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Opieka i ochrona dziedzictwa kulturowego na ziemiach Polski

100%

LIPSKA D.

Ochrona Zabytków

2017

issue Dodatek Specjalny. Dziedzictwo w Polsce.

41-54

From the earliest times, caring for heritage took the form of cultivating memory and cherishing the past through the preservation of its remains. Safeguarding the memory of the glory of the past, of people and of places served the purpose of building and shaping community identities. The way the remains of the past were taken care of depended on the history of the respective community and on the nature of its heritage, specifically on the values and principles of said community. Thus, caring for and, in time, also protecting heritage started to reflect social and sometimes political processes. The earliest unambiguously examples of how memory of the past was cherished in Poland are connected with religious practice, in particular the Catholic faith. From the Middle Ages, reverence and care were shown for both churches and the religious images which adorned them, as well as the tombstones placed in churches to commemorate individuals that a given community considered meritorious. They were preserved by successive generations for many centuries. There are many examples where mostly medieval religious representations were intentionally placed as decoration in churches built in subsequent periods. That great attention was paid to preserving both items such as religious representations, furnishings and utensils, as well as buildings such as churches and monasteries, is proven, in turn, by the detailed instructions which were issued in Poland in the early 17th century. The documents created as a result of the reform of the Catholic Church (after the Council of Trent) were mainly concerned with the way care should be exercised over churches and their furnishings. The values such relics of the past started to be identified with over time were not only religious in nature. This is illustrated, for example, by the Gothic form of the storey which was added to the medieval building of the Old Town Hall in Toruń (17th century), which can be interpreted not only as an intentional aesthetic gesture, but one having a symbolic nature, intended to stress the significance and medieval origins of the seat of the City Council. Another phenomenon which underlies the present- day protection of heritage in Poland was the founding of collections of art and unique objects. A major early example was the collection of tapestries bequeathed to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1571) “pro publico bono” by the last king of the Jagiellonian dynasty, Zygmunt August. In turn, the collection of antiques owned by Stanisław Kostka Potocki and exhibited in the Wilanów Palace since 1805 is considered to be the first such collection which was made available to a wider public. As elsewhere in Europe, the most prominent changes in the perception of tangible heritage in Poland, which had lost its independence for 123 years in 1795, occurred in the 19th century. The emergence of historic revivals, drawing on the experience of earlier styles, combined with the effects of accelerated civilisational development during the industrial revolution, led to a clear change in the attitude of Poles to their past treasures, thus fostering their commitment to protecting them. In the years prior to the reestablishment of Polish statehood in 1918, efforts were made to raise people’s awareness of their national identity by securing the physical reminders of their nation’s past, which was seen as crucial for preserving the memory of a motherland which had ceased to exist in administrative terms. Works of architecture and fine art, along with everyday items associated with persons and events important to Poland, were treated as memorabilia and evidence of the past, which testified to a glorious history of the state, nation and society. Such items formed the core of a collection of Princess Isabella Czartoryska, stored with great reverence in specially built garden pavilions in her Puławy residence: the Temple of the Sibyl (1798-1801), which bore the profound motto: “A Gift from the Past to the Future”, and the so-called Gothic House (1809), where the Princess created a “stone anthology” of mementos from Poland, Lithuania and Ruthenia, consisting of carefully selected artefacts (escutcheons, fragments of royal tombs, cannonballs from battlefields, architectural details of medieval castles, prehistoric finds, etc.). Putting emerging conservation principles into practice in partitioned Poland depended on constraints imposed by individual partitioning powers (Austria, Russia and Prussia). The Polish population living under Russian and Prussian rule was subjected to systematic Russification and Germanisation, and faced serious restrictions on a day-to-day basis. As a consequence, efforts that were taken in the 19th century to protect national heritage were predominantly private in nature. The greatest freedom was afforded to the inhabitants of Galicia (under Austrian rule), with its two major cities – Kraków and Lviv. This freedom was crucial for the emergence of a local community of conservators. The campaign to prevent the demolition of Florian’s Gate and the Barbican in Kraków (1816) was one of the first signs of conscious public commitment to the protection of architectural heritage. Such successful initiative brought local newspapers, authorities and residents together. Numerous activities undertaken to protect historic architecture in Galicia, especially