The goal of this study is to present, on the basis of two selected examples, the issues connected with exercising the conservator’s protection towards residential architecture in the Wielkopolskie province,taking into account characteristic conditions deciding on the specificity of this group of monuments (a large number of buildings entered in the register of historic monuments and lack of legal regulations pertaining to the ownership issues). Two mansions are discussed here as examples, of a similar artistic class, designed in the interwar period by a Poznań-based architect, Stefan Cybichowski: the palace in Bieganowo (1914–16) – neglected, successively falling into decay and subjected to activities of its subsequent owners that were inappropriate from the point of view of preservation, and the mansion in Wódki (1922–23) – perfectly restored. The goal of the author is investigating the post-war history of these two facilities, taking into account the history of preservation activities, in order to define the causes of such a radically different state of preservation, considering the fact that both buildings are subject to the same legal preservation forms.

Architectural research that accompanied the conservation works carried out in the atrium – gothic hall of the Dominican priory in Cracow in 2014 revealed new evidence of the history of the spatial transformations of this interesting space. A lot of important elements that confirm a complex character of the spatial structure of the atrium were revealed during the research, indicating at the same time a way for the proper interpretations of the retrospective architectural image of the gothic hall.

The architectural object is a witness of its age. Its form is the result of once existing requirements and fulfilling defined needs. Over time, however, conditioning is changing, repeated destructions and transformations causing that a historic building stops responding to original assumptions. In consequence a need of assigning a new role to monuments appears: a purely museum-like relic or a fully functioning architectural space adapted to modern expectations. It seems that in spite of functioning regulations, undertakings effected in the last decades depict a different level of taking a stance on the authenticity residing in a historic structure. Perhaps there is a need to take another look at the model of conservator’s action adequate for redefining the position in view of the protection of historic values, withthe possibility of considering additional decisions, towards specific objects and circumstances.

The spa towns situated in the valley of the river Prut in the Hutsul region preserved a little-known but extremely interesting set of historical urban and architectural layouts dating back to the first half of the previous century. Considering the progressing destruction of the multicultural landscape of this region, the need to identify and register them is becoming urgent. Neither the historical architectural objects nor their immediate surrounding are covered by any form of institutional protection. Very often the inhabitants did not identify with the region and they lost their sense of their identity It seems necessary to create legal provisions for their protection and to establish guiding principles for the process of their restoration.

Nowadays that the globally valid spatial model of a modern city, is derived from the rich tradition of the European city structure, the authenticity of preserved heritage of our continent may be a significant advantage in the global competition between metropolises. European cities, sometimes dating back several millennia ago, are still evolving, changing, modernizing. Despite wars and natural disasters, most of them managed to save the historic urban systems, or fragments of them, as well as architectural elements forming them (buildings and their complexes).Their primary functions as unsustainable, are replaced by others. Many of today’s hybrid cultural projects are formed on the basis of the historic structures, an element of the broader urban strategies, related to the protection of heritage and city promotion. Selected case studies which has been designed or built lately in one of Spanish metropolises would be presented within this paper.

Site-specific art is a term referring to works of art created with a view to functioning strictly in a particular place for a particular location, environment, landscape, a specific and peculiar space. It is deeply contextual, so in regard to the issue of the protection of a historic city, one can ask about its role and scope of creation as a condition for its sustainable development. What is meant by sustainable development? And how to perceive the thought of the great Aquinas, referring to the concept of Creatio (gr.), an act of creative action, bringing some existence to life and keeping it alive – the basic principle of conservation. Let us try to confront the experimental language of contemporary artists with Gombrich’s theory of time-cultural relativism, the meaning of the genius loci of the place, based on sources and our own educational and artistic experience.

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.

The article shows, on the basis of selected examples, modern activities aimed at presentation, in the public space of Kraków, of lost elements of urban heritage. It discusses the manners of commemorating and making historical urban forms legible (layout of streets and squares, development, defence structures, watercourses), which were liquidated and whose reconstruction is not planned.
Five methods of activities were distinguished and discussed:
1. Placement of visual or tactile information;
2. Application of specific surfaces and elements of landscape architecture;
3. Introduction of specific solutions in designs of new buildings erected in the historical structure of the city;
4. Establishment of a generally accessible or partially accessible reserve;
5. Application of specific local names.
The conducted analysis indicates that application of various methods is a beneficial phenomenon: it enriches the public space of a city, allows the society to become acquainted with lost heritage and provides the designers with possibilities of artistic creation in specific conditions.

The paper explores theoretical and practical approaches to legal, social, economic, commercial and cultural issues, with reference to management strategies for the protection of monuments. These have semantic meanings and connotations which, in practical terms, raise a variety of issues concerning the care, protection, security, preservation and restoration of monuments, together with the preservation of national heritage sites and concerning contemporary practices of drafting, approving and implementingn local development plans. The paper examines the operation of State policy, as well as a range of regional and supra-local methods governing the work of management practicen teams, in relation to architectural monuments and the process of urbanization. The paper draws together creative attitudes and approaches to the funding and patronage of monuments listed as world cultural heritage sites by UNESCO and the current need for controls over conservation activities to be standardized under statute. The paper sets out a number of key principles for the protection and conservation of historical buildings and architectural monuments with a view towards the need for sustainable development.

