Architecture of Poland

Polish cities and towns reflect a whole spectrum of European architectural styles. Romanesque architecture is represented by St. Andrew’s Church, Kraków, and St. Mary’s Church, Gdańsk, is characteristic for the Brick Gothic style found in Poland. Richly decorated attics and arcade loggias are the common elements of the Polish Renaissance architecture, as evident in the City Hall in Poznań. For some time the late renaissance style known as mannerism, most notably in the Bishop’s Palace in Kielce, coexisted with the early baroque style, typified in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Kraków.

History has not been kind to Poland’s architectural monuments. Nonetheless, a number of ancient structures has survived: castles, churches, and stately homes, often unique in the regional or European context. Some of them have been painstakingly restored, like Wawel Castle, or completely reconstructed, including the Old Town and Royal Castle of Warsaw and the Old Town of Gdańsk.

The architecture of Gdańsk is mostly of the Hanseatic variety, a Gothic style common among the former trading cities along the Baltic sea and in the northern part of Central Europe. The architectural style of Wrocław is mainly representative of German architecture, since it was for centuries located within the Holy Roman Empire. The centre of Kazimierz Dolny on the Vistula is a good example of a well-preserved medieval town. Poland’s ancient capital, Kraków, ranks among the best-preserved Gothic and Renaissance urban complexes in Europe.

The second half of the 17th century is marked by baroque architecture. Side towers, such as those of Branicki Palace in Białystok, are typical for the Polish baroque. The classical Silesian baroque is represented by the University in Wrocław. The profuse decorations of the Branicki Palace in Warsaw are characteristic of the rococo style. The centre of Polish classicism was Warsaw under the rule of the last Polish king Stanisław II Augustus. The Palace on the Water is the most notable example of Polish neoclassical architecture. Lublin Castle represents the Gothic Revival style in architecture, while the Izrael Poznański Palace in Łódź is an example of eclecticism.

Traditional folk architecture in the villages and small towns scattered across the vast Polish countryside is characterized by its extensive use of wood as the primary building material. Some of the best preserved and oldest structures include wooden churches, and tserkvas primarily located across southern Poland in the Beskids and Bieszczady regions of the Carpathian mountains. Numerous examples of secular structures such as Polish manor houses (dworek), farmhouses (chata), granaries, mills, barns and country inns (karczma) can still be found across most regions of Poland.

These structures were mostly built using the horizontal log technique, common to eastern and northern Europe since the Middle Ages and also going further back to the old Slavic building traditions, exemplified by the wooden Gród (a type of fortified settlement built between the 6th and 12th centuries). These traditional construction methods were utilized all the way up to the start of the 20th century, and gradually faded in the first decades when Poland’s population experienced a demographic shift to urban dwelling away form the countryside.

Romanesque architecture in Poland
Sacral architecture
Among the monuments, there are examples of central buildings, one-nave and three- nave churches, as well as monastic buildings. The solids of the buildings were constructed – in a manner characteristic of the whole of Romanism – from simple geometric solids. Churches were built mostly from stone.

The churches were built according to the following three types of buildings:

single-space indoor buildings on a rectangular plan:
ended with a chorus and an apse,
ended with a rectangular choir,
without a choir;
buildings with a more complex multi-bay space,
on the Latin cross plan (they were most common in urban spaces or when they had more liturgical significance, such as cathedrals).
A characteristic form for the Romanesque period is the east-west orientation of the solid system of the components of sacred buildings:

separated from the other elements of the tower (an element not always present, or with its different position in relation to the world sides and variable size),
nave,
choir (architecture),
apse,
most often covered with a steep, gable roof, approx. 45 ° passing through the apses in a semicircular end.

Architectural monuments
A list of monuments of Romanesque architecture can be found in the article Roman Road in Poland.

Gothic architecture in Poland
Gotyk nadwiślański, so-called Cracow school
In the region of Małopolska, buildings were built of brick with the use of stone blows to make details. Churches built in this area are often two-nave. There are also basilicas with not very high aisles. Their construction was solved in a simplified manner, using a pillar-slope system. The buttresses put up near the walls of the nave were taken above the roofs of the aisles. The most common were also two-part windows and portals.

