Zbigniew Tucholski

The article describes the former power plant complex at the State Powder and Crushing Materials Factory in Zagożdżon (now Pionki), dating back to the mid-1920s. It begins with an introduction outlining the company’s history, followed by a presentation of the history of the power plant and accompanying facilities, with a focus on the evolution of technical equipment and related architectural layers. Subsequently, an analysis of the architectural form of the complex is conducted, aiming to determine the historical value of the objects. Finally, the article describes the complex’s current state of preservation, its evaluation, and conservation recommendations.

This monographic study focuses on the history of the construction and functioning of ‘Szwedówka,’ a wooden hunting lodge in the Radziwiłł estate in the Nieborów Forests. The building, erected through the efforts of Fr. Michał Piotr Radziwiłł , was initially utilized by the Warsaw industrialist and avid hunter Aleksander Szwede but later underwent various changes. Originally serving as a representative hunting lodge near the forester’s lodge of the Nieborów Estate, it later became a post-war forester’s lodge after a fire incident.

The last forester of the Radziwiłł family, Stanisław Hruszka, resided there until the mid-1970s when it became the headquarters of Kaczew Forestry. Subsequently, the family of the final forester, Włodzimierz Bogaciński, lived there. The study places the creation and functioning of the facility within the broader context of the history of forestry in the Nieborów Estate. The narrative presents extensive biographies of individuals associated with the Estate. Aleksander Szwede emerges as a crucial figure in the development of Polish food and metal industries. He is also known for his role as a social activist and patriot.

A significant aspect of the study comprises the technical and conservation description of the building. Preceded by a formal and stylistic analysis, this section narrows down the period of its construction to approximately 1900–1902. This is essential due to the lack of sources enabling the determination of authorship of the design and the date of construction. The manor’s design incorporates elements reminiscent of both regional and Zakopane solutions, making it an object of considerable historical and aesthetic value.

In 2020, the Łódź Conservator, recognizing its significance, included ‘Szwedówka’ in the register of monuments of the Skierniewice district. Despite this, this unique monument of wooden construction, currently managed by the Skierniewice Forest District, is in poor technical condition. The most important conservation postulate of this study is the need to quickly secure the facility and place it under conservation protection by entering it in the register of monuments. This lays the groundwork for the actual conservation efforts aimed at preserving the monument in situ or, as a secondary consideration, its relocation to the Łowicz Ethnographic Park in Maurzyce.

Aerial photographs are extremely valuable, often underestimated historical sources. Their use gives very positive results pertaining to research in the field of military history. Photographs documenting the events of World War II constitute primary sources of great importance in many areas of historical research in which archival sources have not survived. As documented by case studies, they validate the legitimacy of basing research methodology on photographic documents. Following a short historical outline on the development of aerial photography, the author analyzes some cases related to Warsaw’s destruction and reconstruction of its urban layout, as well as the murders committed by the NKVD in Kharkiv and Mednoye.

The article is an edition of the source important for the history of the development of the railway network in Poland, namely the Information on the approach railways operating in the Warsaw Governorate (Viedomosti o suŝestvuûŝih v Varšavskoj guberni pod″ezdnyh železnyh dorogah). This document is in the archival collection labeled Warsaw Governorate Government no. 1181, kept in the State Archive in Warsaw. In the Information on the approach railways operating in the Warsaw Governorate, there is data on the public and industrial narrow-gauge railways operating in the Warsaw Governorate in 1911, as well as the standard-gauge industrial sidings of the Warsaw-Vienna Railways. This document is of great historical importance due to the degree of destruction and scattering of technical archives related to the communication infrastructure in the territory of the Russian partition. It contains important, previously unknown elementary technical and operational data of these railways and sidings.

Henryk Genello was an architect who rendered great service for the Polish railway architecture during the 2nd Polish Republic. Together with engineer and architect Hipolit Hryncewicz, he designed around 50 railway stations in the Eastern borderlands, in the Vilnius Headquarters of the State Railways. In the 20s of the 20th century, he was designing in national style, while at the end of the 20s his designs already bore distinct modernist traits, and in the 30s they became totally functionalist. A valuable realisation of Genello and Hryncewicz was a representative “modernised” railway station on the border in Stołpce, essential for the evolution of Polish railway architecture of the 2nd Polish Republic. At the turn of the 20s and 30s of the 20th century, Genello designed railway stations on the Ustroń – Wisła line. They were realised in national style, partly wooden, inspired by the Polish mountain resort architecture of Zakopane. Another important Genello’s realisation of 1935 was a small building of a railway stop – Zułów, which in the 2nd Polish Republic had a memorative character of Marshall Piłsudski silhouette. It probably was the last “national” realisation in the Polish railway architecture. His works done in this style were characterised by simplicity, pure form, and drew on local types and motives of Polish architecture. Undoubtedly, Henryk Genello was better fulfilled when he designed in the earlier, historicising style, creating his own type inspired by local motives. His later functional realisations are characterised by simplicity, pared-down and austere form of elevations deprived of detail. It is certain that Genello belonged to the most important railway architects of the 2nd Polish Republic, working since 1932 as adviser in the Ministry of Transport, he shaped railway architecture of that time from its administrative and technical side. The same function Genello performed during the first years after the war.