THE 'POLISH EXPERIENCE

BY: JOHN P. CONRaN 1. Warsaw - the fi rst days. Twenty-four Americans, all professionals in their lined streets the sun was shining. We did not know fields and all in fields relating directly or tangentially that, except for rare and sporadic occasions, this was to historic preservation, landed in Warsaw, Poland, the final sunny day for the next sixteen days of our in the early afternoon of October 7, 1974. Greeted hy stay in Poland. In fact, the damp gloom of tomorrow a staff member of the American Embassy, the group was to worsen into a wet snowfall later on in Cracow. was sped through Polish customs; that is, we went We arrived at the Hotel Europejski in central through a little faster than if we had not been greeted Warsaw, an area mostly reconstructed- after World hy the embassy man! Crowds of people encumbered War II to equal its past glory. The traditional, late by baggage were being funneled through too few cus­ 19th century, appearance of the hotel is only a re­ tom inspection gates at an infuriatingly slow pace. constructed skin with modem post war interiors. The Customs and passport control officials in so many rooms are very adequate with the same simple, func­ countries, including the U. S. A., have a facility for tional, contemporary hardwood veneered furniture making everyone feel like a dangerous criminal or that we were to discover in hotels all across Poland. viperous smuggler. There is always a sense of relaxed The dining room resembled a mediocre decorator's relief once one has passed through the airport doors idea of what the 1935 French liner, S. S. Normandie, with a stamped passport, baggage in hand and that might have been-a kind of hindsight, garish 1930's no-nation void of space between arriving airplane and posh. The music, provided by an orchestra of general­ customs barrier has been left behind. ly young musicians, was like any small American ho­ Outside the terminal doors awaited Orbus, the tel dance band of the 1930·s. On our second night in state owned and , of course , the only tourist agency/ Warsaw, an accordian player in his early twenties tour guide service in Poland. Orbus was represented was a featured soloist; I don't know who requested hy "Ella" (Elzbeta) who, dressed today and frequent­ or inspired his two selections, but "The Battle Hymn ly throughout our trip in a simulated tiger skin coat of the Republic" was followed by "Arriverderci and knee high black boots, was to become our con­ Roma"l stant link to hotel accommodations, everyday travel During WW II Warsaw was ravaged by German and seminar schedules. (Figure 14) She was our bombers, but most severely and destructively by most reliable translator, and even provided a special planned demolition under orders from an infuriated bowl of soup to one of us who, because of a bout of madman, Adolph Hitler. Early in WW II one area cold and flu, could not face another five to seven of old Warsaw was being cleared away to provide the course meal. But most of all she became our friend. land for construction of a grand new German city. Orbus was represented also by a bright, quite new, The plans were in the grandiose inhuman scale so red and white Mercedes bus, with a cheerful and typical of the dreams of Herr Hitler. The Polish most competent driver. people were not to be the recipients of all this; the As we drove off towards Warsaw along broad, tree new city was for the expanding Nazi empire and its

NMA May -June, July-At/gust 1976 11 2

The death and re·birth of Warsaw. Figures 1, 3 and 4 were taken in 1944 shortly after the Polish capi­ tal was freed of the Nazi horde. Figures 2 and 5 are recent photo­ graphs of reconstructed Old Town. It is easy to see the intensity of the destruction and subsequent zeal of the reconstruction.

