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DOI Artikel:Arciszewska, Barbara; Górzyński, Makary: Urban narratives in the age of revolutions: early 20th century ideas to modernize Warsaw
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42380#0115
URBAN NARRATIVES IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EARLY 20th CENTURY IDEAS
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bridge across the Vistula. But, as Górski summarized in 1906, the town
administration was unable to complete most of these investments39. The
ambitious projects for the new schools or central slaughterhouse were
delayed or stuck in bureaucratic commissions, slowed by lobbyists’ ma-
chinations and inter-ministry consultations. Górski criticized Warsaw’s
municipal administration as a group of inactive conformists who led the
city to collapse. He even claimed that the municipal economy was condu-
cive to robbery and exploitation, mentioning that Warsaw subsidized
Russian military operations in the Far East during the Russian -
Japanese war40. Górski related the precarious situation of the former
Polish capital to the ambiguous attitudes of Russia’s central administra-
tion towards the Polish Kingdom, treated with distrust and to some ex-
tent with semi-colonial disdain41. In light of Gorski’s publication, it is
evident that urban planning policies after 1870 were limited in Russian
Poland by fiscal constraints and the absence of initiative among munici-
pal or governorate administration. Still, Warsaw as the largest city and
the centre of Russian administration, managed to carry out successfully
several important investments, like the first elevated urban expressway
in the world, that linked the new bridge on the Vistula with the upper
town42. Malte Rolf has rightly stressed, however, that the new market
halls, Ujazdowski public gardens or several luxury townhouses remained
isolated new islands of modern urban culture in the rather dreary land-
scape of Warsaw43. All the factors mentioned above, combined with a lack
of professional architectural education in Russian Poland before 189844,
made urban development more difficult here than in other parts of con-
temporary Europe.
39 Ibidem, p. 39.
40 Ibidem, p. 40.
41 For a discussion of post-colonial methods in Polish historiography see: J. Kienie-
wicz, Ekspansja, kolonializm, cywilizacja, Warszawa 2008; idem, Inteligencja, imperium
i cywilizacje w XIX i XX wieku Warszawa 2008; Postkolonialne badania nad kulturą i cy-
wilizacją polską, ed. K. Stępnik, D. Trześniowski, Lublin 2010; M. Dąsał, “Dekolonizacja
umysłów”. Zarys postkolonialnej perspektywy poznawczej z uwzględnieniem Polski i jej re-
gionów, in: Perspektywy poznawcze w kulturze europejskiej. Studium porównawcze, ed.
B. Płonka-Syroka, E.I. Rudolf, Wrocław 2012, pp. 169-193. See also the entire issue of
„Historyka” entitled „Postcolonial Galicia: Prospects and Possibilities”, vol. XLII, 2012,
http://historyka.edu.pPen/article/art/historica-2012-29/ (accessed March, 2015).
42 Muthesius, op. cit.
43 Rolf, op. cit., p. 153.
44 When Tsar Nicolas II Institute of Technology was established in Warsaw in 1898,
the faculty of engineering and architecture was one of its mainstays, see: Fragmenty stu-
letniej historii 1899-1999. Ludzie Fakty Wydarzenia. W stulecie organizacji warszawskich
architektów, ed. T. Barucki, Warszawa 2001.
113
bridge across the Vistula. But, as Górski summarized in 1906, the town
administration was unable to complete most of these investments39. The
ambitious projects for the new schools or central slaughterhouse were
delayed or stuck in bureaucratic commissions, slowed by lobbyists’ ma-
chinations and inter-ministry consultations. Górski criticized Warsaw’s
municipal administration as a group of inactive conformists who led the
city to collapse. He even claimed that the municipal economy was condu-
cive to robbery and exploitation, mentioning that Warsaw subsidized
Russian military operations in the Far East during the Russian -
Japanese war40. Górski related the precarious situation of the former
Polish capital to the ambiguous attitudes of Russia’s central administra-
tion towards the Polish Kingdom, treated with distrust and to some ex-
tent with semi-colonial disdain41. In light of Gorski’s publication, it is
evident that urban planning policies after 1870 were limited in Russian
Poland by fiscal constraints and the absence of initiative among munici-
pal or governorate administration. Still, Warsaw as the largest city and
the centre of Russian administration, managed to carry out successfully
several important investments, like the first elevated urban expressway
in the world, that linked the new bridge on the Vistula with the upper
town42. Malte Rolf has rightly stressed, however, that the new market
halls, Ujazdowski public gardens or several luxury townhouses remained
isolated new islands of modern urban culture in the rather dreary land-
scape of Warsaw43. All the factors mentioned above, combined with a lack
of professional architectural education in Russian Poland before 189844,
made urban development more difficult here than in other parts of con-
temporary Europe.
39 Ibidem, p. 39.
40 Ibidem, p. 40.
41 For a discussion of post-colonial methods in Polish historiography see: J. Kienie-
wicz, Ekspansja, kolonializm, cywilizacja, Warszawa 2008; idem, Inteligencja, imperium
i cywilizacje w XIX i XX wieku Warszawa 2008; Postkolonialne badania nad kulturą i cy-
wilizacją polską, ed. K. Stępnik, D. Trześniowski, Lublin 2010; M. Dąsał, “Dekolonizacja
umysłów”. Zarys postkolonialnej perspektywy poznawczej z uwzględnieniem Polski i jej re-
gionów, in: Perspektywy poznawcze w kulturze europejskiej. Studium porównawcze, ed.
B. Płonka-Syroka, E.I. Rudolf, Wrocław 2012, pp. 169-193. See also the entire issue of
„Historyka” entitled „Postcolonial Galicia: Prospects and Possibilities”, vol. XLII, 2012,
http://historyka.edu.pPen/article/art/historica-2012-29/ (accessed March, 2015).
42 Muthesius, op. cit.
43 Rolf, op. cit., p. 153.
44 When Tsar Nicolas II Institute of Technology was established in Warsaw in 1898,
the faculty of engineering and architecture was one of its mainstays, see: Fragmenty stu-
letniej historii 1899-1999. Ludzie Fakty Wydarzenia. W stulecie organizacji warszawskich
architektów, ed. T. Barucki, Warszawa 2001.