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Barbara Arciszewska, Makary Górzyński
URBAN NARRATIVES IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS:
EARLY 20th CENTURY IDEAS TO MODERNIZE WARSAW"
INTRODUCTION
At the turn of the twentieth century, Warsaw was the third lar-
gest town of the Russian Empire and became a metropolitan city, with
approximately 700 000 inhabitants in 19001. As Stefan Muthesius has
recently demonstrated, it was a moment when broad public concern for
architecture and urban planning begun to shape debates about how to
take advantage of this rapid development and modernize Warsaw2. “Like
an adolescent, Warsaw is growing and developing, but we can notice
some almost invisible deviations, an unhealthy humpback, morbidly un-
derdeveloped limbs, anemia hidden behind a fleeting blush, and as
a consequence we see deficiencies and moral flaws” - this is how Adolf
Suligowski (1849-1932), a celebrated Polish lawyer and social activist,
* The preliminary draft of this text was prepared by Makary Górzyński for the tutori-
al of Prof. Agnieszka Zablocka-Kos (Institute of Art History, University of Wroclaw) in the
Collegium Invisibile (academic year 2013/2014). The current version is a result of collabo-
ration between mgr Górzyński and Prof. Barbara Arciszewska in the academic year 2014-
2015 (Institute of Art History, University of Warsaw). M. Górzyński wants to thank his co-
Author, Prof. Arciszewska and Prof. Zablocka-Kos for their support during the work on
this article. Lange’s ideas have been also presented by Prof. Zablocka-Kos (Politische
Stadträume in West- und Ostmitteleuropa im langen 19. Jahrhundert im Vergleich, “Work-
shop: Politische Architektur in Mitteleuropa im langen 19. Jahrhundert”, ll-12th Decem-
ber 2014, Polnische Akademie der Wissenschaften - Wissenschaftliches Zentrum in Wien,)
and M. Górzyński (Urban Narrative of Political Revolution: Antoni Lange and his 1906
“The Warsaw Dreams” Project, “The Creative City”, 6th Annual International Conference
of PHD Candidates”, 13th May 2015, Department of Art History and Cultural Heritage,
Faculty of Arts, University of Ostrava; Trzecia stolica Imperium. Warszawa przyszłości
zimą 1906 roku, Zjazd wiosenny Collegium Invisibile, 13th June 2015, Warsaw).
1 S. Kieniewicz, Warszawa 1795-1918, Warszawa 1976 (Dzieje Warszawy, 3), p. 185.
2 S. Muthesius, Warsaw’s Poniatowski Viaduct: The World’s First Elevated Urban
Expressway, “Journal Society of Architectural Historians”, 72, 2013, no. 2 (June 2013),
pp. 205-220.
URBAN NARRATIVES IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS:
EARLY 20th CENTURY IDEAS TO MODERNIZE WARSAW"
INTRODUCTION
At the turn of the twentieth century, Warsaw was the third lar-
gest town of the Russian Empire and became a metropolitan city, with
approximately 700 000 inhabitants in 19001. As Stefan Muthesius has
recently demonstrated, it was a moment when broad public concern for
architecture and urban planning begun to shape debates about how to
take advantage of this rapid development and modernize Warsaw2. “Like
an adolescent, Warsaw is growing and developing, but we can notice
some almost invisible deviations, an unhealthy humpback, morbidly un-
derdeveloped limbs, anemia hidden behind a fleeting blush, and as
a consequence we see deficiencies and moral flaws” - this is how Adolf
Suligowski (1849-1932), a celebrated Polish lawyer and social activist,
* The preliminary draft of this text was prepared by Makary Górzyński for the tutori-
al of Prof. Agnieszka Zablocka-Kos (Institute of Art History, University of Wroclaw) in the
Collegium Invisibile (academic year 2013/2014). The current version is a result of collabo-
ration between mgr Górzyński and Prof. Barbara Arciszewska in the academic year 2014-
2015 (Institute of Art History, University of Warsaw). M. Górzyński wants to thank his co-
Author, Prof. Arciszewska and Prof. Zablocka-Kos for their support during the work on
this article. Lange’s ideas have been also presented by Prof. Zablocka-Kos (Politische
Stadträume in West- und Ostmitteleuropa im langen 19. Jahrhundert im Vergleich, “Work-
shop: Politische Architektur in Mitteleuropa im langen 19. Jahrhundert”, ll-12th Decem-
ber 2014, Polnische Akademie der Wissenschaften - Wissenschaftliches Zentrum in Wien,)
and M. Górzyński (Urban Narrative of Political Revolution: Antoni Lange and his 1906
“The Warsaw Dreams” Project, “The Creative City”, 6th Annual International Conference
of PHD Candidates”, 13th May 2015, Department of Art History and Cultural Heritage,
Faculty of Arts, University of Ostrava; Trzecia stolica Imperium. Warszawa przyszłości
zimą 1906 roku, Zjazd wiosenny Collegium Invisibile, 13th June 2015, Warsaw).
1 S. Kieniewicz, Warszawa 1795-1918, Warszawa 1976 (Dzieje Warszawy, 3), p. 185.
2 S. Muthesius, Warsaw’s Poniatowski Viaduct: The World’s First Elevated Urban
Expressway, “Journal Society of Architectural Historians”, 72, 2013, no. 2 (June 2013),
pp. 205-220.
