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Les Ateliers de Conservation des Monuments Historiques en tant qu’entreprises d’Etat ont été institués en vertu de l ’Ordonnance du Ministre de la Culture et des Arts du 25 août 1950, et ont commencé leur activité le 1 mars 1951. L’initiative de créer l ’institution centrale, s ’occupant de la conservation des monuments historiques, a été prise à la Direction Générale des Musées et de la Protection des Monuments et plus précisément à l ’Office Central de Conservation, dirigé par le professeur dr Jan Zachwatowicz. L’entreprise nouvellement créée a engagé dans la première phase de son activité, des cadres de spécialistes, travaillant jusqu’à présent dans des petits centres de documentation historique, architectonique et de conservation des oeuvres d’art, mis sur pied à partir de il945 près de la Direction Générale des Musées %et de Protection des Monuments historiques et des ateliers de conservation des monuments des voïvodies. Dans cette période l ’organisation centralisée des Ateliers (PKZ) couvrait à peine 1/4 du territoire du pays et les possibilités économiques de la conservation ne dépassaient point 2,5 mlns de zlotys par an. Actuellement les travaux de conservation de cette entreprise très spécialisée s’expriment par la somme de 280 mlns de zlotys à l ’échelle annuelle (1968), et son organisation englobe tout le territoire du pays. Il existe à présent 7 sections, celles de Varsovie, Gdańsk, Cracovie, Lublin, Poznań, Szczecin et Wrocław. Dans les voïvodies où il n existe pas de section on a constitué des établissements affiliés aux sections de Jarosław, Kielce, Olsztyn et Toruń. Dans les autres voïvodies il’y a des centres plus modestes — des groupes de travaux de conservation. Aussi bien les sections que les établissements possèdent une série de départements permettant de rassembler la documentation, de dresser des projets et de procéder à la conservation de l ’architecture et du mobilier ancien. Une organisation de ce genre permet de prendre une décision rapide et efficace, indispensable pour la réalisation des travaux de conservation et en même temps d’effectuer les travaux dans le temps prévu avec l ’application des méthodes modernes. Les Ateliers PKZ représentent actuellement toutes les disciplines fondamentales de conservation; ils possèdent 8 centres de documentation scientifico-historique, 10 ateliers architectoniques de projet, 12 ateliers de conservation des biens mobiliers (conservation des peintures murales et de chevalet, des sculptures en pierre, en bois et des ornements en stuc, du métal, du papier, des tissus, des vitraux, etc.), 3 ateliers archéologiques de conservation et de recherche, 3 laboratoires scientifiques et de recherche (outre les services courants pour les ateliers respectifs ils élaborent de nouvelles méthodes et suivent les résultats des travaux de conservation) ainsi que 26 groupes de travaux de conservation architectonique. En plus il existe nombre de services auxiliaires, à savoir: des ateliers photographiques, des bibliothèques, des sections de formation. Les Ateliers PKZ emploient actuellement 3000 personnes, dont de nombreux spécialistes éminents. Pour illustrer la portée des travaux effectués au cours des 17 ans d’existence de l’entreprise, nous citerons les chiffres suivants: reconstruction de 4260 objectifs architectoniques, conservation de 5816 biens mobiliers, élaboration de la documentation technique et de conservation pour 2013 objectifs et scientifico- -historique pour 2004 objectifs, élaboration d’études urbanistiques pour 408 ensembles urbains historiques. Au total on a effectué au cours de cette période — des travaux de conservation pour la somme de 1803 millions de zlotys. Les articles et les communiqués contenus dans ce numéro donnent une certaine notion de l ’étendue et des méthodes de travail de certaines unités des Ateliers. Quoique ce ne sont que des exemples, ils peuvent illustrer la complexité et la diversité des problèmes que notre entreprise rencontre dans son travail quotidien.
