Polish culture has a rich thousand-year history influenced by both West and East. Today, these influences are evident in Polish architecture, folklore, and art. Poland is the birthplace of many world famous people, including Pope John Paul II (Polish: Papież Jan Paweł II), Marie Skłodowska Curie (Polish: Maria Skłodowska-Curie), Kazimierz Pułaski (Polish: Kazimierz Pułaski), Tadeusz Kościuszko, Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish: Mikołaj Kopernik), Frederic Chopin (Polish: Fryderyk Chopin), and others.
The unique character of Polish art always reflected world trends. Famous Polish painter, Jan Matejko, included many significant historical events in his paintings. Polish literature dates back to 1100s[6] and includes many famous poets and writers such as Jan Kochanowski, Adam Mickiewicz, Henryk Sienkiewicz (1905 Nobel Prize winner), Bolesław Prus, Władysław Reymont (1924 Nobel Prize winner), Juliusz Słowacki, Witold Gombrowicz, Czesław Miłosz (1980 Nobel Prize winner), Wisława Szymborska (1996 Nobel Prize winner), Stanisław Lem, Ryszard Kapuściński. Many world renowned Polish movie directors include Academy Awards winners Roman Polański, Andrzej Wajda, Zbigniew Rybczyński, Janusz Kamiński, Krzysztof Kieślowski. The traditional Polish music composers include world famous pianist Frederic Chopin (Polish: Fryderyk Chopin)[7] as well as Krzysztof Penderecki, Karol Szymanowski, and others.
Polish art: Stańczyk, by Jan Matejko.
Many popular styles of modern music in Poland include pop music, rock music, pop-rock music, punk, hardcore, Extreme Metal, disco music, house music, R&B, hip-hop, rap, jazz, to name a few. Famous modern singers, musicians and bands from Poland include Behemoth, Vader, Decapitated, SBB, Riverside, Edyta Górniak, Anita Lipnicka and Ich Troje.
Known meals from Polish cuisine include Polish sausage (Polish: kiełbasa), red beet soup (Polish: barszcz), duck blood soup (Polish: czernina), Polish dumplings (Polish: pierogi), cabbage rolls (Polish: gołąbki), Polish pork chops (Polish: kotlety schabowe), Polish traditional stew (Polish: bigos), various potato dishes, a fast food sandwich zapiekanka, and many more. Traditional Polish desserts include Polish doughnuts (Polish: pączki), Polish gingerbread (Polish: pierniki) and others.
