Where can you hear Latin today? About Scholae Aestivae Wratislavienses 2026

Latin is usually thought of as a dead language, but in fact it has has always had speakers, even if there are not many of them today. Latin literature (both numerous and often of high quality), the traditional liturgy, and the possibility of reading historical source documents in the original language still attract some people to study it. But Latin can also be spoken —and not necessarily on the other side of the world, because, for example… in Wrocław.

I am referring to a Latin summer workshops (Scholae Aestivae Wratislavienses) organized by the Polish Philological Society (Societas Philologorum Polonorum). I took part in this event from July 13 to 19 (it lasted two weeks, but I signed up only for the first one). Already the day before, I met a group of participants speaking Latin in a pizzeria. On the first day of classes, it turned out that the instructors spoke to us almost only in Latin. It was quite a challenge, but also a source of satisfaction as I somehow managed to participate. The lessons were interesting and at times even funny; there was reading, grammar exercises, speaking, watching videos, writing, and even physical games. Each day I took part in four hours of regular classes (the Provectiores I group), as well as two hours of Colloquia utilia, where we learned everyday vocabulary. We could also attend Vespers and both the old (Tridentine) and the new (Novus Ordo) Latin Mass (which I did). On Sunday, we also explored Wrocław with a Latin tour guide. We visited Ostrów Tumski, the cathedral, the Museum of the Archdiocese of Wrocław, and the underground remains of the first Castle of the Silesian Dukes.

A large and diverse group of people came to the event, not only from Poland but also from abroad. The youngest participant in my group was 13 years old and wanted to become a doctor in the future. Someone else needed Latin in order to understand historical source texts written in the language. There were students of classical philology who were deeply interested in the ancient world, as well as people for whom the Latin liturgy was something especially close. The reasons for studying this ancient language, so crucial for European civilization, could be enumerated for a very long time, including the desire to read Roman and later authors in the original, to exercise one's intellect, to get a head start in learning other languages,* or to experience what it was like to live in an age when Latin served as a language of international communication. For those interested, the trip is particularly attractive, because here, Latin is alive. I really recommend it!

More information about the courses organized by the PTF can be found at https://wratislavia.ptf.edu.pl

*A great deal of Latin vocabulary was inherited (often in modified form) by modern European languages, especially the Romance languages, but also English.