...... ~.... 3 4 5 1IE!l~~::::'-"'-:::;;'ijillll!l!ll~ citi zens of pure Aryan blood. But the real destruction cen tury appears to be a pe riod which they seem quite of th e city follow ed the heroic but disastrous Warsaw willing, no, even anxious to strip off, to wipe out, to Up risings, the first in the spring of 1943, a seco nd forget entirely. To be sure, in the rise of a new and from August 1st to October 2nd , 1944. Hitl er's well intensive national pride, there might well be a ten­ renowned violent temper led to the order to obliter­ dency to reflect eras of grea test na tiona l acc omplish­ ate Warsaw. A systematic dynamiting program began . ment, those periods when, ind eed , Poland was a Prewar Warsaw began to disappear into piles of ston e strong and independent country. During the entire and brick rubble. Although 85% of the city was de­ nin eteenth century, Poland was not a nation at all, stroyed, man y building walls remained standing, per­ hut a partitioned vassa lage divided between Cerm any, hap s held in place by the depth of rubble piling up Austria, and Russia. For over 120 yea rs Poland was about their base. ( Figures 1-5, page 12 ) deprived of political autono my. It was not until afte r Previously bombed and set afire, the Royal Palace the defeat of Cerm any and Austria in WW I ( 1918) was not dynamited into obli vion; luck and time spa red that Poland was re-constituted as a nation. Both Hit­ the structure. It takes time, lots of it, to destroy a city. ler and Stalin, however, decided to stifle thi s re­ The first floor walls of the Palace had been drilled emergence; the September, 1939 invas ion by th e Ger­ for th e placement of dynamite, but then time ran out man armies, and the later "protec tive" occupancy of for th e Germ ans. The Russian Army pressed onward the eastern provinces by the Russian Red Army, again to th e edges of Warsaw; the Gennans retreated leav­ erased the Polish nation. Hitl er's arm y soon attacked ing parts of the brick walls of the Royal Pala ce Mother Russia and effected the German occupancy sca rred and burnt, but standing . Wh en the Russian of the entire Polish state. For five long, bitter, de­ Army entered central Warsaw, it was em pty of life, struc tive yea rs, Poland languished under an oppres­ deep in rubble, a monumen t to Adolph Hitler. sor's hand. Although the restorat ion, conservation and recon­ Today Warsaw is a city of over 1,200,000 people. struction of cities and palaces of 10th to 18th cen tury We we re told that Warsaw will increase in size only Poland , when th e nation was unde r control of a as and wh en new housing is completed. Th ey do not feudal, often oppressive aristocracy, may seem incon­ want to stop its growth because, as we were told, sistent with the present communist ideology, restore "so many people want to come and live here." Much and rebuild they did and are still doing. As in Russia, of 17th and 18th century Warsaw has been recon­ where, for example, Lenin grad and its elaborate pal ­ structed , whil e a new open-spaced Warsaw spreads aces were so extensively rebuilt after WW II "as a gift out around this central historic core. Mod ern Warsaw to the Russian peopl e," so here in Poland the recon­ is sometimes pleasantly planned ; some of the highrise struc ted h eart~of Old Warsaw with its mark et square housing don e, say ten years ago, appea rs to have been and nearby royal palace become monuments to the designed for humans. One such develop ment within suffering of a subjugated, but never defeated peopl e. close walking distance from our hotel was attractively Th e palaces of th e ruling aristocracy -are now open landscap ed and clustered ; it contained shops in the to all the peopl e to visit and to enjoy. Further, these first floor facin g the trafficked stree t and qui et inn er palaces become a visual lesson in the failure of th ese plazas for walking or sitting. But the newer and cur­ cava lier rulers to bring equality and self-sufficiency rent, primarily prefab , apartment slabs are something to the vast population of common folk, the workers in else. The press of housing needs has tak en humanity the city, or the peasant fanners in the country. The out of design consideration and five-story tcalk-up grea t Peterhof palace out side of Leningrad speaks horizontal slabs intermingle with multi-story mono­ eloquently of th e separateness of the rulers and the liths in hastily built confusion. These same horizontal ruled . I suspect that the common citizenry in Poland and/or vertical domino buildings can be seen in every was not quite as tyrannized as was the Russian peas­ urban center from Gdansk in the north to Cracow in ant under the Romanoff tsars, but to a Communist the south. This regimental, overly standardized hous­ regime the story that they must have been is politic­ ing with its small rooms and colorl ess, utterly drab ally useful. The opulence of the restored palaces gives corridors and stairwells could be one of th e reasons testimony to the riches of the few, while the several why all Poles you see in the streets and in shops- all Skansens ( village museums ) give reality to th e of which are crowded with people during shopping humble surroundings of the many. hours-are unsmiling, dower. To be sure, the Polish We walked about reconstructed Warsaw in the people are far better ' and more colorfully dressed company of the Chi ef Town Planner for Warsaw. He than their cousins to the east. showed us photographs of Warsaw before WW II and From th e rubble of Warsaw and the country-wide immediat ely after the re-occupation of the city by sufferings of a long and bitter war, has arisen a new Polish di visions fighting with the ad vancing Russian Poland, with a communist society and a dedication armies in 1945. to historic preservation of imm ense zeal. As one mem­ Further details of the rebuilding of Warsaw were ber of our group expressed it: "T he Poles are so int er­ given by Professor Stanislaw Lorentz, Director of the ested in restoration that they ha ve almost deified it." National Museum. ( More about this energetic and Deifying the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and heroic octogenarian later. ) He explained the town, its the Baroque periods of their history, yes, but the 19th plan, its history, its reconstruction. An early decision

NMA May·June, July·A ugust 1976 13 6 7

In Figure 6 the Royal Palace begins to take on the grandeur of its past although without the fin­ al stucco coating. (See the model in figure 11, below. ) The only fu ll height remnant of the orig­ inal palace wall which survived the war can be seen in figure 7; it is that 20 foot wide section to the left with the pediment. Just off Old Town Square is a shop devoted almost exclusively to the selling of postcards, which are most handsomely displayed, fig­ ure 8. Figure 9 is Old Town Market Square with a flower and fru it stall in the square . Figure 10 shows a street in the New Town (Nowe Miastro) sec­ tion; note the amusing perspec­ tive painting on the facade of the building in the foreground.

