Cmentarze zabytkowe jako przedmiot polityki konserwatorskiej

• Authors: Rudkowski Tadeusz

Title variants

EN

OLD CEMETERIES AS THE SUBJECT TO CONSTRUCTION POLICY

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

The protection of old cemeteries is in Poland a new problem, initiated a s late a s in the mid-seventies. In this young history the latest decade distinguished itself with the formation of a number of social committees for the protection of individual cemeteries and the initation of a country- wide cam p a ign aimed at registering all old cemeteries. Rehabilitation measures taken up occasionally by some district monuments conservators (referred to later in the text a s the W K Z s ) are carried out in different ways and do not always yield expected results. Because until today there is no document which would specify in detail assumptions of the conservation policy of the Ministry of Culture and Art with regard to all historic cemeteries in Poland and their situation is often tragic, this article is an appeal to all district monuments conservators to undertake their own considerate policy towards these objects. The first step on this road has already been made by a g roup of conservators from the Lower Silesia, who for three years have held annual scientific conferences d e voted to historic cemeteries. The rehabilitation of cemeteries has to be preceded with a selection carried out with regard to the historic value and the condition of an individual object. Meanwhile, there is not as yet any register of all historic cemeteries in Poland. The above-mentioned country-wide campa ign of their recording on specially drawn cemetery cards, which should have been completed in 1986, will be extended by 3 - 4 years. Its completion is the most important task for the nearest future. Only on the basis of cemetery register cards it is possible to think of undertaking further historic, scientific and strictly conservation actions. O n e of the first steps should be to compile comprehensive documentation on individual cemeteries, which — together with full photographic and cartograp h ic material — would have features of a monographic report with high scientific and informational values. Unfortunately, the lack of workers (art historians or architects) willing to take up such work does not allow for its intensification. It is difficult to plan anything in the field of conservation, as it depends on a number of factors that are hardly to be foreseen Just like in the case of documentation on cemeteries, we have also here to face the lack of specialistic conservation staff. Broad-scale actions taken in Poland on the rehabilitation of historic monuments pose a strong competition to many cemeteries in villages and in small towns. Because of that, the entire conservation policy of the W K Z s should take this difficulty into consideration and think in advance of securing at least a small team of stone conservators. A s far as metal objects (mainly cast iron) are concerned (usually found in the form of tomb monuments or fencings that encircle tombs) then the best solution is to open regional workshops for metal conservation by means of spray metallization. This Polish method has been found to be satisfactory in cemetery conditions and its big advantage is that in a long run it is much cheaper than other techniques employed so far. When commencing the rehabilitation of cemeteries the WKZs should set out the criteria to be applied in choosing the objects. The alternative is the following: either a decisive role will be played by a historic value of a given cemetery or the priority will be given to the most ruined places, the existence of which is endangered. The decision on this problem should flow from the earlier adopted guidelines of conservation policy on a given territory. Conservation programmes should not be prepared ad hoc. Basing on the analysis of cards from all cemeteries in a voivodship, the district conservator should draw a programme of work for each cemetery and specify the date of its commencement. It will not always be possible to rescue individual tomb stones at their original places. Therefore, a district conservator should foresee the necessity of establishing on his relevant territory one or few cemetery lapidaries. When deciding on this, one should not forget that they are necessary evil, just a s they would sanction the wrenching of a historic object from its natural environment. O n some territories in the west and north of Poland one can find very interesting cemeteries, unfortunately closed for years. Their re-opening is the best method of securing to them the protection of the local community. Of course, the re-opening of the cemetery must be associated with a co-existence of old and new cemeteries. In no case old coffins should be removed from crypts or inscriptions from stones. The implementation of the rehabilitation of old cemeteries, which seems to be rather an unrewarded task from a viewpoint of its organization, will — to a large extent — depend on the attitude of the local community. Therefore, great importance is attached to the popularization of these problems on a broader scale, which should create the atmosphere conducive to subsequent steps taken by the WKZs. A major role might be played by the Catholic clergy and regional sections of the Society for the Protection of Monuments. We should stress out once a g a in the importance of proper and consistent implementation of planning to rescue old cemeteries. The time spent on this will be rewarded in future. It will also bring advantages that will result from a bigge r effectiveness of rehabilitation activities carried out on historic cemeteries.

• Publisher: Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa
• Journal: Ochrona Zabytków
• Year: 1986
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 283-288

Dates

published

1986

Contributors

author

Rudkowski Tadeusz

• dr, Warszawa

References

• T. R u d k o w s k i , Lapidaria cmentarne — rozwiązanie o p tymalne czy ostateczność. Ochron a zabytkowych cmentarzy. M ateria ły zjazdowe IV Zjazdu Konserwatorskiego w H a lin ie (b.m.i r.), s. 51—61.
• St. M i c h a l c z u k , O potrzebie ochrony zabytkow cmentarzy. Dzieł o sztuki i zabytek. Warszawa 1976. BM iO Z , Seria B, T. XLIII, s. 181-188.

Identifiers

ISSN

0029-8247