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The author of the article presents the development of organization of investment services for remedial and building works. Then he proceeds to describe the present situation in this field and postulates changes for the future. In 1945 the main difficulty lay in the problem of p re paration of working plans concering conservation; it also consisted in the impossibility to find an executor. At that time the re existed and functioned offices of provincial conservators of monuments. They were however, unprepared to fulfill the duties. In these circumstances, the institutions that managed works connected with removal of war damage (such as Bureau for Rebuilding of the Capital, Direction of Restoration in Gdańsk, Szczecin and Wrocław) became investors. This for first time in the history of Polish preservation of monuments historical objects were included in national investment plans. In 1958 provincional restorers of monuments took over the investor’s duties. They organized gangs to perform conservation works. In order to lighten the task of conservation service, plenipotentiaries of the minister of culture and art were appointed. Their job was to deal with such problems as preparation of capital expenditure for remedial works (e.g. in Nieborów and Krasiczyn). However, no specialistic investment service to help provincial conservators has been brought into being until now; this always delayed-conservation works. The author also reminds th a t Administration of Investments of Warsaw Monuments, which was active in Warsaw from 1955 till 1968, conducted the remedial works in Wilanów, Łazienki, the Old Town and Radziejowice. The institution performed its duties very well and th a t is why its activity was highly appreciated. In 1968 it was transformed into Administration of Investments of Culture Objects and in 1971 — incorporated in the State Enterprise Studios of Monument Conservation. In those years investment services arose in various towns, e.g. in Zamość where over 300 million zlotis have been allocated to renovation of monuments in recent years. Accomplishment of works encountered to the absence of both any qualified conservation service and any investor. After numerous attempts had been made to overcome this situation Direction of Restoration of Monumental Complex in Zamość was called into being in 1973 to organize the process of investment and conduct all the conservation works. It .is th e first independent investment institution for a municipial complex of monuments in Poland. Its activities are divided into two stages aiming at complete restoration of the town. According to the author organizational operations in the field of monuments preservation should be considered as a specialistic sphere of conservation activities. Investment bodies for conservation — building works ought to be called into beining under the care of provincial conservators of monuments. The author also postulates reactivation of Administration of Investments of Historical Objects as an instotution central to the investment service of historical objects. It would control and coordinate activities of an the investments bodies th a t function within conservation services.
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As one of the forms of safeguarding the ancient architectural and building objects against their destruction is widely enough applied a plaque bearing information or prohibitory text. The first such plaques were used on some Warsaw’s buildings as long ago as in 1906 but within the period until the World War II this action had no chances to be more broadly popularized. As a consequence of losses and damages caused by the last war a need has arisen to mark all the old buiddings and also their ruins thus protecting them from a total demolition with which they could be endangered in particular in the course of removing the war losses. In those early days of rebuilding the p la ques of that kind have been placed by many government agencies and institutions. A systematic action was undertaken and carried on by the Conservator’s Offices and the voluntary caretakers of historical monuments gathering in the Polish Touring Society. Since no explicitly expressed obligation as to placing of such information has been included to the Act on Protection of Historical Monuments and no official model of informative plaque was given, those placed on building had thus widely varying shapes and texts. Another until now unsolved problem is the marking of the historic urban centres and settings and of ancient parks. There is also an urgent need to introduce the specially designed road sings that could be used for signalling the vicinity of historic buiildings. In his present work the author has quoted the first attempt in this respect. In conclusion the author advanced a proposal that the information with concern to a given object should not be combined with official statements or the formal prohibitory provisions worded within the area of the same plaque. The international signs and markings provided by the Hague Convention should widely be used in peace times. Also the formal aspect of obligatory placing of plaques with valid sings on every historic building should be revised and brought to order as soon as possible.
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The endeavour of men of intellect and later of all societes and nations — the author says — to prevent a destruction of human attainments by wars has been known from the dawn of the history. Already in ancient days great efforts were made to save houses and towns from the effect of hostilities. All this, of course, did not prevent war destruction. Still, it shows that already then it was found necessary to protect human possessions, especially if they had a historic or artistic value. In modern days various peace treaties concluded after wars contained a clause on the return of previously plundered works of art. In view of an advancement in war techniques, the problem of the protection of national cultural property against consequences of future wars and conflicts is gaining on importance. The author presents a historic outline of only one element of the mode of protection, i.e. marking the historic elements in case of war. He reminds that the first recommendation to mark historic structures, put in form of a legal document, dates back to the second half of the 19th century and was worked out as rules of procedure during civil wars in America (1861—65). The author lists then documents regulating the marking of historic elements, namerly: Draft International Declaration on Laws and Customs of War (Brussels, 1874), Convention on Bombardment by Naval Forces at War (Hague, 1907), Convention on Law and Customs of Land War (Hague, 1907), The Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic Monuments (Washington, 1935), and the latest ones such as the Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property at the Time of an Armed Conflict (Hague, 1954). In addition to this, the World Committee for Cultural and Natural Heritage of UNESCO adopted in 1978 agreements on the need to rescue and preserve structures or complexes with the highest historic and natural value. It was also then that symbols to be used to mark historic complexes were proposed. The adopted protection and identification sign welcomes tourists at town gates and historic sites, speaks for their value for the continuity of cultural development. The history of endeavours to create protective signs for the preservation of historic structures and works of art against their destruction in case of war is only one of numerous actions of international organisations and thousands of anonymous workers in the protection of cultural property. Relentless time, international conflicts, ongoing urbanization and civilization as well as atmospheric cataclysms are the elements due to which all what is worth preserving is the subject of an ever bigger care of states and nations. Of quite a great significance are in this respect informative (protective) signs.
