Architecture of Brest-On-The-Bug in the Second Polish Republic
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ARCHITECTURE OF BREST-ON-THE-BUG IN THE SECOND POLISH REPUBLIC MICHA PSZCZÓ KOWSKI Architecture of the Second Polish Republic has In the period of the First Polish Republic, Brest been widely exploring for some years. Yet, when it was a city of great importance due to its central comes to the Borderland cities, there is still much to location. The signi [ cance was huge as the city was discover. Even if we take into account only voivode- situated on the border of Polish, Lithuanian and ship cities, it is no more than Lvov that is relatively Ruthenian lands (Fig. 1). In 1569, as a result of well portrayed 1; to some extent also Vilnius 2 and new administrative division pursuant to the Union Stanyslaviv 3. Other voivodeship cities, not to men- of Lublin, strong in terms of politics and culture tion district towns, have not been the subject of Brest became the capital of the Brest-Lithuanian interest of Polish architecture historians. This is the voivodeship and perfomed this function till the par- consequence of a small number of source materials. titions. Unfortunately, no trace of this ancient past In the most in \ uential interwar architectural bulle- has been left. In 1831, according to the decision tin ‘Architektura i Budownictwo’ (‘Architecture and of Russian authorities, the city was almost com- Construction’) Borderland architecture appeared pletely destroyed and one of the largest fortresses very rarely. In the scope of interest of the maga- in the world appeared in its place. A few kilome- zine were mainly Warsaw and the centre of Poland. ters north-east from the fortress a new city ‘look- When in 1935 an issue of ‘AiB’ was dedicated to ing like a huge village’ 5 with a grid plan rose up ‘110 reproductions of different buildings (…) which (Fig. 2). The following years brought no change may present progress in Polish contemporary archi- for better. On the contrary, the construction sites in tecture’ 4 only two pictures showed buildings from Brest became stagnant because, due to the fortress, the Borderlands: post of [ ce in Równe and health- the authorities allowed only wooden buildings. The care fund in Czortków. The latter one was wrongly brick ones were allowed exlusively in special cases labeled as public insurance company in Bielsk. and they had to be adjusted to certain height 6. After Yet, there is no doubt that in Borderland cities the [ re in 1901 7 more brick buildings appeared, yet there appeared a number of buildings characterized these were not the monumental or prestigious ones. with high architectural quality. Thus, they deserve Majority of the buildings from the [ rst decades of being placed in the history of Polish architecture. the 20 th century was quite small (two \ oors) and Brest is one of them. An average inhabitant of modest. They were based on simpli [ ed forms of Poland or Belarus associates the city primarily with the Russian Revival style (Fig. 3). World War I was the fortress that was built by the Russians during ‘the nail in the cof [ n’ for the city. As the result the partitions. However, the most rapid growth of of it 2,500 out of 3,670 houses were destroyed. It Brest was seen in the interwar period, when the constitued almost 70 per cent of a total number of city became the voivodeship seat. The result of this houses in Brest 8. growth was the largest in Belarus number of exam- On the 9 th of February 1919 9, Polish troops ples of interwar Polish architecture. entered the city. This meant the end of the partitions 1 R. Ciel =tkowska, Architektura i urbanistyka Lwowa II Rze- 4 Od Redakcji , „Architektura i Budownictwo”, XI, 1935, no 5, czypospolitej , Zblewo 1998. p. 1. 2 E. Ma achowicz, Wilno. Dzieje – architektura – cmentarze , 5 W. Mondalski, Brze V4 Podlaski. Zarys geogra [ czno-histo- Wroc aw 1996; E. Ma achowicz, Architektura dwudziestole- ryczny , Turek 1929, p. 17. cia mi Bdzywojennego w Wilnie , in: Architektura i urbanistyka 6 Sownik geogra [ czny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów w Polsce w latach 1918–1978 , ed. W. Puget, Warszawa 1989, sowia Lskich , ed. F. Sulimierski, B. Chlebowski, W. Walewski, pp. 121-141; J. Poklewski, Polskie bycie artystyczne w mi Bdzy- Warszawa 1880-1914, vol. I, p. 402. wojennym Wilnie , Toru L 1994. 7 W. Mondalski, op. cit., p. 19. 3 M. Pszczó kowski, Architektura Stanis awowa w latach II 8 H. Dudek, Odbudowa kraju , in: Dziesi Bciolecie Polski Odro- Rzeczypospolitej , in: Stan bada L nad wielokulturowym dziedzic- dzonej 1918–1928 , ed. M. D =browski, Kraków 1929, p. 424. twem dawnej Rzeczypospolitej , ed. W. Walczak, K. opatecki, 9 W. Mondalski, op. cit., p. 96. vol. IV, Bia ystok 2013, pp. 383-416. 