10 11 was made by the Polish government to retain Warsaw People's Council (C ity Hall ) and the Museum of the as the nation's capit al and to begin re-construction. All Polish Revolutionary Movement. (Figure 16) These buildings which were standing prior to WW II and reconstructed buildings were originally a group of which dated from the middle of the 18th century or palaces built in 1824-28; the museum structure housed earlier were to be rebuilt, other later (up to WW II ) the Polish Stock Exchange prior to WW II. buildings which had been designed by prominent Just to the north of City Hall an entirely new architects would also be rebuilt. The buildings one area is composed of horizontal slabs of apartments sees in and about Market Square have their design rath er widely spaced and separated with much grass origins in the 17th and early 18th centuries. and young trees. The area app ears to be austere and Professor Lorentz added that other than the desire regimental in spite of the openness; perhaps time for a national rebirth, another reason for reconstruc­ will give the trees enough growth to soften the rigid­ tion on such an extensive scale was the feeling of ness. This section was the infamous Warsaw Ghetto many architects and historians, such as himself, that of WW II. Into this area of just 2 Y:\ square miles were a completely new large city of 1,500,000 people would herded 500,000 Polish Jews, gathered from all over be "monotonous" in spite of the capable work of the Poland. Disease, starvation and , eventually, the relief architects and plann ers-"It would be gruesome." of death were the lot of these people und er the whip We did in fact see areas which had been planned and of the German masters. The Warsaw City Planner built in the 1950's, and they truly are "gruesome." reported that 10 to 11 people were crowded into each As an example, several blocks along Marszalkowska room, while our bus guide reported up to 20 persons Street and around Constitution Square are liner! per room! Surrounding walls were built to contain by six or seven story apartment buildings set flush these ravaged people. A monument erected in 1948 along broad sidewalks with stores in the first floors. on the site of the first clash between the Ghetto de­ Although trees do line the streets and do soften fenders and the Nazi troops in 1943 is built from stone the look a bit, the impression is one of oppressive originally prepared by the German occupiers as a Stalinesque architecture greyed by city air. This was monument to Adolph Hitler. the first large scale new town development after WW It did seem to me that there was more variety in II. Nearby stands the Palace of Culture and Science. size, form and layout of apartment complexes than I (Figure 19) A gift of the Soviet Union, this structure recall from my trip to the U. S. S. R. in 1969. And stands 234 meters (767.71 feet) high, has 3,288 rooms, much of what we saw is certainly no worse than what four theaters, four cinemas, the Museum of Technol­ we too often have built in the United States for our ogy, a 3,000 seat Congress Hall, and finally, a swim­ low and middle income families. ming pool. The architecture is pure Stalinesque; it is, In one area along our bus tour we noticed some in fact, another of those wedding cake buildings with apartment blocks built on grass covered mounds, which Moscow is so blessed. The Polish plann ers and some four to six feet above the surrounding level. architects we met expressed the wish that Stalin had These mounds are rubble from the destruction of not been so generous; "nobody can stand to look at Warsaw which was not removed but left and used as it, but it is very useful." Thus , historic restoration bases for new construction. arguments were emphasized to prevent the wholesale In one apartment building we noticed that a use of Stalinistic city planning and architecture with Roman Catholic chapel had been included. We were which so much of Moscow and East Berlin have been told that this was occasionally done and, as in the burdened. one we saw, it might include a small convent for a Medieval Warsaw crowned a low hill overlooking few nuns. However, "there is some quarrel between the Vistula river and was surrounded by brick de­ the government and the Church about building fense walls dating from the 14th to 16th centuries. (churches) in new quarters." As Warsaw grew in the 15th century a new town A most interesting revelation to us was the infor­ (Nowe Miasto ) grew up immediately outside the mation that some 80 to 90% of the new apartment walls to the north along the river. It is in these two construction in Warsaw and throughout Poland is areas that the reconstruction program has centered. funded by workers unions, or other co-ops, and that Along the main street south from Castle Square individual apartments are sold to the family. The (Plac Zamkowy) as well as along Krakowskie Przed­ condominium has found its way into the Communist miescie for several blocks buildings of the late 18th ideology. "It becomes more and more popular (to and early 19th centuries have been reconstructed. buy your own apartment ) as people get more money." This includes the Europejski and Bristol Hotels and Much of Warsaw, including the City Hall and the the Staszic palace ( 1820-1823); a group of historic , infamous Ghetto area, were seen through our bus 17th and 18th century, buildings which house the window on a tour of the city. And as we rode about University and the 1682-1757 Holy Cross Church. I noticed many, many small shops selling flowers and Nearby is the massive structure which houses the plants. The day was overcast , very gray, rainy. On Grand Opera and Ballet theater, its Neo-Classical the whole, the city, even with the many trees and facade ( 1825-1835) rebuilt, but all behind new and open parks, gives an impression of a heavy bureauc­ much larger than the original. In an area surrounded racy overlying all decisions and plans. How much by new construction are the offices of the Warsaw citizen input can there be?