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In Memoriam

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The artic le of director general of the main executor of works presents stages of their realization and principles of organization. Once the State Ateliers fo r the Conservation of Cultural Property (the PKZ) had been assigned that role the work was initiated immediately. Already in January 1971 a design office referred to as the Castle office was rea c tivated, with Jan Bogusławski as general designer. On April 15, 1971 Castle's Department of the PKZ was brought to life, giving thus the beginning to a branch office. Demolition and archaeological works as well as expert appraisements were undertaken. On November 30 the Architectonic and Conservation Commission of the Civic Committee for the Reconstruction of the Royal Castle approved a d ra ft architectonic plan. Thanks to the transfer of rights onto the Commission it could approve plans, executed then d irectly by the constructors. The principle of a simultaneous execution of studies, designing and realization works was employed from the very beginning. Only in that way it was possible to obtain the expected results. A p a rt from Castle’s Department of the PKZ teams from other branch offices (14 altogether) were included into the project as well as 28 specialized enterprises from a ll over the country. A lre ady at the outset of the works a big number of volunteers engaged themselves with simple jobs. Many producers d e livered constructional materials on a free of charge basis. Along with the progress of works new workshops were opened in the Castle branch office. Of importance was also the employing of new workers to be trained in disappearing professions such as stucco workers, gilders, tilers et.c. Thanks to them teams of rare craftsmen got developed; they stayed with the enterpise even after the completion of works at the Castle. Afte r consigning the mass of the building in a raw state on July 22, 1974. finishing works were commenced; after July 22, 1978 works were undertaken to accomplish technical outfit. The inside of the Castle was divided into several regions and its technical acceptance was done in stages to avoid the acceptance of the whole building. Owing to this it was possible to start furnishing with elements of wall tapestries, lighting equipment et.c. A special attention was paid to the workers, who got provided with good social amenities and were offered extensive training. Once the major part of the Castle was handed over to the management of the Museum, the institution o f the branch office referred to as "th e Castle" was dissolved and its employees joined W a rsaw’s office. The intensive, often strenous, work on the restitution of the Castle offered the possibility to gain much experience on a very broad scale. It also consolidated groups of professional workers at a unique project, a p atriotic nature of which is beyond any doubt. Still, first and foremost, the Royal Castle g o t restored according to the will of the Poles.
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The author, director general o f the State Enterprises for Conservation o f Art (generally referred to in Polish in an abbreviated form as PKZ), presents the works o f the organization on the restitution of the Castle since 1956, i.e. since the establishing o f the Castle Planning Department within the framework o f PKZ. In addition to planning and building works, up to 1970 art conservation enterprises were engaged in conservation works on the saved elements. In 1971 PKZ became the executor general o f planning, building and conservation works. Organizational, building and conservation operations lasted till 1792. The main assumption was the principle o f a concomitant execution o f these works ana o f planning activities, which accelerated the commencing of works on the restitution o f the Castle by two years. The second principle was to save and make use in the rebuilding o f everything that was left by the Castle. The third principle was to introduce achievements o f modern technology. The works were performed under surveillance o f the Architectural Conservatory Commission headed by Professor J. Zachwatowicz and functioning within the Civic Committee for the Reconstruction o f the Royal Castle in Warsaw. In April 1972 the Directorship for the Reconstruction o f the Royal Castle was appointed, to which gradually emerging specialistic work administrations were subordinated, to mention only the Enterprise for Conservation of Arts, the Sculptures Workshop, the Stonework Administration etc. The author describes stages o f work implementation with reference to individual parts o f the Castle up to 1978 when the Castle entered a final phase o f the works. Also discussed in the article is the participation in the Castle’s restitution of PKZ branch offices and other organizations, o f building and conservation teams as well as voluntary works. At present, thanks to the experience gained, the PKZ section formed to restitute the Castle has become an enterprise able to undertake most complicated planning, building and conservation works on historic buildings.