26 period and the beginning of a brand new era in the beginning. Consequently, the attempt of moving the history of Brest. In the city there appeared a num- capital to Pinsk was abandoned. ber of state and municipal institutions, county of [ ce Brest, since 1923 called Brest-on-the-Bug (for- and city council. The war with the Soviet Union did merly Brest-Litovsk), became the seat of numerous not omit Brest. Nevertheless, the loss was not sig- voivodeship and district institutions: Voivodeship ni [ cant. On the 1 st of August 1920 the Bolsheviks Of [ ce, Voivodeship State Police Headquarter, conquered the city, yet no major damage was made. County of Brest, Regional Council of the Dis- After one month Brest came again under the author- trict, Tax Of [ ce, School Inspectorate, Polesie Dis- ity of the Polish state 10 . trict School Board, Regional Chamber of Control, After establishing the territory of Poland the Waterways Of [ ce, Designs of Land Improvement lands situated in the eastern regions of the country Company in Polesie, Employment Service Of [ ce, were dividied into six voivodeships: Vilnius, Now- District Land Of [ ce and the local department of ogródek, Polesie, Volhynia, Tarnopol and Stanis- District Court in Pinsk. Brest Fortress became the lawow one. The largest (42 280 km 2) and the most seat of the Polish Army garrison and Command centrally located area of Polesie by the decision Corps District No. 9, one of the Ten Commands from the19th of February 1921 became the Polesie Corps District (territorial authority of the Ministry Voivodeship whose capital city was Pinsk. This was of Military Affairs). In 1935 population in Brest quite obvious as Pinsk was at that time the largest amounted to 50,282 people, including 22,250 Polish one in Polesie. Moreover, it was signi [ cantly bigger citizens. 53 per cent of the population was Jewish 13 . than the other cities in the area and located in the The new situation contributed to the urban and heart of Polesie Voivodeship. However, due to the architectural development of Brest. War dam- fact that in Pinsk there did not exist any building age was the additional motivation to rebuild the monumental enough to become the city hall, the city. Besides, the lands that had been taken by the decision was made that the temporary capital city Russians as well as so-called annexed provinces, was organized in Brest 11 . This decision proved fate- i.e. the eastern provinces, which before 1918 had ful. In August 1921 [ re broke out in Pinsk and Brest belonged to the Russian Empire, in the interwar remained the capital city for good. Establishing the period required a substantial range of investments. capital city in Brest was controversial and doubt- Luck, Brest and Rowne were nothing like Poznan, ful, mainly due to the fact that the city was situated Krakow and Torun. In the cities of the former Prus- on the outskirts of the voivodeship. Furthermore, sian partition 90 per cent of buildings were made it was heavily destroyed after World War I. On the of brick, whereas in the Borderlands relations were top of that, Brest was a city that belonged to Pod- exactly the opposite: 80-90 per cent of buildings lasie, therefore foreign to Polesie region in terms of were wooden. Rarely were they more than one \ oor history. It was said in 1929: ‘Brest has been a part buildings. Moreover, they were often covered with of Polesie Voivodeship as a temporary seat of the thatched roofs. Borderlands cities did not have sew- Voivodeship Of [ ce up till this day, even though in ers, regulated street designs and suf [ cient munici- fact the seat should be in Pinsk’ 12 . The conlusion is pal services. Even large centers were characterized that temporary character of Brest as a capital city rather with a rural structure, e.g. in Luck – the cap- was a fact at least till the end of the 1920s. In the ital of Volhynia Voivodeship – in 1923 there were meantime however, Brest became stable when it only 480 brick buildings while the total number of comes to administration. Also, the number of peo- buildings was 2051 14 . ple got bigger, especially Polish citizens (Fig. 4). In In the [ rst decade of the interwar period rural such situation, transfering the capital back to Pinsk image of Brest and the lack of historical city centre would mean liquidation of all Brest of [ cies, which with ancient buildings (which was the consequence contributed to prosperity, emptying new public of liquidation of the historic city in the 19 th cen- buildings and organizing the capital city from the tury) were striking (Fig. 5). Even though in Brest 10 Kronika powsta L polskich 1794–1944 , Warszawa 1994, 13 M. Marczak, Przewodnik po Polesiu , Brze V4 nad Bugiem p. 360. 1935, p. 54. 11 „Monitor Polski”, III, 1921, no 55, paragraph 97.