Abstract: This article presents the urban exploring movement, which, in spite of being regarded as quite controversial, is gaining more and more popularity in Poland as well as all over the world. It is an urban cultural movement operating on the border of legality, which is oft en mistaken for vandalism.1 If one were to consider the phenomenon from the perspective of culture studies, it should be seen in broader terms, with all its positive aspects. Urban explorers document their work with the use of photographs, historical descriptions and maps of places which are usually not taken into account by people and authorities responsible for heritage. The explorers facilitate the act of preservation of cultural and historical memory and popularization of heritage, which is usually beyond the reach of tourists. It, however, presents a more complete picture of humans and their civilization as well as the history of a given place.

Key words: urban exploring, city, heritage, identity

Forgotten heritage

What is the general meaning of the term heritage? Referring to UNESCO guidelines, “heritage” comprises all objects, buildings, places, and all kinds of other manifestations of human activity, which are characterized by an “outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science” or by an “outstanding universal value from the historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological point of view.” The encyclopedia, in turn, suggests that it is simply a movable or immovable property acquired as an inheritance3 or the right to the possession or transfer of something by inheriting.

Heritage is therefore everything that we have received from our ancestors. The cultural perspective requires an expansion of this inheritance by adding the intangible part of the legacy – oral traditions and expression, traditional performing arts, rituals and festivals and traditional craft smanship, which often affect us stronger than items and buildings. It should be noted that these two types of heritage are, in fact, inseparable. What, for example, would be the significant role of the Warsaw Water Filters without their history and legendary personalities like Starynkiewicz and Lindley? Especially intangible heritage is prone to be lost and forgotten if there is no memory of it to be preserved.