in Kraków, largely reflected the predominant trends in European monument conservation. Often, they were “restorations” which verged on new, artistic architectural creation, as proposed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. This is exemplified by the restoration of Collegium Maius in the years 1839-1858, during which the complex of university buildings (14th-16th centuries) was given a uniform “Gothic” character. Its spatial layout and the appearance of the façade were changed, using, for example, architectural details taken from a variety of medieval buildings in Kraków. In time, restoration towards ensuring a unity of style gave way, in the second half of the 19th century, to gradual acceptance of the accumulation of historical layers, including the aesthetic qualities of early modern styles. This is exemplified by the reconstruction of the medieval Cloth Hall in Kraków in 1875-1879, during which some of the Renaissance additions – the loggia and the attic – were preserved. The second half of the 19th century saw heated public debate about a number of concepts guiding the restoration of Wawel Hill in Kraków to its former splendour. The centuries-old seat of Polish kings was widely considered by Poles as one of their most cherished national symbols, even though it had been reduced to the status of Habsburg army barracks at the time. After much political campaigning, the conservators, who considered it unacceptable to “aim towards some unification of the style or modernising the castle” finally managed to start their work on the Wawel Hill in the early 20th century, as they reinstated the Renaissance character of the courtyard and replaced the roofs. Extensive restoration work, with considerable financial support from the public purse, continued throughout the interwar period and included archaeological surveys and interior design. An important milestone occurred in 1856, when Kraków established the office of the Inspector of Monuments of Western Galicia. This was integrated with the Austro-Hungarian monument protection system, which developed in the second half of the 19th century, in line with the postulates of Max Dvořák and Alois Riegel. In time, the Conservators’ Society was set up (1888). This was a collegial advisory body reporting to the Central Commission for the Preservation of National Heritage Sites in Vienna. The growing availability of public transport, and the resultant growth of tourism, also stimulated public interest in relics of the past, which was slowly ceasing to be the exclusive domain of wealthy patrons and scholars. In 1906, the Society for the Preservation of Historical Monuments was founded in Warsaw, bringing together enthusiasts and professionals. It has operated ever since and it is now known as the Society for the Preservation of Monuments (TOnZ). The activities of its members, focused mainly on documenting monuments, included efforts towards establishing the rules for their protection. In 1909, the Society organised the first conference of conservators in Warsaw, which was attended by representatives of all three sectors of Polish territory under foreign rule. The principles of policy-based protection of monuments were defined during the event drawing on previous experience. It was agreed that actions targeting monuments must be limited to “simple repair and replacement of damaged parts with new ones, insofar as it is necessary for preserving the monument as a whole.” It was also assumed that during restoration work materials and techniques characteristic of the monument should be used, and that any necessary additions should not necessarily be designed in correspondence with its style. The above rules formed the core of the Decree of the Regency Council “On the protection of monuments of art and culture,” which was proclaimed in autumn 1918, when Poland regained its independence. It was one of the first documents of the newly created Second Polish Republic. The definition of a monument protected by law included urban architectural ensembles, wooden architecture, gardens and parks, but also “folk household items and folk craft products.” Attention was also drawn to the surroundings of monuments and the associated vistas. Further legal solutions governing the protection of monuments were introduced in 1928 (“Decree of the President of the Republic of Poland on the guardianship of monuments”). These included replacing the inventory of monuments with the current Register of Monuments and a listing in the Register remains the basic form of monument protection in Poland. In the years 1918-1939, Poland focused its heritage protection efforts on building a monument conservation system and on conservation and museum services, which were being formed with the active participation of the members of the above-mentioned Conservators’ Society and Society for the Preservation… In 1928, the still-existing office of the General Inspector of Monuments was established to oversee the work of district inspectors. Apart from undertaking the restoration work needed to recover from wartime damage, the inspectors focused on taking stock of the surviving resources. In addition to adopting a general timeframe (from the 10th century until Romanticism), they followed the rule that final decisions would be taken on a case-by-case basis, looking at the value of a given property. The Central Monument Surveying Office was then set up, drawing on the experience and achievements of 19th century surveyors, as well as that of Society for the Preservation… Also the academic community, notably