NMA May-June, July·August 1976 15 The new Centrum shopping and office complex our group who were able to discuss restoration tech­ across the city's main thoroughfare, Marszalkowska, niqu es with the museum staff. A lecture on the tech­ from the wedding cake architecture of the Palace of nique of the removal and shipping to Poland of the Culture and Science is crisply contemporary. Here mural paintings from the Middl e Eastern archaelogi­ three large stores stretch along two blocks of the cal site of Faras was interesting-but I was there to street. The three are identical in architecture and size; learn about Poland. one has men's clothing, one women's, and the third A tour of the reconstructed Royal Palace was led has the other things needed for the home-appli­ by Professor Lorentz. It was a typical Octob er day ances, stacks of cheap suitcases and housewares. for Poland-s-cold, dark, rainy. But Professor Lorentz's Taken as a whole they are the leadin g department youthful exuberant energy overcame such minor ob­ store for Warsaw. During shopping hours these stores stacles as inclement Polish weather. The professor led - as well as the hundreds of little shops which line us through the palace which is structurally completed Warsaw streets-are crowded with shoppers. While and roofed. With the exception of one large room, the far better and more colorfully dressed than their former library, which has been completed except for neighbors across the Soviet border to the east, they proper library furnishings and book cases, the inte­ are unsmiling, dour, pushy; this seemed to be true riors are yet totally unfinished. The library now in all of Poland that we visited. houses some of the furniture and art saved from the Except for these three large Centrum stores, shop­ early building including the Royal Throne. At one ping is done in the small to tiny shops which line end of this long imposing room we sat to hear Pro­ streets throughout downtown Warsaw. Although the fessor Lorentz tell the story of the castle, its destru c­ majority are government owned, there exist many pri­ tion under orders from Adolph Hitler and its rebuild­ vately owned shops in Warsaw and throughout Po­ ing under the direction of Lorentz. (Figure 35, page land. "State owned enterprises and industries cannot 30) do everything-yet." However, the trend is to in­ The oldest part of the palace dates to the first half crease the state ownership in all "except services." of the 15th century. This building of brick housed the The merchandise appears plentiful and varied; the court of the Duke of Mazavia. In the first half of the quality is good, as compared with the Soviet Union 16th century the Duchy of Mazavia was incorporated during my 1969 visit when we saw far less variety into the Polish nation whose capital was moved to and a generally poor quality. As stated earlier, shops Cracow. In 1595 Sigismund III moved his court to are crowded and people are buying. Cepelia shops, Warsaw which has been the capital of Poland ever state run handicraft shops, are everywhere and they since. Reflecting its greater importance as the head­ range from the large two-story, well stocked branch quarters of a nation , the Royal Castle was expanded in the Centrum area to the small, more specia lized and remodeled over the centuries until the disappear­ shops along reconstructed Krakowskie Przedmiescie, ance of the Polish nation in the late 18th century. in Old Town Market Square, and in the hotels. As "Poland entered the 19th century, so important some readers may know there is a Cepelia shop in for the development of modern Europe, as a coun­ New York and another in San Francisco. These two try deprived of independ ence, its territories di­ shops have the better rugs and handicrafts; so, gen­ vided among the three partitioning countries. The erally speaking, buy your Polish souvenirs and crafts Castle's fate once more became a mirror of the from these two stores rather than expecting to find country's history. During the short period of the them in Poland.(Incidentally, the Cepelia shops in Prussian rule Warsaw became a lifeless town. A Cracow and Torun have the finest craft works I saw few Prussian officers were located in the Castle. in Poland. ) several interiors were let out and others were Facing one of the three main streets which bridge turn ed into billiard rooms. the Vistula river in central Warsaw is the National "In his Memoirs of Seglas Fryderyk Skarbek Museum. It is a rather grim building built between thus describes the Castle's state in 1806, when the two world wars, a stone faced monument, almost Napoleon's army entered Warsaw: 'The foremost, Albert Speer Germanic in style. One is grateful that and at the same time, the saddest building of War­ this building survived the war because of its valuable saw is in every respect the Castle, the old seat of art collection, but one is less thankful that it survived Polish kings and Seyms in which every glance with no more than an occasional flying bomb frag­ falls on grim walls or on monuments of the past ment or bullet chip from its grey stone facing. Three ... When you enter the Castle's court, when of our seminar sessions were held in this museum. Of crossing it you hear your own footsteps echoed particular interest to me were the talks by Professor by the walls of the square building, when you fail Stanislaw Lorentz on the "Destruction and Recon­ to meet a single living creature where thousands struction of Warsaw" and the visit to the exhibit on of courtiers once crowded, you start to ponder the conservation of museum art and objects. For our over the transience of human greatness and realize visit the exhibit was expanded to include actual that you have entered a political grave .. .' demonstrations, with conservators working on paint­ "When Napoleon took up his quarters in the ings, art objects, and weavings. These demonstrations Castle it was necessary to bring pieces of furni­ were of especial interest to the art conservators in ture from other Warsaw palaces in order to fur-