Gotyk śląski
Until the early fourteenth century, Gothic architecture in Silesia developed in a similar way as in neighboring countries, as can be seen, for example, in the chapel of St. Jadwiga in Trzebnica, the nave of the parish church in Złotoryja, the presbytery of the Dominican church in Wrocław.

Gotyk pomorski
The brick churches of Pomerania are primarily halls with powerful towers usually located in the main axis. Basilica is much less common.

Secular architecture

locks
From the thirteenth century, the royal and princely residences began to be modernized, expanding the functional program of existing buildings (eg the Wawel Castle, Legnica) and building castles, which could initially be built only with the consent of the ruler. For this reason, the oldest castles had the character of state buildings. Initially, in the thirteenth century, the elements characteristic of castles were placed within functioning wooden and earthquakes, so the first castles were irregular (eg in Opole). After the middle of the thirteenth century, the construction of palatia was also abandoned, which should be combined with the earlier era. The regular shape of the castles spread throughout the Kingdom of Poland during the reign of Casimir the Great and they were built in such a shape even in places of earlier castles (Rawa, Łęczyca, Koło). The castles were also built by, for example, Joannici (Stare Drawsko, Łagów, Swobnica, Pęzino) and the Teutonic Knights, in the territory created by them in Prussia (Malbork, Radzyń Chełmiński, Nidzica) and bishops (Sławków, Lipowiec). In the castles, also towers of final defense were built (referred to as a table) and residential towers (donjon). The best preserved Gothic castles are:
Town halls
The central place was the big market, where the symbol of municipal authority was built and the main watchtower – the town hall with a high tower. Around the town hall were other buildings related to the function of the urban organism – cloth hall, city scales building, merchant stalls and pillory. An example of an unprocessed town hall in the Gothic style is the Town Hall in Wrocław, the Old Town Hall in Toruń, the Town Hall in Chojna, Gdańsk, and Szczecin. Only the tower has survived from the town hall in Krakow.

Town houses
Existing settlements received in the 13th and 14th centuries tracking new laws (usually based on Magdeburg Law). Urban area is usually divided grid of streets perpendicular to the plot by creating a chessboard layout. Residential buildings, in the upper reaches is still built of wood or timber-framed art. In order to prevent the transmission of fire during the fire, often the wall was increased at the border of two adjacent parcels and tracts of gable roof receives addressed to the agent. Facades of houses stepped or triangular peaks. Houses of rich burghers sometimes received in the form of a richer decor. More often it was a topic mimicking polychrome wall, and wimpergi tracery. An example of building in the Gothic style is the house of Copernicus in Torun, in Sandomierz Długosz House, oldest building of Jagiellonian University – Collegium Maius, building on ul. Łazienna 22 in Toruń.

Castles
From the 13th century began to modernize the seat of royal and princely expanding existing buildings functional program (such as Wawel Castle, Legnica), and building castles, which initially could be built only with the consent of the ruler. For this reason, the oldest castles have public character of the building. Initially, in the 13th century, the characteristic elements of the locks were placed in a role within the wood-earth castles, so the first castles were irregular in shape (e.g., in Opole). After the mid-13th century abandoned the construction palatiów to be connected rather with the earlier epoch. Regular shape of castles spread throughout the Polish Kingdom in the reign of Casimir the Great, and built them into this shape, even in areas of previous castles (Rawa, Łęczyca, Koło). Castles and monasteries built by Joannites (Stare Drawsko, Łagów, Swobnica, Pęzino) and the Teutonic Order, in the state created by them in Prussia (Malbork, Radzyń Chełmiński, Niedzica) and bishops (in Lipowiec). The castles were built or final defense towers (known as stołp) and residential towers (donżon).

Renaissance architecture in Poland
Polish Renaissance architecture is divided into three periods: The First period (1500–1550), is the so-called “Italian”. Most of Renaissance buildings built at this time were by Italian architects, mainly from Florence including Francesco Fiorentino and Bartolomeo Berrecci.