the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology, committed themselves to documenting historic buildings and structures. Upon the initiative of the latter, the houses of Warsaw’s Old Town and selected types of wooden architecture, including synagogues, were inventoried. In the interwar period, legally protected but often declining historic town complexes began to attract researchers’ attention, hitherto focused on monuments of architecture. In an effort to improve their physical condition and restore their attractiveness, comprehensive repair and renovation works were carried out on several towns, including the Old Town Market Place in Warsaw. The earliest large-scale archaeological excavations were also conducted in the interwar period, including the most important, cross-disciplinary investigations of the fortified wooden settlement of the Lusatian culture on the Lake Biskupin peninsula, which were started in 1934 and attracted much attention in Poland and abroad. The comprehensive use of various types of research in the natural sciences and the humanities was a milestone in developing scientific research methods in Polish archaeology. The inventory surveys and various types of research on historic buildings in the interwar period produced documentary material which proved priceless shortly after World War II, when Poles were faced with the task of rebuilding their country, devastated by Nazis who had unscrupulously followed the principle that to destroy a nation you have to destroy its culture. Devastating losses resulted both from military operations and deliberate demolition and torching. Most movable properties had been appropriated and moved out of Poland, but a large proportion were also destroyed. It is still very difficult to estimate the losses accurately. The destruction of Polish cities and their historic districts is estimated to have exceeded 50 per cent, with some cities, such as Warsaw or Gdańsk, having lost over 80 per cent of their historic architecture as classified according to pre-war principles. Estimating the loss of moveable objects from public and private collections, including those belonging to religious communities, is even more difficult. According to estimates, more than 516,000 items from key Polish collections were lost. Today, it is generally estimated that Poland could even have lost up to 70 per cent of its tangible cultural heritage during World War II. Thanks to public commitment, damage to historic objects, such as the furnishings and architectural details of the destroyed Royal Castle in Warsaw, was documented and monitored, and the objects themselves were secured to be later used during post-war rebuilding operations. During the war, an underground system of higher education functioned in Poland, comprising also disciplines as architecture, art history and archaeology. Thanks to all this, as soon as the war was over, restorers were able to start working to help the country rise from the ruins and secure the surviving heritage. As early as July 1945, the first post-war General Inspector of Monuments, Professor Jan Zachwatowicz, formulated a general policy with respect to architectural monuments. Being aware of the material, but above all, the spiritual needs of a society which had lost its cultural heritage on an unprecedented scale, he declared the following: “unable to accept the fact that our cultural monuments have been wrested away from us, we will keep rebuilding them from the foundations, so that we can pass on to future generations an accurate – even if not authentic – form of those monuments, living in our memory and available in tangible form.” In this way, he justified the need to reconstruct buildings in a manner preserving their historic form and the diversity of their styles to reflect the various architectural trends prevailing in Poland until the mid-19th century. In parallel, the principles for securing and restoring the key architectural monuments which survived WWII were formulated. In 1945 alone, despite a significant shortage of skilled workers and materials, some 400 historic buildings were secured and renovated in more than 200 cities and towns, with another 600 buildings restored the following year. As regards to the conservation of movable properties, in particular paintings, the principle of limited intervention was adhered to, as before the war. Reconstruction was allowed only with respect to historic architecture and sculpture. The post-war system for the protection of monuments was highly centralised. As early as February 1945, the Chief Directorate of Museums and Monuments Protection was established, which was responsible for managing both museums and the monuments protection service, which reported to the General Inspector of Monuments. The Chief Directorate included departments responsible for inspection by conservators, restitution, archaeological sites, parks, folk art, landscape, etc. Great importance was attached to the creation of a scientific base by establishing, among others, the State Institute of Art History and Monuments Surveying (currently the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences). The conservation and restoration studios, which were initially part of the Chief Directorate, were transformed into the State Enterprise Ateliers for the Conservation of Cultural Property (PP PKZ) in 1950, with studios set up across the country. Thanks to its structure, which comprised of a number of specialised teams, the Institution was able to carry out specialist, interdisciplinary, and comprehensive conservation