16 NMA May-June, July-August 1976 nish the Emperor's roomsI tection of all "cultural property" in Warsaw. On the "During the years of the Congress Kingdom 17th of September the palace was bombed and set (1815-1830) Warsaw went through a period of afire. The professor began the remova l of palace rapid modernization putting its streets and squares treasures which he stored in the basement of the in order. It was also at that time that a few houses ational Museum. He told us that many people were surrounding the Castl e, including the Cracow killed by the bombings as they rushed to save all that gat e, which obscured the Castle's view from Kra­ could be carried from the palace. However, after the kowskie Przedmi escie street, were pull ed down. occupation, the Gestapo, aided by German art ex­ In this way the Castle Square was formed much perts looted the ation al Museum and its basements as we know it today. of the finest pieces; these were packed and sent to "At the time of the Novemb er Insurrection of Germany. While some items have been recovered, 1830 the Castle again became the heart of Poland . much is still lost. The Germans were not interested It was there that'the ' Seym of the Kingdom passed in paintings of Polish kings nor in Polish antiques; the decision to depose Nicolaus I from the Polish these items remain ed safely stored in their basement throne. shelters. "Banners won during the victorious battles of Professor Lorentz mana ged to remain as Director Wawer and Debe Wielkie were triumphantly car­ of the National Museum during the German occupa­ ried into the Castle. tion! A Nazi sympathizer? Not at all! Rather, he was "But these were the last victorious battles of secretly serving as Vice-Minister for Culture in the the Insurrection. Its end came when the Russian Polish Underground governm ent. Further, as we wer e army headed by Paskiewicz captured Warsaw. told by the professor's associates, he quietly and sys­ The Tsar's Field Marshal issued orders to plunder tematically "looted" the Royal Palace. Although dam­ and devastate the Castle. Even marbl es were torn aged by the fire, begun during the Septemb er 17th, off the walls and handed over to the newly built 1939, bombing, the palace remained in fair condi ­ Orthodox churches. Bacciarelli's ceiling painting tion. However, following the occupation a campaign was painted over. The Castle's collections were for the total destruction of the Palac e was under­ removed to St. Petersburg, its interiors turned into taken, "the magnificent neo-classical wainscots . .. office rooms and the Royal Library into the Cos­ were smashed with picks and axes, marble mantle­ sack quarters. pieces pulled awa y, parquetry tom off .. ." and car­ "In 1861, on the eve of the second national up­ ried away. But, the Poles, und er the lead ership of rising, a great demonstration of the people of War­ Professor Lorentz, conducted an equally vigorous saw took place in front of the Castle during which counter-campaign designed to save and to hide away the Tsar's soldiers fired into the crowd killing five for the future the nation 's cultural treasures. In this persons. Their funeral turned into a huge patriotic operation he was assisted by "professors, conserva­ demonstration, the news of which spread through­ tors, museum custodians, craftsmen as well as rank out Poland crossing the partitioning borders. and file employees of the National Museum, includ­ "On April 8th of the same year the Castl e wit­ ing doorkeepers. About four thousand fragments of nessed anot her tragedy. Over 100 demon stra tors, sculptures and stonework were excavated from under mostly workers and craftsmen , were killed in a the ruins ... The major part of the Castle's furnis h­ scrambling fight against Russian soldiers. ings have been saved ... We have in our hands 300 "Till the outbreak of World War I the devas­ pain tings coming from the Castle, including all the tat ed and degraded Castle housing Tsarist offices Bucciarelli and Canaletto canvases, over 60 bronze and soldiers' quarters was nonetheless conside red and marble sculptures, over a dozen 18th-century fire­ by all the Poles as a cherished symbol of the coun­ places, chapel columns , several dozen doors . . :''.! try's past history. Fathers hoped their sons would In December, 1944, the palace was dynamited by live to see the Polish flag hoisted on the Castle's German engineers. But not compl etely; they wer e tower."! unable to compl ete their task. Some of the holes Following World War I the Royal Palace was re­ drilled into the walls for the placement of dynamite stored. Furniture, paintings, bron zes, tapestries and can still be seen in the lower level in the southwest sculptures taken away by the Tsars of Russia were come r of the building. It is in this comer that th e returned to the palace, and interiors began to regain only portion of the full wall including the roof pedi­ their former beauty and luster. At that time the ment remained, a section of only some 30 or 40 feet Castle was the residence of the President and the in width!(Figure 7 ) seat of Parliament. In addition, some 20 rooms were Immediately after the retreat of the German ar­ open to the public. mies, plann ing for the restoration began with the col­ On September 1st, 1939 Poland was attacked by lecting and cataloging of fragments of portals, scraps the Germ an army. By Sept emb er 6th Warsaw was of building sculpture, and stonework. Th e actual surrounded ; until its occup ation by the Germans at work of reconstruction did not begin until 1971 when the end of Septemb er "Fortress Warsaw" fought on. Edward Gierek became First Secretary of the Central Professor Lorentz, who was even then Director of the Committee of the Polish United Workers Party (the National Museum, was placed in charge of the pro- Communist Party ). Since then reconstruction has