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The author describes the process o f renewing the historic town of Zamość in the years 1964—1980. He also presents the attempts undertaken to adequately organize investment services as well as difficulties faced by various organizations set up in order to cope with the problem of the renewal. Numerous initiatives and ideas, some of which have been put into effect, have also been discussed. A leading role in the renewal o f Zamość played a local branch office of the historic monuments conservation workshop, whose work concentrated on technical, scientific and conservation documentation and on the reconstruction and preservation of historic buildings, conservation o f sculptures, paintings, etc. Twelve other conservation workshops from all over Poland as well as a number o f specialized enterprises (performing i.a. mason, road-building and electrical works) also participated in preparatory works undertaken to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Zamość. The author suggests that the following conditions should be fulfilled when carrying out works on the old town complexes: — (1) the Main Board for the Renewal of the Old Town should represent a body of the Town Council, with a decisive voice in the field o f restoration policy, (2) state-owned historic monuments conservation workshops should constitute the main organization for research and planning works; they should also execute building and conservatioi works on the structures with the highest artistic and historic values, (3) the architectonic conservation council should be a body that would approve and solve all problems associated with conservation, designing, execution and investment.
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Basing on a draft of the Collective Labour Code drawn for monument conservation workshops, the author presents the history of building performance in Poland with regard to historic structures. The interest in the preservation o f architectural constructions began in the mid-19th century and was associated, inter alia, with developments in building techniques. At that time and early in the 20th century there appeared first professional publications on that subject and in 1909 a book on principles o f conservation and restoration o f architectural monuments was published. In 1917 attention was drawn to the need for specialistic building and conservation operations that would cover not only architectural but also movable monuments. It was also then (from 1905 on) that the oldest body for building and conservation works in Poland, i.e. the administration for the restoration o f the Royal Castle on the Wawel- mound (in Kraków) took up its activities. The vastness o f the country’s destruction after the second world war put the conservation service before enormous needs in the field of building and conservation works. It became necessary to found specialistic organizations. First attempts to create such institutions took place in 1945. In 1950 a state-owned organization was brought to life under the name of „monument conservation workshops” (M.C.Ws). In the beginning it dealt only with research and documentary works but from 1955 the workshops engaged also in building and conservation works and later became a separate body functioning on partially separate economic principles. The draft of the Collective Labour Code drawn for conservators employed in M.C.Ws describes a specific nature o f conservation works and abolishes differences in wages of conservators and artisans. It creates also conditions conducive to the stabilization of conservation profession. The document, the first of its kind in the world, will rise professional and social standing of conservation workers and will improve the quality and efficacy o f conservation works.
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The complex of temples and shrines situated on Philae Island, near the First Cataract of the Nile, was built in times of Ptolemaic kingdom. The Aswan Dam, built during 1892—1902, raised the level of the water and submerged the Osland for nine months each year. The total submerging of the Island took place after completing the Aswan Hig Dam in 1970. Then they started, with the help of the UNESCO, to save the buildings of great archeological value. This consisted in moving and reconstructing the most endangered buildings. Competition for the best works concerning the shifting of the Temple of Isis and the Kiosk of Traian was won by Italian-Egyptian joined companies. By 1978 these works are supposed to be completed. Till now a dam surrounding the Island has been built, which made it possible to pump out the water, and record piling has begun. About 40000 stone blocks of which the Temple has been built will be transferred from Philae Island to Agilkia Island. The la tte r is now being prepared for this operation, i.e. levelling and hardening of ground is being carried out. Such a gigantic undertaking is a good example of international enterprises aimed at p reservation of monuments of culture.
