Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey: Ancient Greece Hidden in Warsaw | Pulse of Culture

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has put Ancient Greece back in the spotlight. But you don't have to travel to Athens to discover its legacy. It has been hiding in Warsaw all along.

Since The Odyssey arrived in cinemas on 17 July, curiosity about Ancient Greece, Greek mythology and Homer has surged worldwide. At Warsaw's National Museum, home to Poland's largest collection of ancient Greek artifacts, online tours with curator Tomasz Dziurdzik have broken all attendance records. Among the highlights are a Panathenaic amphora depicting the goddess Athena, a helmet dating from the age of Homer himself, the only surviving hoplite shield of its kind in Poland, and an alabaster urn showing Odysseus listening to the Sirens. In a fascinating twist, the Sirens are not singing, as they are usually imagined today, but playing musical instruments.

From there, we follow the stars as ancient navigators once did, discovering at Warsaw's Copernicus Science Centre how Odysseus found his way across the seas using the sun, the stars and centuries of accumulated knowledge. Finally, we take to the streets of Warsaw to uncover Ancient Greece hiding in plain sight: the Palace on the Isle at Łazienki Królewskie, built by Poland's last king, Stanisław August, as a classical summer residence; the Temple of Diana, an 18th-century wooden interpretation of an ancient Greek temple that appears to be carved from marble; the Atlantes of Mokotowska 48, recalling Atlas condemned by Zeus to bear the heavens upon his shoulders; and Pałac Staszica, home to the Polish Academy of Sciences, where the statue of Copernicus echoes the iconic pose of Zeus Olympios.

Ancient Greece did not just inspire Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. For centuries, it has shaped Warsaw's architecture, royal residences and public buildings, leaving traces that can still be discovered throughout the city today.

Pulse of Culture is TVP World's weekly English-language arts and culture magazine for everyone with a connection to Poland – from visitors and the Polish diaspora to anyone curious about the country's rich cultural heritage. New episodes are released every Sunday.

Host: Sally Jastrzębska


00:00 Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and Ancient Greece Hidden in Warsaw
01:05 Ancient Greek treasures at Warsaw's National Museum
02:22 A helmet from the age of Homer
02:33 Poland's only surviving hoplite shield03:19 Odysseus and the Sirens: the myth you don't know
05: 31 How Odysseus navigated by the stars
07:53 The Palace on the Isle at Łazienki Królewskie
08:35 The Temple of Diana
09:29 The Atlantes of Mokotowska 48
10:05 Pałac Staszica and the legacy of Ancient Greece
12:02 Polish and Ukrainian literary festival: building bridges


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