NMA May·June, July·August 1976 17 12

13 Figure 12 was taken from my room in the Hotel Europe;ski. You are looking towards Royal Palace Square, which is just out of sight behind the trees and the high pitched roof church in the background. All that you see is reconstructed except, perhaps, for the aged stained facade of the Baroque church in the center. As the ages of time and change were stripped from the bombed and ravaged Royal Palace. early Gothic window frames were revealed under the essentially Renais­ sance style palace, figure 13. And below is Ella, our leader, arranger, companion.

14 continued in earnest and is expected to be com­ mund III. Originally erected in 1644, this is Warsaw's pleted before 1978. Completion of the palace will oldest monument. In August, 1944, the column was terminate the rebuilding of Warsaw. dynamited. The statue fell to the ground, but es­ According to Professor Lorentz, the entire work caped major damage. Sigismund III stands again on of restoring the palace is being undertaken by private a replica column high above Castle Square. All of the donations of money and labor. The cost is expected 30 to 40 monuments scattered about Warsaw were to be some 550 million zoloties, of which 400 million toppled or destroyed. Of the two that were recover­ has already been collected. "The rest is no problem able from the rubble, Sigismund III is one; the other for us," he says with a shrug of complete confidence. is a statue of Christ bearing a cross which has been The money has come from throughout Poland and reset before the rebuilt Baroque Church of the Holy from people of Polish extraction living in the U. S. Cross on Krakowskie Przedmiescie. and elsewhere. Next to a large glass-encased model A favorite Warsaw monument was the one to the of the place in the center of Castle Square is a dona­ world renowned pianist, Frederic Chopin. Originally tion box filled with coins and paper money not only erected in 1926, this bronze statue was set upon a from Poland but many other nations as well; I no­ white granite base, but the metal figure was taken to ticed a few dollar bills. We were told by the Warsaw Gennany for scrap. Professor Lorentz had a small Town Planners that all major reconstruction projects model of it in his apartment; from this model a new as well as new construction proposals have similar, full-sized replica was made and retnrned to its uri­ elaborate scale models prepared for public display ginal site in Lazienki Park. The Iarge .equestrian and comment. I wonder; we saw no others. Historic statue of Prince Josef Poniatowski was totally de­ preservation or reconstruction project displays include stroyed. Originally cast by a Danish sculptor in 1815,3 donation boxes into which, he said, "little children an exact plaster copy was in Denmark and, as a gift have a habit of dropping candy." to Warsaw from the city of Copenhagen, a new cast­ Professor Lorentz led us through the palace show­ ing was made and sent to Poland. ing us the work in progress, and through the grounds From Castle Square a short walk along Swieto­ facing the river, which are littered with stone frag­ janska Street takes one to Old Town Market Square. ments recovered from the palace rubble. Here also Here you are in the heart of reconstructed Warsaw. are the temporary buildings and shelters where the Although begun in Medieval times, and undergoing restorers work, putting together the massive stone constant change, remodeling, and additions through carvings which will once again adorn the walls and the 19th century and into the early 20th century, what roof pediments. Clay models are made using old surrounds the visitor is a 17th and 18th century look photographs and the fragments which remain. The with some details of earlier centuries showing clay is cast in plaster of paris which is then given to through. Following the destruction of old Warsaw, the stone cutters for final execution. The original standing walls and deep rubble were all that was left. fragments will be integrated into the final sculpture. But an interesting thing happened; the bigger the "What is authentic will be seen as authentic; What explosion the higher the rubble. Thus much of the is new will be seen as new. We will not paint or finish first floor in all of the buildings remained and, in to match the old. Ten years of patina will mellow it fact, as the rubble was cleared away fragments of all."2 Professor Lorentz went on to say that he felt the earliest architecture were exposed for the first that because so little of the structure and its embel­ time in hundreds of years. As a result the recon­ lishments were saved that it is important to put back structed buildings retain, here and there, pieces of in its original place any and all bits and pieces of Gothic detail surrounded by an overall Renaissance these fragments. It is "respect for the past;" it is, at facade. In the facade of the Krikodyl coffee house least, "partly authentic/" two superimposed Gothic arches were discovered and We viewed the construction of new marblized fonn the entrance doorway into this most pleasant columns for the palace. Poland did not have a source coffee house. According to the chief city planner, for the natural marble so originally they simulated this area became a run-down undesirable area "marble" columns for use throughout the palace. The prior to World War II. As a result of the recon­ restoration of the interiors will need all new columns; struction it is now "the desirable place" to live, "a they are manufacturing the simulated marble in the very sophisticated" district. This most "desirable" same manner as in the past. A center wood post is section is being set aside for the elite class in a class­ wrapped in a straw-like grass and layers of plaster less society: artists, architects, poets and writers. We are built up to the desired diameter and taper. The were shown on detailed city maps how the early open final layers are a mixture of plaster and coloring space inside the blocks of Medieval through 18th which, when hand polished and finished, cannot be century buildings had been filled in with later (usu­ distinguished from the genuine marble that it repre­ ally 19th century) sheds and shacks. These have all sents. It may be fake, but it is an historic and ef­ been eliminated in the reconstruction. These newly fective method. A method very useful to monarchs opened spaces were left open and developed into who felt a need to be impressive, but not expensivel parks and playgrounds, adding much to the livability Standing high on its granite pedestal in front of of the Old Town blocks. the Royal Palace is the bronze statue to King Sigis- Much of Old Warsaw had been fully documented