and restoration in areas such as architecture, arts and crafts, decorative arts, sculpture, painting and graphic art, etc. The full documentation of an item was compiled within a single organisational structure. The Ateliers conducted historical, archaeological and ethnographic research, diagnosed the various structural, biological and chemical problems, prepared architectural designs, and carried out construction and restoration works. The rich experience gained in this way in the fields of research and conservation was also widely used by Polish conservators and archaeologists during their work in foreign countries, including present-day: Algeria, Belarus, Cambodia, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Mongolia, Russia, Slovakia, Sudan, Syria, and Vietnam. It should be noted here that Professor Kazimierz Michałowski’s commitment to the saving of the monuments of the civilization of the Lower Nile, including the Abu Simbel temples. It was one of the earliest international initiatives to protect cultural heritage under the auspices of UNESCO (1960s). These are not the only examples of the involvement of Polish specialists in international efforts. They also actively contributed to creating international organisations and policy documents. The symbol of the Blue Shield, sketched by Professor Jan Zachwatowicz at an international conference on the protection of cultural properties in the context of armed conflict in the Hague, is a commonly recognised sign of Poland’s commitment to the Hague Convention (Poland ratified it in 1956). Polish conservators took an active part in the sessions of the Second International Congress of Architects and Technicians of Historic Monuments, including the creation of the Venice Charter (1964). The resolution on the establishment of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which was adopted at that time, was put into effect at the Constitutional Congress in Warsaw and the General Assembly in Kraków (1965). Poland showed further international commitment by ratifying the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (ratified in 1974), as well as the World Heritage Convention (ratified in 1976). Our country was selected in the first World Heritage Committee elections for a two-year term (1976-1978). It was represented by Professor Krzysztof Pawłowski. Poland was also one of the five founding states of ICCROM, and Professor Stanislaw Lorenz was the first chairman of its Scientific Board. In the years 1988-1992, the honourable function of the Director-General of ICCROM, was held by Professor Andrzej Tomaszewski, for many years also involved in the ICOMOS’ international agenda. It must also be remembered that the Polish National Committee of ICOM has existed and operated in an uninterrupted way since 1949. Poland has been involved in the Memory of the World Programme since the 1990s, and since 2011, it has applied the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Interwar legislation on the protection of monuments in Poland was in force until the adoption of the Act on the Protection of Cultural Properties and on Museums (1962), which covered an extremely wide range of cultural goods: archaeological and paleontological sites, buildings, urban complexes, parks and gardens, works of visual art, ethnographic artefacts, industrial and technical heritage, collections, archives and libraries, battlefields and important historical sites, as well as rare species of wildlife, living or dead, provided they do not fall within the scope of the provisions of the Act on the Conservation of Nature. In parallel, the Monuments Documentation Centre was set up (1962). In response to the growing need for expertise in the protection of cultural heritage, the following institutions were also established: the Centre for the Protection of Museum Objects (1988 – currently the National Institute for Museums and Public Collections), the Board for the Protection and Conservation of Palaces and Gardens (1977), and the Centre for Archaeological Rescue Excavations (1995). Three of the above institutions were eventually merged into a central cultural institution with branches in each Polish administrative region. In 2011, the institution was renamed the National Heritage Board of Poland. The 1962 Act on the protection of cultural properties and on museums was replaced by the currently applicable legal acts: the Act on the Protection and Guardianship of Monuments (2003), the Act on Museums (1996), the Act on the National Archival Resource and State Archives (1983) and the Act on Libraries (1997). Under currently applicable Polish legislation, items or sites which are considered to be monuments on account of their artistic, historic and/ or scientific value are legally protected by: being entered in the Register of Monuments; being included in the Heritage Treasure List; being granted the status of a Monument of History; the creation of a cultural park; being protected in local spatial development plans. The centuries-old traditions and commitment to the protection of the legacy of past epochs, is reflected in Article 5 of the Polish Constitution of 1997: “The Republic of Poland shall safeguard the independence and integrity of its territory and ensure the freedoms and rights of persons and citizens, the security of its citizens, safeguard the national heritage and shall ensure the protection of the natural environment pursuant to the principles of sustainable development”.

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Opieka i ochrona dziedzictwa kulturowego na ziemiach Polski