In the Second period (1550–1600), Renaissance architecture became more common, with the beginnings of Mannerist and under the influence of the Netherlands, particularly in Pomerania. Buildings include the New Cloth Hall in Kraków and city halls in Tarnów, Sandomierz, Chełm (demolished) and most famously in Poznań. Zamość is a unique example of a Renaissance town in Central Europe.

In the Third period (1600–1650), the rising power of Jesuits and Counter Reformation gave impetus to the development of Mannerist architecture and Baroque.

Baroque Architecture in Poland
Early Polish baroque buildings were often designed by foreign (most often, Italian) architects. The first baroque structure in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the Corpus Christi Church in Nieśwież (now in Belarus). The first baroque building in present-day Poland was the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Kraków by Giovanni Battista Trevano. The Jewish population in this period was large and prosperous, and many handsome Polish Jewish synagogues were built in baroque style. A handful of these buildings survive, including the Włodawa Synagogue.

Secular Baroque architecture also grew. The royal Warsaw Castle was reconstructed between 1596 and 1619 by the Italian architects Giacomo Rotondo, Matteo Castelli and Jan Trevano. Outside the Castle, a column with the Statue of King Zygmunt, sculpted by Clemente Molli and cast by Daniel Tym was raised by his son, Władysław IV Waza, in 1644. Park Ujazdowski with a new palace, the palace of Ujazdów, was built by Trevano between 1619 and 1625. Palace of Ujazdów was soon overshadowed the Wilanów Palace, raised by King John III Sobieski between 1677 and 1696. Style of those new royal mansions was soon imitated by numerous magnates who did not want to fall behind the times, leading to numerous baroque residences springing throughout Polish countryside, such as at Kruszyna (1630, built for Voivode Kasper Doenhoff), Łańcut (1629–1641, rebuilt for Stanisław Lubomirski), Wiśnicz (1616–1621, also for Stanisław Lubomirski), Ujazd (Krzyżtopór built in 1628-1644 for Krzysztof Ossoliński).

Vilnius Baroque (Vilnius School) – the direction of Baroque architecture occurring most often in the north-eastern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Vilnius region, Belarus (church and monastery in Berevitch, religious buildings in Minsk, Vitebsk, Ivianiec, Borunach, etc.) and Polish Inflanty) and incidentally in the south-eastern parts of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The most famous architect of the school was Jan Krzysztof Glaubitz. Other architects creating in this style are Ludwik Hryncewicz (creator of the church in Wołyńcach and the facade of the Missionary church in Vilnius), Aleksander Osikiewicz, B. Kosiński, Owsiukiewicz, Johannes Tobias de Dyderstein, Johann Wilhelm Frezer, Abraham Wuertzner, Joachim Herdegen, Antonio Paracca, priest. Tomasz Żebrowski.

Neoclassical architecture
The Neoclassical architecture in Poland was centered in Warsaw under the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski, while the modern concept of a single capital city was to some extent inapplicable in the decentralized Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Classicism came to Poland in the 18th century as the result of French infiltrations into the Polish millieu. The best-known architects and artists who worked in Poland were Dominik Merlini, Jan Chrystian Kamsetzer, Szymon Bogumił Zug, Stanisław Zawadzki, Efraim Szreger, Antonio Corazzi, Jakub Kubicki, Christian Piotr Aigner, Wawrzyniec Gucewicz, Bonifacy Witkowski and Danish Bertel Thorvaldsen.

The first stage, called the Stanislavian style, followed by an almost complete inhibition and a period known as the Congress Kingdom classicism. The palladian patterns were independently interpreted by Szymon Bogumił Zug, who followed an influence of radical French classicism. A palladian by influence was also Piotr Aigner – author of the facade of St. Anne’s Church in Warsaw (1786-1788) and St. Alexander Church (1818-1826). Palladian ideas were implemented in a popular type of a palace with a pillared portico.

The most famous buildings of the Stanislavian period include the Royal Castle in Warsaw, rebuilt by Dominik Merlini and Jan Christian Kamsetzer, Palace on the Water, Królikarnia and the palace in Jabłonna. Kamsetzer erected the Amphitheatre in the Royal Baths Park and the Warsaw palaces of the Raczyńskis and Tyszkiewiczs as well as the palace in Iskierniki. Among the most notable works by Szymon Bogumił Zug is a palace in Natolin and Holy Trinity Church and gardens: Solec, Powązki, Mokotów and Arcadia near Nieborów.

