Dziedzictwo jako proces i działanie – wytwarzanie dziedzictwa w Wilamowicach

In this article I argue that heritage is neither history nor authenticity. It should be understood rather as a process that constructs, defines, redefines, maintains or changes heritage. As Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett said, it is “a mode of cultural production that has recourse to the past and produces something new” (2011: 126). Through analysis of the musical heritage in Wilamowice – small town in southwestern Poland, I show how this process evolved in the past and how it is undertaken nowadays. I emphasize the role that local “charismatic individuals” play in crating and changing the actual meaning of what is understood as heritage.