Szanowni Państwo!

• Authors: Florjanowicz Paulina

Title variants

EN

Dear Readers

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Dear Readers, Undoubtedly none o f us will deny that the most pleasant part o f the job of a historian, an art historian or an archaeologist is the moment o f direct contact with an authentic witness oj the past, a historic substance constituting a material testimony of bygone times. Particularly thrilling is the possibility* o f discovering something new on our own; hence long studies and extensive inquiries. Readers o f “Ochrona Zabytków " have the opportunity to learn about surprising results o f such research. But conservation means much more than cognition and analysis. It is mainly* a matter of protection and the will to preserve traces o f the past for posterity*. Therefore, it is so important to be able to perceive historic monuments in a wider context o f contemporary reality. Such an analysis o f threats and opportunities is extremely difficult, but necessary in order to preserve this small group o f remains o f ancient centuries. This task is particularly difficult nowadays, when we come up increasingly often with a previously unknown question: “what for?". Since the beginning o f existence o f the Polish school o f conservation, its main representatives have focused on the question: "how? \ How to protect monuments? How to analyse them? How to document them? Today we can do nothing but appreciate their efforts and brilliant achievements. It is also hard to complain that the answer to the question "what for? was not sought in the past. И hat was the purpose of protection, research and documentation? What was the purpose of preserving relics o f the past for posterity? Attempts to answer these questions were not made, because such questions themselves were treated as rhetorical. Unfortunately, this approach is no longer self explanatory today 'What for" is not a rhetorical question any* more. Those who ask it more frequently and loudly expect an answer. I f they do not receive one, they think that there is probably no reasonable justification for spending relatively* little, but nevertheless public money for the preservation o f all o f these relics and antiques. This is why the world o f conservation is changing its image. Educational efforts aimed at increasing social a wareness play* an increasingly important role and are a key part of the effective heritage protection strategy today We should, therefore, appreciate the professionalism of research works earned out With passion for many years that are described in an article about the Venerable Onuphrius Orthodox Church in Posada Rybotycka. At the same time, it is necessary to take notice of dramatic consequences o f the absence o f the subject o f protection in local law, which results in the disappearance o f historical buildings even in Warsaw. Phis problem is described in an article about the area o f the Mokotów Fort. Attention is also paid here to monuments that are relatively y*oung and probably less spectacular, but extremely important from the perspective of source value; they are described in a text about the Old Polish Industrial Region. The above content may* suggest an extremely pessimistic vision of the juture of our heritage, but, on the other hand, things do not seem to look that bad if we can greet our readers again in a new issue o f our magazine. We are absolutely* certain that the group o f persons who treat “what for?" as a rhetorical question is still large. We only' have to double our efforts to provide a satisfactory answer to those who do ask this question. I hope you will enjoy reading our magazine! Paulina Florjanowicz Director of the National Heritage Board of Poland

Keywords

PL

Ochrona Zabytków; konserwatorstwo

• Publisher: Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa
• Journal: Ochrona Zabytków
• Year: 2009
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 3-4

Dates

published

2011

Contributors

author

Florjanowicz Paulina

• Dyrektor Narodowego Instytutu Dziedzictwa

Identifiers

ISSN

0029-8247