NMA May-June, July-August 1976 19 15 From Stare Miastro (Old Town ) th rough the Barbican into Nowe Miastro (New Town ) . with drawings and photographs in the years between tion of which have been excavated and reconstructed. the wars, and this proved invaluable for the recon­ (Figure 15 ) Nowe Miasto is an area of early ex­ struction. However, some liberties seem to have been pansion of Warsaw in the 15th century. This area taken here and there with both good and bad results. has also been reconstru cted to the 17th and 18th Katedra Sw. Jana (St. John's Cathedral ) on Swieto­ century period, with again a design liberty or two. janska Street was a brick Gothic church. Over the (Figure 10) centuries it had been extended and remodeled. Dur­ Streets out from Nowe Miasto merge into mod­ ing the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 some 1,000 Poles em Warsaw. Generally this merger is quite success­ barricaded themselves inside, but all were killed as ful. When frankly new housing structures abut those German tanks entered the church. Here, as through­ of the reconstruction period in a single street facade, out Old Warsaw, early original medieval fabric was the scale and rhythm are compatible. Where high revealed when the rubble was cleared away. In the rise comes close to the lower 17th-18th century scale, reconstruction the early Gothic forms were empha­ a space of open park forms a workable transition. sized and a new design was made in brick for the In addition to the Royal Palace, two other major stepped Gothic style gable. Since no documentation palaces were included in our Warsaw itinerary: the was available as to its original appearance, a new Wilanow and Lazeinki palaces. (Later in the days "suitable" design was selected. Professor Lorentz told spent busing around Poland we would cry out­ us that he thought this design liberty was a bad mis­ "Please, not one more palace. Rather, let us walk take by the restoration architect. In a nearby church, about the farm villages and visit one of your wholly Kosciot Sw. Marcin a (St. Martin's ), was restored as new towns." One of the most important of the latter it had been with a late Baroque facade; the interior was seen, but not experienced : Nowa Huta, near architecture is restored Baroque, but all decoration Cracow, to be discussed later.) and furnishings are frankly and handsomely contem­ Wilanow palace, a branch of the National Mu­ porary. seum, sits in its own large park preserve 10 kilo­ Old Town (Stare Miasto ) was surrounded by meters from the center of Warsaw, across the Vistula brick fortification walls and defense towers, origi­ river towards the east. This was the first actually nally constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries. old building that we visited ; it was not destroyed From Old Town one passes through the 1952-54 re­ during the war. However, it has undergone extensive constructed brick Barbican into New Town (Nowe repairs and restoration. Originally built between 1640 Miasto). The Barbican is a part of the old brick fort­ and 1690, the palace has undergone many changes. ifications which once protected Old Warsaw, a por- Here we were escorted about by its present director,