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The latest half-century of the history of material culture in Europe can be divided into four distinct periods, when one looks at it from a viewpoint of monuments' conservator. The first period is the period of the World W a r II, which was fought on the territory of whole Europe destroying historic centres of towns and burning thousands of historic structures. In that period cultural heritage of European n a tions got impoverished, museum collections were grossly d e stroyed and culture — multilated. Millions of people were killed and the world created by them also disappeared. The year of 1945 brought liberation and peace as well as the counting of losses, destructions, hopes and needs for newly- emerging life. The second period was characterized by a rapid civilizational and investment acceleration in the fifties and sixties. Unfortunately, it brought a serious threat to historic structures of architecture and building. Historic centres of towns, historic heritage of the countryside and natural environment of the man were put in danger. One can list a t this point numerous examples of drastic demolishing of entire quarters that survived the ravages of war or ruins that could still be reconstructed. Countryside buildings, harmonously inscribed into landscape, were infringed in order to introduce modern structures, which multilated the environment built by generations. This is a generally known phenomenon which takes place irrespective of a geographical position or a socio-political system. This is the price of civilization and industrial development. This is the price paid by the man for his en d e a vour to rapidly reconstruct war damages and to fulfill his dreams of a better life. The third period covers the seventies, which can be given the name of a rational attitude of the society to d e g ra dation caused by war and development of civilization. One can mention here numerous international congresses, local meetings a t which the existing endangerings were an alysed and evaluated. That period was also the time of a close-up of ecological ideas and assumptions of the protection of historic heritage. In many cases these problems were treated together. In the professional field of the protection of monuments this progress may be defined by means of two characteristic documents of international na ture, namely the Charter of Venice (1964) and the Warsaw Recommendation (1976), adopted later by the General Assembly of UNESCO in Nairobi. Thousands of social committees were established which worked out programmes expressing public opinion. All this impeded markedly the process of destruction carried out for the sake of superficially conceived development of civilization. After adopting by UNESCO, IC O M O S and other international organizations of ap prop ria te documents, it may be said without ex ag g e ra tion th at there have been drawn international formulas of such notions as historic heritage. These notions cover both the Acropolis in Athens, medieval European and Asian towns, traditional buildings in the countryside of France, Poland or Puebla in Mexico. The methods and rules of technological and conservation procedure have been specified, though it is still necessary to strive for their popularity and implementation. This period can be summed up in the following way: we know now what, how and why to protect. The fourth period covers the eighties. At that time an a ttempt was made to implement conservation guide-lines that had been checked before in practice with good results, though on a small scale. A p a rt from a broad social support in Europe and non-European countries, the guide-lines on the protection of historic heritage have found their expression not only in legal documents of international standing but also in local and govermental programmes. Professional literature quotes numerous examples which can give rise to optimism, despite unavoidable losses in historic heritage caused by disintegration of the material from which people raised their houses, castles, churches and factories. While not belittling significant achievements of all European countries in the protection of cultural values one has to say that conservation practice both in Poland and in many other European countries has revealed a b a rrier, underestimated so far, which effectively hampers our activities in the field of the protection of historic heritage. This is a technological barrier. There is now much understanding for the need to protect historic centres in a complex way. Financial resources necessary to take up work on a broad scale are av ailab le. Already today they are proportionally bigger than professional labour force trained to solve these problems, i.e. qualified teams o f craftsmen who would know traditional technologies. Also, there is not enough traditional materials which would guarantee a proper execution of conservation work. W e hope that the process of detante will allow to increase the means allocated fo r a broadly conceived sphere of social life. W e also awa it a relative increase in financial resources for conservation work, training of craftsmen and production of traditional materials necessary to carry out conservation work. This hope seems logical. There arises a question in what way a technological barrier can be broken down. W h a t means and activities should be taken up in order to use up the inflow of financial resources expected as a result of relaxation of tension and until now en gaged in armaments, for the sake of rescuing historic achievements of the man? I represent Poland, the country where despite socio-political determinants existing in Europe and in the world neither money nor technological means are spared for the protection of cultural property. The evidence of this policy is the reconstruction of towns and historic structures, destroyed during the war, in their historic form. Therefore, on the basis of Polish experience I wish to put forward a few proposals for further consideration : — training of craftsmen in disappearing professions, needed to carry out conservation work, should be taken up on a broad scale; — production of traditional building materials should have its place in governmental programmes; — I propose to establish a centre of necessary information, which would look after, inspire and inform of activities in the field of applying technological and conservational te chniques and production of adequ ate building and conservation materials.
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Angkor, once capital of the Khmer state, situated in the unstable territory of Cambodia, is in danger of total ruin. Angkor once had many magnificent sanctuaries, secular buildings, urban complexes, squares and gardens. Their scale fascinates us to this day, the 12th-century Angkor Wat sanctuary being the greatest sacral structure in the world. Cambodia's complex political situation considerably hinders the rescue campaign of this monumental complex. While the campaign has been joined by representatives of culture, scientists and experts from various countries— the fate of Angkor still causes anxiety. This is further deepened by the difficult access to the structures dispersed in the jungle and by the lack of supervision over the conservation measures carried out, even if these are on a small scale. Various organizations and associations that have come into being in many countries with the purpose of rescuing Angkor, are trying to stir the conscience of people all over the world and to snow the danger to the world cultural heritage that military conflicts bring. They are turning for help to governments, international organizations and peopie of goodwill. So far, one cannot speak of complete success in this. An important role in rescuing Angkor's monuments has been played by Poland, which has undertaken to act as coordinator of the international conservation undertakings. Polish experts and conservators have visited Cambodia many times, making out reports on the state of preservation of historical objects and preparing the program of conservation work.
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Dragi Tozija (1919-1983)

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