University Tourist Club „Unikat”
University Tourist Club „Unikat”
It was 1963, nearly two decades after the war. Polish People’s Republic. Travelling opportunities were much different from those known to us – most of all, very limited. However, necessity is the mother of invention. Therefore, tourist organizations of all kinds, including student ones, began to rise intensely.
One of these was created at the University of Warsaw. On December 9, the University Tourist Club, since 1968 known as “Unikat”, was officially established, headed by Bogdan Opowicz. Where did the name come from? From their unique program. In the days of the popularity of mountain hikes, Warsaw students offered tours through the North-East part of Poland. Till this day, this terrain, although more recognized, is still considered quite wild. It is apparent, that “Unikat” members were from the beginning interested in places usually omitted by other tourists. “Unikat” did not follow the main current and fashion. They offered tours for those who wanted to swim against the tide and explore the unknown – in a nutshell, for the adventurers.
First and one of the most important events was the Wigry Raid, in the Suwalszczyzna region. It all started there. That first tour paved the way for the next trips and gave the main direction for the entirety of the club’s activity. The choice of a place had its pragmatic side as well, because it was a region unoccupied by any other tour operators. Students from the University of Warsaw could then take a monopoly over it. However, that decision posed a serious challenge to the group. Mountains were – and still are – an attraction in themselves. Warsaw students had to come up with a program that could compete with the power of the mountain landscape. During their next trips, they organized bathing in Russian baths, forest train rides, ship cruises on the lakes, and meetings with local culture, e.g. Lithuanians or Lemko People, resettled there in 1947.
Over time, other initiatives, following the theme set by the Wigry, were developed. Among them was the March Meeting “Marzanna,” where the main attraction was the drowning of the traditional straw malkin, which was a symbolic ending of the winter.
Next, “The Night of Goliards” on the castle in Oporów appeared, during which reigned an eclectic mix of music that combined tourist songs with the ballads of medieval troubadours and goliards.
“Unikat” members also included in their cultural programs the trip “Kurdesz,” also known as the Sarmatian Raid. It followed the trail of a former nobility mansions and the participants often dressed up in kontushes and Old-Polish style costumes.
Later, events like “Orthodox New Year’s Eve” or “Orient Raid” were created, both exploring the culture of the minorities living in Poland. The first one, used in a clever way the difference in the Gregorian and Julian calendars, which allowed to celebrate the New Year not once, but twice. The second one was supposed to familiarize students with the culture of Polish Tatars.
Over the years members of the club started to travel beyond Polish borders more often and further away. In 1973, they headed out to the popular mountains – except not the Polish ones but Romanian, which opened the series of tramping trips called Academic Carpathian Raid “Arkan.” A year later, they continued this idea and organized an action of camps called “Lewant,” that ranged out to many of the Middle East countries, ones, that are not accessible today, and yet another camp,“Tokaj,” in the North of Hungary.
These are only a few examples from the long list of trips and events of “Unikat.” Its members were constantly looking out for new paths, undiscovered trails and unknown cultures.
However, “Unikat” and its success are mainly due to the people who were behind all of these original programs. During the trips, apart from the beautiful scenery, see sighting, and getting to know the local culture, the most important part was time spend with other people. The strength of “Unikat” lied in the relationships created throughout the years, that lasted till this day. This is a community that did not give way under the pressure of the changing world. These are the people of passion who were looking for other people – in one another and in all of those they met on their way. This is the reason why “Unikat” can still celebrate its next anniversaries.
The transformation period in the 90-ties brought an important change. Things like getting a passport, which were unattainable before for most of the Poles, suddenly became common. “Unikat” once again had to offer something unique to survive.
What could attract people in the age of availability, when almost every corner of the world was at one’s fingertips?
In the times when many tourists headed West, which was finally opened for this part of the world, “Unikat” – according to its tradition – headed out East. Members of the club explored the territories of Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Russia, reaching as far as the Arctic Circle. In the spirit of the idea that was present from the club’s beginnings, its members were looking for what was uncharted. Places, that for most people would seem uninteresting, but for those who were willing to look deep enough, were hiding true gems in the realm of travel experiences.
At the same time, the collapse of the institutions that were financing university clubs, like RU ZSP UW or OU PTTK, posed serious limitations to “Unikat’s” activity. As a response, the club changed its own character. Today, the club does not revolve around students, but rather its former members – the alumni of the University of Warsaw.
Community and ideas of the club are being kept alive by people who contributed to its development. Today’s meetings and events concentrate on long-time supporters of the club, who have been taking part in them for decades. “Unikat” is currently integrated with the Alumni Club of the University of Warsaw.
In this circle of experienced explorers, they started to travel across six continents. There are a few especially interesting cases, like moving the long-time tradition of trips with the drowning of Marzanna abroad, to places like Morocco and Burma. In 2016 “Orient Raid” reached Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. And in 2013, participants of the Wigry Raid visited not only well-known to them areas of Poland and Lithuania, but also Iceland, to celebrate 50 years of “Unikat.”
“Unikat” is active to this day organizing trips and publishing books that are meant to keep the memory of its glory days alive, as well as inspire new generations to look for their own paths in the tourist world.
The University of Warsaw Museum supports the members of “Unikat” in their mission. The museum is a co-publisher of books about the club’s history. In 2023, it also organized an exhibition to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the club’s foundation. Additionally, representative rooms of the Tyszkiewicz-Potocki Palace were the meeting point for “Unikat” members for a few years, symbolically becoming a space of maintaining the club’s traditions.
More publications and archival documents from the collection “Unikatowy Tobołek,” curated by the first chairman of the club Bogdan Opowicz, are available for viewing in the University of Warsaw Museum, located on Krakowskie Przedmieście 32.
Text by Justyna Szaro in cooperation with Bogdan Opowicz