In this article an attempt has been made to answer the question to what extent the use of exclusively traditional, archival research methods enables us to determine typical town-planning and architectural features of the 15th- and 16th-century residential development of the western suburbs of Cracow, including the iuridica of Garbary. After developing that historically valuable area, forming today a part of the city centre (Śródmieście) marked by Łobzowska, Dunajewskiego, Podwale, Jabłonowskich, Piłsudskiego streets and Mickiewicza i Słowackiego avenues, no material traces have remained – the old city suburbs were completely destroyed in the times of the Swedish invasion, the written sources have proved to be meagre, no iconographic sources exist, while the urban residential development erected in place of iuridica in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries does not allow us to conduct extensive archaeological research.

The house near the crossing of Studencka Street and Garncarska Street, designed by Władysław Ekielski, was built over 100 years ago for Mr Wiktor Barabasz, director of the Conservatorium and founder of the Kraków Academic Choir, pianist and owner of the Grand and Upright Piano and Harmonium Storehouse. The two-storey building was made of brick and its three interior façades were given a finish with hydraulic lime. Due to the efforts of the owners’ cooperative, renovation of the façade started in 2011; it was partially financed from grants of the Social Committee for the Restoration of Kraków Historic Sites and Monuments. The renovation was designed by arch. Maria Fischinger. The conservation work was performed by AC Konserwacja, which possesses extensive experience in working with modern hydraulic lime. The material itself is produced in the Experimental Institute of Glass and Ceramics in Kraków, from domestic marl clay by means of calcination. It has properties that are very close to the historic version, especially resilience to atmospheric conditions and a warm, gold colour. The effect of the renovation, which was performed with great care and skill, is phenomenal.

The ratification of the ICOMOS Charter on Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage (2008) resulted in far-reaching changes in the concept of cultural heritage protection. Currently, presentation has become a social process of experiencing the past, with the participation of diverse stakeholders, and with the use of multilateral interpretative techniques. The article shows the way to shape the principles of modern presentation doctrines through a variety of doctrinal documents issued by the UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the ICOMOS, which directly influence the current principles in this area.

Archaeological heritage comes under special protection owing to its subtlety and non-renewability of stratigraphic context and is closely connected with the surroundings. Relics of the past unveiled during archaeological explorations in the centre of a city or within its confines, which by law should remain in situ, may favourably affect the spatial development of the city, improve the economy of the region by increasing or intensifying tourism. The author emphasises the fact that the contemporary approach to the exposition of archaeological heritage need not be restricted to the form of reservation which creates a kind of a separate place of “historical sacrum”, but should incorporate it into the tissue of the city, revitalising the unveiled relics. Recently it has been an increasingly common phenomenon, proving the changes in the approach to the possibility of creation in the historic space of a city. The examples of the latest realizations presented in the article show the present-day tendencies in preservation design and heritage protection as well as a trend in the changes taking place.

The aim of the essay is to remind people of selected realizations done during the last two decades of the 20th c. targeted at the rescue, restoration and enlivening objects of the 19th c. architecture. They were created in the period of industrial revolution, when the turn of the century became the past, remaining a valuable relic of the past and serves new aims, cultivating both old-time and restored functional, aesthetic and artistic values.

Recent Polish architecture in the context of historic sites is replete with the examples of structures tying in with their context. There are many buildings in all scales that may be deemed site specific. The article discusses the issue whether such an architectural approach may be regarded as the conservation of identity.

The paper is an introduction to a broader study, aimed to define the rules of procedure for taking preservation activities in historic hospital architecture. It has, among others, to facilitate the modernization of historic hospitals necessary to carry out in accordance with the requirements set by the legislature, the latest medical technologies and contemporary doctrines and principles of conservation. The article is based on the analysis of the latest solutions implemented in selected hospitals including the historic hospitals in Warsaw, Wroclaw and Lodz. The analysis of proven solutions in conjunction with the collected experiences from other selected projects are the starting material for the definition of a strategy of historic preservation activities in historic hospitals and the development of guidelines assisting in their implementation.

The necessity of remaining the authentic historic substance and also the traditional cultural climate obliges to analyze the extension of adaptation works in detail. It mainly refers to historic buildings of unique cultural and artistic values; however, it does not stand for a full limitation of intervention of modern architecture into the historic substance. Such a conclusion is drawn on the basis of an analysis of many European examples connected with the establishments of the Venice Charter from 1964 and subsequent supplementary additions, such as Nara Document 1994 and others.

Attic adaptations and superstructures in tenement houses in city centres enjoy considerable interest, in spite of a rich offer of apartments available on the primary market. It can be assumed that a historic neighbourhood and a possibility to live in an old building is sometimes an attractive choice. Tenement houses built in the 1930s are particularly sought after by investors. Most frequently the houses are located in so called “better” city districts, have spacious and comfortable staircases (often equipped with lifts) and, as a rule, are in a better technical state than older houses. R egretfully, superstructures of modernist tenement houses completed so far, too rarely have been examples of a successful architectural intervention. The paper presents several selected cases from Cracow, pointing to problems related to the protection of residential architecture of the period.

Monument Protection (Ochrona Zabytków) is a course now available at the Institute of History of Architecture and Conservation of Monuments at the Faculty of Architecture, Cracow University of Technology, following the reform of the curriculum linked to the introduction of the two-degree system of studies. The aim of the course is the preparation of the future graduates of the 1st degree studies to taking adequate design solutions (complying with contemporary conservation theories) in respect of revalorisation and conversion of historic structures. Students learn how to treat a historic structure individually, and adapt it to contemporary needs during the design process, while being acquainted with the philosophy of preservation of monuments. Innovative teaching at the Faculty of Architecture, based on in-depth studies and analyses of contemporary doctrines of conservation and architectural tendencies, has already gained the name of the ‘Cracovian school of conservation of monuments’ in the academic circles.