20 NMA May·June . July·August 1976 Dr. Wojciech Fijalkowski and its chief restorer, our Outside the palace behind the original stone fa­ friend, Professor Stanislaw Lorentz. The palace is a cade of the former stables is the new building for the museum, a visiting dignitary residence ( President National Poster Museum. Here housed in a thor­ Nixon slept there ), its 17th century dining room is a oughly contemporary building is one of the world's concert hall for chamber music, and in the area of the finest and most extensive poster collections gathered former stables is the National Poster Museum. from throughout the world. A fine exhibition of con­ The entire palace has been given a new concrete temporary posters is hung all about the large display slab base with a basement under. Normal tour entry room. But the professor took us further; he opened is through a door to the right of the main entrance drawer after drawer in the storage areas. If time had and directly down into the basement. Here is a dis­ permitted, I think he would have shown us each of play depicting the history of the palace and photo ­ the over 30,000 posters in the collection. Professor graphs explaining the restoration. A small theater is Lorentz is as bubbly and excited about this contempo­ also located here for an introductory talk. From the rary building and its collection as he is about his basement a stairway leads the visitor up into the several and prodi gious restoration projects. palace where the tour begins. Along the walls of one From what we saw in Warsaw I felt that what gallery, remnants of 17th or 18th century frescos had been reconstructed makes for a decent , desirabl e have been uncovered beneath layers of paint. Resto­ place to live and work, but that what was done imme­ ration of these frescos was done only to the extent diately after World War II in the Stalinistic mode of that the original could be exposed. Where years of planning and architecture is grimly bureaucratic, overpainting had destroyed the frescos, these areas stiffly monum ental. To be sure, the reconstructed old were only given tones of muted color to suggest the town is a bit of a fairyland , a blend of Walt Disney original coloring, while on other pan els can be seen and Williamsburg, but, I would rath er have an much of the original fresco picture. No new in-th e­ apartment there than in the stuff that is being built style-of the earlier frescos was attem pted; here it is today. Following an assertive move toward indepen­ most obvious what is original. dence from Mother Russia in the 1960's, the archi­ We passed through the room now used for state tecture and plannin g became more human and varied dinners when VIPs are in town. (N ixon also ate -open planning, frankl y contemporary buildings, here. ) The day we were there, the table was being good landscaping-but still later in the 1960's and set for two distinguished visitors; guests whose de­ early 1970's, in Warsaw and across Poland the plan­ ceased ancestors may also have dined there. Prince ning and architectural projects seem to be done un­ Bernhard of the Netherlands and Princess Alexandria der a heavy pressure of housing need. The baby boom of Great Britain were in town ; they were not, how­ struck Poland as it did the rest of the western world, ever, staying in Wilanow. The Princess was here to and those babies are now reaching adult age. Th e present a set of antique chairs and sofas to Poland rush to provide housing seems to override good hu­ for use in the Royal Palace. In the new basement mane design. However, members of the Warsaw city under the state banquet room is a most modem and plannin g departm ent did admit that the highrise slabs extensive kitchen. Any hotel in the world would be are bad. They say that they are working now on proud to have such, and Professor Lorentz was most plans and designs for lower "more humane" apart­ proud to conduct us through it. merit complexes. Much of Warsaw city planning We, of course, were shown the VIP bedroom and would make Daniel Burnham and the 1900 "City study where Richard Nixon spent his nights duri ng Beautiful" movement in the V . S. A. most happy, with his Warsaw visit. A room more plush than any in the those many wide, tree lined boulevard s flanked by White House, I assure you. While the room is an­ rows of controlled cornice-line buildings. tiqu e in furniture and decoration, the bathroom­ Our Warsaw headquarters, the Hotel Europejski, through a semi-concealed door set in the vertical was comfortable and clean, and located within a short striped wallpaper-is thoroughly and smartly con­ walk to Castle Square along reconstructed Krakow­ temporary. Its tight, short entry hall is paneled in skie Przedmiescie. My room, #364, faced this new teak; the bathroom is grey slate ' and chrome. As street-a busy, noisy thoroughfare, but not unpl eas­ Professor Lorentz said, "What is new should look antly so. (Figures 12, 17 ) Facing my room from new, what is antique should look antique!" This across the street was the older Bristol Hotel. The statement appea rs to conflict with the rational for Bristol seems to have been much less damaged than Warsaw reconstruction. (Figures 31-33) the Europejski. The old style facade and the interiors The second floor of the palace is restored as a of the Euro pesjski were obviously new, while the palace museum, while the attic over the two out­ Bristol's facades appear to carry the city grime of stretched wings of the V-shaped building have been greater age. Further, the steel caged elevator rising made into paintin g galleries. And here Professor openly through the surrounding staircase was too Lorentz and his staff made imaginative use of these rickety and ancient looking to have been a postwar attic spaces; they tucked four small guest rooms installation. Of the two, I would suggest staying in und er the eaves, each with private bath. We won­ the Europejski, but go after dinner to the second dered if Haldeman and Erlichman were numbered floor nightclub in the Bristol where local youths and among the famous (?) who have slept in these rooms. tourists enjoy lively dancing, music and drinks. 0

ljMA May-June, July-August 1976 21 16 17

Figure 16 shows the Warsaw City Hall, which is in reconstructed 1824-28 pal· aces. The low domed building on the end of the block to the left is the Museum of the Polish Revolutionary Movement. In former days it was the Stock Exchange. Figure 17 is the Bris· tol Hotel across the street from the Europejski Hotel. Old world elegance on the exterior, but rather seedy on the interior; the Bristol does have a lively nirlhtclub for after dinner fun. These Warsaw high-rise apartment buildings are far better looking than the ones we saw under construction or recently completed, figure 18. A gift of Stalin. the Palace of Culture and Science (iiaure 19) reminds th e Poles of their closeness to mother Russia. I am not entirely sure that they really like to be so close. Below is a crafts­ man working on a porti on of a Royal Palace facade embellishment.

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