Polish Architecture

Bellotto`s (also called Canaletto) paintings were used by architects who reconstructed destroyed Warsaw after the war.

However, only the Old City was reconstructed more lor less faithfully under communism. Many 19 century bourgeoisie houses which survived the war were castrated of their ornaments, see the difference:

Wow, that is amazing.
I have never seen that before.

wooden houses are typical only in our neighbourhood.

Poland:

Russia:

Sweden:



Norway:

On one of the photos you can see the black sculpture on the pedestal outside of the church. That's Piotr Skarga, one of many modern, ugly things which seem to be put in random places, among old buildings, without paying any attention to the way the public space is used by people. Usually the sculptures depict John Paul II, (you might see samples here:

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomniki_papie%C5%BCa_Jana_Paw%C5%82a_II
and next one is probably going to be thrown onto Wawel hill.
That's one of the dark sides of Polish town planning.


First two show an art nouveau palace of the Associaton for the Friends of Art, the next two show the theatre. There is also great modern gallery there, called Bunkier Sztuki (Art Bunker).


Soot is not the biggest problem of Kraków buildings, more harm is being made by the acid rains.


That actually depends of the region. The north of Poland has been deeply influenced by German construction style (the typical for the North brick nogged timber wall is even called the Prussian wall):

(yes, I know it's quite similar to the British half-timbering :) Gorgious samples can be seen in Gdansk, the old city there looks like old Anntwerp. Or Brughes :) )


You got it right the second time. Robert Konieczny :)
He was also nominated for the World Architecture Festival Award worldarchitecturefestival.com/whatson_shortlist_crits_gallery.cfm?projectCategoryId=17 (the houses category featured the Irish Sleeping Giant as well, too bad none of them won).


Canaletto's (Bernardo Bellotto's) :)
Warsaw old city looked like that:
There is a nice exposition showing the old / new Warsaw called Miasto Feniksa - War*Saw Eyerything, the shots taken in 1944 during Warsaw Uprising were merged with the present views of the same streets:

kultura.wp.pl/gid,10208859,galeria.html?T

I don't even know where to start on Polish Architecture, I will need to come back to this topic in some spare moment. With the photos of medieval castles, Polish noblemen's manors (they are copied everywhere across the country and the results can be absolutely great - or truly miserable). With the old and new bridges - I totally love this one:

Warszawa, Most Świętokrzyski
... with Kraków I love, with Kazimierz nad Wisłą, with industrial £ódź and good and bad examples of rural houses...

Fantastic start!.

If you come to my place i have a book in Polish all about Polish buildings...it was presented to me by head of childrens foundation...some very nice pics in it....its called ...Polska piekno architektury..by Agnieszka and Wlodek bilinscy....oh and its in English text too...

Phew! i would not be able to read a book about Polish Architecture for a long long time.
And thank you for your kind offer.

On the corner. Karmelickiej i Batorego you can find Teodor Talowski's house Kamienica Pod Pająkiem, ( Grand old building under the spider).
I don't know why but this is my favourite building in Krakow.
It is asymmetrical, which normally I dislike but some how it balances itself.
I also like the spiders on the doors and the roof, like a fair tale building.

I do wonder where the city of Warsaw finds the morons who write their slogans. We've gone from the dire "Let's Warsaw together" to the banal "War*Saw Eyerything".

Why not just be honest and use a slogan like "Warsaw: not as shit as you think!"?

lol thats a great selling point

trying the irfanview. damm too big.

Try to edit -> resize the photo and then go to "save as" and play with the quality slider to the right, it can save you a lot of disc space. Also, do not save any additional data, eg EXIF, it's a few kb less as well.

This is my favorite Modern building in Krakow.
Set in amongst the older buildings, in side Planty 2 mins walk from the main market square.
Is this: e-architect.co.uk/poland/krakow-information-centre - KRAKOW CITY INFORMATION AND EXHIBITION CENTER
THE PAVILION "WYSPIANSKI 2000"





And just in case you have forgotten, WYSPIANSKI is one of Poland's greatest artists. (but i know you could never do such a thing ;).

Stanisław Wyspiański: "God the Father the Creator" - stained-glass window that can be found adjacent to this THE PAVILION "WYSPIANSKI 2000" in the Franciscian Church in Kraków beside THE PAVILION "WYSPIANSKI 2000"

Also check this thread for new stadiums in Poland. thanks to a very informative poster McCoy.

Krakow was the foggiest I have ever seen it today.
Looked magical/mystical to me.
The architecture lends itself well to the atmosphere of this wonderful city.

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'Szlak architektury drewnianej'
There is a 'Wooden Architectural Building trail' here in Małapolska.
Here is the site's link with map in English szlak.wrotamalopolski.pl/EN/?opis=2
There are too many buildings to post on here but i did visit one in Rdzawce yesterday.
Since yesterday, it is completely covered in snow :)

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Branicki residency in Białystok, Poland.

Who is Branicki?.
Old money I presume, from nobility?.

not polish architecture, but from Poland:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vang_stave_church

Count Jan Klemens Branicki, Great Crown Hetman and patron of art and science.

This residency has been build in late 18th century.

- Prince, was he the collaborator with the Russian invaders?

Wow, Relocated from Norway, impressive.


Wow again, with a name like that he would need to be rich, imagine the size of his business card :)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamość

The plan of the defensive wall reminds me of the town wall of Nicosia, Cyprus.
Venetian city wall, built between 1567 and 1570:

Yeah, sure. Nicosia was fortified by Venetians in 1567. Its the same period of time and pretty close design.

Raczyński Liblary Poznań

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raczyński_Library_in_Poznań

Great design for fortification.


Strange the way the columns only start about half way up, do you know the reason or was it just the fashion of the day?.

Prince, was Branicki whom you mention the Branicki who callaborated with the Russkies?
:)

Silent is keepin' 'Prince,' in spite of my asking him twice a polite question. What rudeness. What kind of 'Prince' is that?
:)

Ossoilineum in Wroclaw, Poland is a beauty:

This building is easily missed. Although close to Rynek, it is still out of the way. If you're looking for it... it is within 100m of Hala Targowa.

I will add more pictures with places from different regions of Poland and smaller "Dworki". There is a lot of such buildings in Pland because 10% of Polish people were members of aristocracy in comparison to for example England where it was just 1% of people.

Great, I look forward to more :) I never knew there were so many here, they are wonderful.

Dworki Polskie ( Polish Manor houses):

jan-wlodarczyk.com/zdjecia,-dworki,polskie,zabytki,architektura-,41,,oraz.html