EN
The article deals with the development of architectural interests in the circle of the Warsaw (Royal) Society of Friends of Learning, 1800–1832. The author takes into account the topics of lectures, publications and other types of scientific initiatives of the members from their active period in the Society but also its new member recruitment policy. The case of architectural interests in the Society gives us an opportunity to raise the question of the significance of architecture at the time (in the eyes of the intellectual elite sanctioned by authorities) as a factor of civilization progress, a role that the Society’s spreading of knowledge was meant to serve. Architecture was a field of interest throughout its entire existence. Initially, during the Prussian occupation and the Duchy of Warsaw, this interest focused on promoting the Greco-Roman ideal, or higher architecture, in line the paradigm of classical order. In the period of the Kingdom of Poland, however, we note a clear shift toward lower architecture and the affirmation of a new way of thinking about construction, breaking away from the classical tradition (which is best expressed by the choice of Karol Podczaszyński, a Durandist, as a member).