From the period of the Congress Kingdom are Koniecpolski Palace and the St. Alexander’s Church in Warsaw, the Temple of the Sibyl in Puławy, rebuilding the Łańcut Castle. The leading figure in the Congress Kingdom was Antoni Corrazzi. Corazzi has created a complex of Bank Square in Warsaw, the edifices of the Treasury, Revenue and the Commission of Government, the building of the Staszic Palace, Mostowski Palace and designed the Grand Theatre. Belvedere and Pawłowice were created by Jakub Kubicki, while Lubostroń and Dobrzyca by Stanisław Zawadzki. The notable town halls in Łowicz, Płock, Błonie, Konin and Aleksandrów Łódzki are dating back the first half of the nineteenth century.

Modernist architecture
Before World War II, modernism in Poland was the style of elite facilities, such as villas, or public buildings. At the same time, a dozen or so modernist housing estates were established, mainly cooperative ones (eg the WSM estate, TOR in Warsaw). In the 1930s, skepticism towards functionalist tendencies at the end of the 1920s was also noticed in Poland – modernist forms were combined with elements that gave buildings an impression of solidity and durability.

Before 1939, modernist-style buildings were in the largest number built in Warsaw (Saska Kępa, Stary Żoliborz, Stary Mokotów), Gdynia and Katowice (the so-called southern and Ligota districts). In these cities there are entire districts with buildings built in the modernist style. A lot of modernist buildings have also been preserved in Kraków, Lwów, Kalisz, Łódź, Stalowa Wola, Toruń and Bielsko-Biała (Aleje Sułkowskiego, Górne Przedmieście).

Post-war modernism had a much larger range. Its great bloom took place from 1956-1957, later in practice it was a state-regulated design guideline for new buildings and lasted until the end of the 1980s.

After the change of the political system in Poland in 1989, the phenomenon emphasized by journalistic and architectural circles, ie devastation and disfigurement of modernist architecture both pre-war and post-war through incompetent, tacky repairs often carried out on a massive scale not by architects but decision makers. The critics of such activity point to a bad state of knowledge about the history of architecture among the society and almost complete forgetting that modernism is perfectly characteristic of the American architect L. Sullivan’s form results from the function and the claim of the eminent Polish architect J. Grabowska-Hawrylak that modernism is characterized by beautiful, white facades and such a color should be used during renovations.

Postmodernist architecture
Postmodernism as a current in the architecture of the turn of the 20th and 21st century appeared in Poland with a long delay, for its beginning should be considered the turn of the 80s and 90s.

In sacral architecture, in which the investor (mainly the Catholic Church) and architect designing for him were not constrained by centrally set standards, and the most serious limitation was the availability of building materials, modern trends from world architecture appeared in Poland much earlier, as already in the mid -1970s. At the same time was growing criticism of industrialized construction and typical projects, and urban planning appeared in the search for spatial arrangements referring to the historical theme of the street. In single-family housing, the use of pitched roofs has been resumed.

In the mid -1980s, the first so-called seals, or buildings filling gaps in existing urban tissue. They were erected to make better use of the existing infrastructure and to improve the image of the urban space, whether in places after the historical building destroyed during the war or among large-panel buildings. The infill buildings usually referred to the image of a traditional tenement house, by introducing a mansard, peaks, bay windows or breaks, but not a direct pastiche.

The flourishing postmodernist architecture took place after 1989. Commercial buildings, such as multi-screen cinemas or shopping centers, are often examples of completely functionally solved objects, additionally decorated with towers, arches, etc. At the same time, higher-class objects were created, with a deeply thought-out form, often inscribed in the difficult urban context of the centers of big cities and interpreting the neighboring with them, old architecture.

There are several currents in Polish architecture: the nostalgic trend is very strong, striving to restore the traditional forms of architecture, manifested in the reconstruction of destroyed historical districts of many cities (Szczecin, Elbląg, and Głogów) in the 1990s. There are also neomodernist tendencies, especially in the architecture of Krakow and Warsaw.

Source from Wikipedia