The restoration of Polish cities from WW2 destruction

The criteria were often ideological - e.g, communists didn`t care about tenement houses from 19th/early 20th century as having capitalist background and atmosphere. They prefered to have older architecture rebuilt. Even churches, which always surprised me. But we should remember that it wasn`t only communists but primarily pre-war architects who led the reconstruction - they were supervised by communists but often managed to implement their own ideas.

Another difficulty apart from politics was the lack of funds, labour and contruction materials. E.g., Warsaw sucked in bricks from other cities which weren`t reconstructed, mainly ex German ones.

I don`t know much about similar ideological tensions in Syria - the main problem will be money - Syria is ruined and has scarce income. International help will be a must.

Now, after Poland joined the EU and is developing fast, local councils have money to restore their destroyed Old Towns which weren`t rebuilt after the war until today.

They are not faithful or at least similar copies of the pre-war architecture but free variations of pseudo historic style . I must say I don`t like this approach too much but stil it is better than a barren weed-grown terrain.

See Elbląg. The first picture shows a complete desert which was once a busy, densely populated Old Town. The war caused 98% destruction and the area remained desolate for over 50 years

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Głogów - the same story as Elbląg. Barren ground in the centre for over 50 years. Until 21st century.

Yes, I admit, it is amazing that life comes back to historical places but still it looks a bit doubtful..... Or am I too fussy coz I am a perfectionist??

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The old town of Kołobrzeg (Kolberg) has been rebuilt in the same style. It looks pretty nice indeed, though, since the magnificent old cathedral has been restored (not sure how much of it survived the WW II) and is now a piece of authentic reality from the time before the war.

The worst was when the commie authorities built socialist-style blocks of flats as a replacement for the old buildings.

Ziem, you are a genius coz I was going to mention Kołobrzeg (the town where I spent a year as a child) as well as socialsi thousing estates replacing old architecture. Great minds think alike.

I know what you mean, because I'm like that too... But I'm afraid the reality is that a faithful reconstruction would be more expensive, difficult and would take more time.

Here's an interesting article about the pretty "barbaric" reconstruction of tenement houses in Gdańsk during communist times:

odbudowarekonstrukcjapogania.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/mity-odbudowy-glownego-miasta-w-gdansku-cz-2/

This is an example of not a very faithful reconstruction of such tenement house - on the left the scientific reconstruction and on the right the project approved for realisation:



The project on the right is simplified and has more storeys - probably to fit in more flats for people to live in.

Yes, we can complain today that what professional architects wished for and what communists gave the green light to were sometimes very different. But we should be still happy they didn`t build socialist blocks there, as Ziemowit mentioned about other unlucky towns.

So, the Old Town was so badly ruined they pulled down almost everything, including front walls which were still standing and built new houses in the place.

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I don't get why Polish architects today try to emulate Scandinavian-like designs. It looks sterile in a Slavic country, out of place. Kinda cold as Polish summers are cloudier than in Sweden except for Subkarpatian.

Germany, Hungary and to a lesser extend Czechia & Slovakia meanwhile have adopted new styles that match the surroundings more, at least in colors (e.g. pale yellow new flat in an area with old yellow and orange houses).

Are you talking about the restoration of destroyed districts or architecture in general?

Both actually.

yes, but with some differences. The restoration of Kołobrzeg started in 1980s, that is why most houses in newly built blocks (kwartały) are bigger, wider, heavier and less colourful. But when I look at pre-war postcards of Kolberg, the original houses were also plain.

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After mentioning Kołobrzeg, it was your second remark which had been at gthe back of my head waiting for a proper opoortunity.

A few dozen ex German towns in Regained Lands were so unlucky - instead of rebuilding old tenement houses or at least erecting a mock up of old blocks, local authorities resorted to socialist architecture. Yes, we know - they had no money, specialists or materials, and Warsaw needed millions of bricks for its own restoration. Those German towns were doomed, sort of. Pity.

One example: Lwówek Ślaski - compare before and after WW2.

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There has been still a worse fate than socialist blocks replacing old tenement houses. NOTHING! No rebuilding at all. This happened to Kostrzyń nad Odrą. Germans turned it into a fortress and defended fanatically for a few weeks. The Old Town was razed to the ground and never rebuilt.

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I like those mixed buildings - half old, half new.
A very good example is an office building in Warsaw whose bottom part was an element of the Jewish Ghetto wall during WW2. Hats off to new owners they kept the historical part.

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Today, most Polish cities and some towns consists of 3 layers:
1. Old centre in the middle
2. Communist architecture around the centre
3. Mixed communist and capitalist suburbs.

Just look

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A mix of architectural styles.

Why is there such a big layer of communist architecture in big cities? Can you guess? I don`t mean the restoration after WW2 destruction.

Post war development (not unique to countries that had communist governments), a need for housing, increased urbanisation, and the fact that industrial growth came relatively late to Poland with the industrial boom happening from the 60s onwards.

Yes. Communists built heavy industry to produce armament for the Cold War needs. They needed workers so peasants were encouraged to move to cities which expanded enormously, coz for centuries they had been underdeveloped with smaller populations than in other countries. Due to the ruling noble class` policy, Poland had been a rural, not urban country.

I guess a better question would be why did communists have no sense of aesthetics?

Socialist/realist architecture;
socialist in content, national in form. You and Iron should adore it.

They (or specifically the architects they employed) certainly had a sense of aesthetics. Post war housing in industrial Europe however had to be built cheaply and quickly and that is the same whether the country's political system was on the left or the right. IMO, many of the social housing blocks of the same era in Warsaw compare very well to some of the ones in London or Manchester or Glasgow.

Perhaps if fascists hadn't destroyed so much of Poland, there'd have been the money to build prettier buildings.

Of course if you want very attractive large scale social housing, several of the suburbs of Paris are the best place to look. Was France communist? No. Were the local authorities who built the best blocks there communist? Sometimes. That or Socialist. Were the architects who designed them communist? Very often yes.

It must be admitted that Poles no longer build large houses, but increasingly small ones, nicely finished like in the West. They also abandon fences and create open driveways for cars.

Show me where you live and I'll tell you who you are. 🤔

There are some massive new rezydencji near me, every single one of them with big metal fences around. That's the same in all of the posher places around Warsaw.

They will always be like this, but there are also many small houses being built, often terraced houses, as well as small apartment blocks.

That's quite a new thing and a positive one.

After living in UK - not a great fun.

Nicer on the whole than flats and of course more economical with land than the bland post-1990 bungalows that spoil so many Polish villages.

I ran into this article titled What happened in the city of Piła? and was quite surprised coz they attached a photo of a beautiful old town to it. Later I realised it didn`t show Piła but Toruń!

Piła was a German city before WW2. Today it is in north-western Poland. During the war 80% of its area was razed to the ground but they rebuilt it with socialist architecture. Pity. Some quarters were never restored - check the last photo.

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Or the opposite.

And it's modern architecture more than anything political.

The old town looks pretty in old photos, however at least the new housing has enough space, proper bathrooms and no rats, damp or exploitative private 'landlords'.


It looks beautiful. Lots of green space and nice warm homes.