Dominika Kuśnierz-Krupa

The paper presents issues connected with the artwork of Jan Matejko in the context of usefulness of his works for the process of the restoration of selected historic towns located in the area of the former Eastern Galicia (Austro-Hungarian Empire), and their documentation. Jan Matejko, one of the most outstanding Polish historical painters, made sketches and drawings of Galician towns during his numerous trips, both in the areas of Western and Eastern Galicia – the former borderlands of the Republic of Poland. Some of those works have been preserved until today, sometimes constituting the only form of documentation of cityscapes, panoramas or historic objects in Galician towns. Besides the documentary layer, the artist was able to convey their climate and ambience, which is either vanishing before our eyes or no longer exists. It is of particular importance especially in the case of towns from Eastern Galicia, located in the territory of modern-day Ukraine, whose cultural landscape crystallized in the 19th century, is gradually dying out.

Nowadays the protection of historic urban layouts poses one of the greatest challenges in the field of cultural heritage protection. Even if this protection functions properly in large historic cities, it is sadly insufficient in smaller towns. The testimony to the latter claim is seen in deteriorating centres of small historic towns. Such degradation is a consequence of e.g. inappropriate investments disturbing their historic urban composition, which, in turn, demonstrates insufficient conservation protection. This article presents an analysis of selected medieval towns from Lesser Poland, with attention to both the state of preservation of their historic urban structure and the current form of its protection. Two towns (Nowy Targ, Skawina) are discussed in more detail.

Historic building adaptation connected with changing its use often makes architects apply modern building technologies, including latest materials and furnishing. It should be emphasized that nowadays adaptation of a historic building and introducing a new function into it, is often the only way to save it. This new function frequently requires a high level of finishing and furnishing the building in such a manner that it would fulfill current regulations. Such an investment is the revalorization of the old high school dormitory in Nowy Targ which is under conservation protection because of its location, form and architectural details characteristic for that part of Poland.

This article presents changes which occurred in the urban structure of Rome in the Baroque period. The initiator of the redevelopment of this city, dictated mainly by ideological concerns, was Pope Sixtus V who commissioned one of the greatest creators of that epoch – architect Domenico Fontana – to redesign the urban structure. The redevelopment was expected to become a symbol of the popes’ return to Rome as well as to improve transport between the most important basilicas in the city: S. Trinita dei Monti, S.M. Maggiore, S. Giovanni in Laterano and S. Croce in Gerusaleme. The construction of the most important urban enclosures in that period – the square outside St. Peter’s Basilica, Navona Square, the Spanish Stairs and Del Popolo Square – was planned then, too. Changes which occurred in the tissue of Rome in relation to Fontana’s plan are still legible in the urban layout of the city, whereas squares designed at that time make the centre of cultural and tourist life these days.

The paper refers to the text published in the materials from the 1st Congress of Polish Preservation Officers, the resolution accepted then, and own research and issues concerning monument protection observed, within the last decade. The paper addresses the issue of modernizing historical objects e.g.: thermal modernization; ‘commercial modernization’; issues of protecting modernist monuments from the 1960s and 1970s; the phenomenon of recorded division of immovable monuments; the issue of modernizing historical hospitals, schools, and public utility objects. As far as the protection of urban design monuments is concerned, it involves e.g. preservation of the cultural landscape of our towns; protecting the panorama of historical towns; communications problems and the “city gates” setting.

This article addresses the issue of the medieval spatial development of the town of Mielec, located in today’s Podkarpackie Voivodeship, and in the Middle Ages in the area of historic Lesser Poland. An important element of the presented research is a discussion of the issue of the typology of the urban models applied in the discussed period. One should pay attention to the fact that studying the origins of the founding and development of the town is important from the viewpoint of the current urban planning and conservation policy in this town. It also has an educational dimension and contributes to popularising knowledge about the town’s history and cultural heritage.

This paper is a prolegomenon to the research on the history, architecture and state of preservation of the synagogues still surviving in the Podkarpacie region. After almost a millennium of Jewish presence in the area, despite wars and the Holocaust, 31 buildings or the ruins of former synagogues have remained until the present. It can be claimed that a Jewish cultural heritage of considerable value has survived in the Podkarpacie region to this day, and therefore requires protection and revalorisation. The paper presents the state of research in this area and an outline of the Jewish history of Podkarpacie, as well as a preliminary description of the preserved synagogues with regards to their origin, functional layout and state of preservation.

The article presents deliberations about a small city as a desirable living environment of a multi-layered character focusing on sociological issues that take into account the lifestyle of the residents and their preferences. Environmental studies, which reflected the expectations of the residents regarding their living environment, proved to be very important for the matter of the paper. Another issue related to small cities is the architecture responsible for the vitality of the place, its character and intimacy. It often determines the attractiveness of the centre, its history and culture. The considerations provided by the authors were supported by urban analyses, interviews, literature studies and own observations regarding selected urban centres located in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship.

This paper presents issues connected with origins of spatial development of Manhattan, a district of New York. The creation of Manhattan is associated with the growth of New York which started as a settlement called New Amsterdam, built in 1625 by Dutch settlers. Nowadays, Manhattan is one the most desirable districts in the world. Unfortunately, its cultural landscape recorded in photographs, films, and primarily in the consciousness of its inhabitants, has been fading away in recent years. One of the most characteristic elements in this part of the city, tenement houses, are currently bought out on a large scale and subsequently demolished. Multi-floor apartment blocks with their styleless architecture, which occupy the area of several tenements, are built in their place. The article presents a historical outline of the district against the background of its present image and changes which may not always be positive.