dla dzieci i młodzieży”, Litteraria vol. 14 (1982), 149–163.