DOI issue:
Nr. 4
DOI article:Artykuły
DOI article:Omilanowska-Kiljańczyk, Małgorzata: Odbudowa Kalisza po zniszczeniach 1914 roku
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.71008#0700
686
Małgorzata Omilanowska
Kalisz Rebuilt after the Destruction of 1914
The destruction resulting from the military actions
during WW I caused in numerous countries aroused
in many heated debates which were to verify views
on the rebuilding, reconstruction, and the limits of
interference into a monument, widespread before the
outbreak of the war. For the circles of Polish
conservators and architects, the benchmark in the
discussions on urban planning as well as on the
reconstruction of the lost monuments was for the
next hundred years to be found in the example of
Kalisz whose historic centre was significantly
destroyed in the first days of the war, and whose
reconstruction became the subject of interest ofboth
Polish architects and social activists, as well as
German occupation administration already during
the war.
Details of the stages of the final shape of the
reconstruction of Kalisz being crystallized are
analysed, also including the first initiatives of the
German occupation authorities and of Warsaw
architects; moreover, the history of the architectural
competition to rebuild Kalisz held for Polish
architects, formulating legal regulations allowing the
reconstruction, as well as the credit meant to support
the rebuilding project are discussed. The process to
formulate the final plan for rebuilding the city
elaborated by Helmuth Grisebach, as well as
vicissitudes of the design of a new Kalisz Town Hall
are described; the 1918 competition to design the
new Town Hall failed to yield the winner, following
which works were carried out for two years on the
design of Stefan Szyller, this to be finally rejected.
Analyses undertaken in Polish literature on the
reconstruction of Kalisz were conducted from the
perspective of negating the actual contribution of
German architects, urban planners, and admini-
strators. Meanwhile, the preliminary research of the
sources clearly demonstrates that their involvement
was extremely important, if not decisive for the final
shape of the reconstructed city. The final urban
layout for Kalisz's reconstructed city centre was
executed in the design office headed by Helmuth
Grisebach, though it was being finally shaped with the
participation of Polish urban planners who grounded
themselves on competition designs, these in turn
subjected to many suggestions formulated by the
Berlin Bopst&Caro Office. The debates on the
construction law, the urban plan of the reconstruction
of the old town, and the architectural form of
tenement houses and the Town Hall were
participated by both Polish and German members of
the local government and administration of various
levels.
Interpretatively, it has been possible to create in
Polish professional literature the myth of the Polish
character of reconstructed Kalisz, although actually
all the proposals and designs unambiguously
referring to the Polish national style were rejected in
the course of debates. The Poles were dreaming of
resuscitating a truly Polish town that Kalisz was in
their imagination, while the Germans wanted to
reconstruct the city annexed into their territory
referring to the local urban tradition co-created by
German architects and urban-planners. The final
urban and architectural shape of the centre of Kalisz
turned out to be the sum of the knowledge,
experience, and creativity of the participants in the
multi-stage process of shaping it.
Translated by Magdalena Iwińska
Małgorzata Omilanowska
Kalisz Rebuilt after the Destruction of 1914
The destruction resulting from the military actions
during WW I caused in numerous countries aroused
in many heated debates which were to verify views
on the rebuilding, reconstruction, and the limits of
interference into a monument, widespread before the
outbreak of the war. For the circles of Polish
conservators and architects, the benchmark in the
discussions on urban planning as well as on the
reconstruction of the lost monuments was for the
next hundred years to be found in the example of
Kalisz whose historic centre was significantly
destroyed in the first days of the war, and whose
reconstruction became the subject of interest ofboth
Polish architects and social activists, as well as
German occupation administration already during
the war.
Details of the stages of the final shape of the
reconstruction of Kalisz being crystallized are
analysed, also including the first initiatives of the
German occupation authorities and of Warsaw
architects; moreover, the history of the architectural
competition to rebuild Kalisz held for Polish
architects, formulating legal regulations allowing the
reconstruction, as well as the credit meant to support
the rebuilding project are discussed. The process to
formulate the final plan for rebuilding the city
elaborated by Helmuth Grisebach, as well as
vicissitudes of the design of a new Kalisz Town Hall
are described; the 1918 competition to design the
new Town Hall failed to yield the winner, following
which works were carried out for two years on the
design of Stefan Szyller, this to be finally rejected.
Analyses undertaken in Polish literature on the
reconstruction of Kalisz were conducted from the
perspective of negating the actual contribution of
German architects, urban planners, and admini-
strators. Meanwhile, the preliminary research of the
sources clearly demonstrates that their involvement
was extremely important, if not decisive for the final
shape of the reconstructed city. The final urban
layout for Kalisz's reconstructed city centre was
executed in the design office headed by Helmuth
Grisebach, though it was being finally shaped with the
participation of Polish urban planners who grounded
themselves on competition designs, these in turn
subjected to many suggestions formulated by the
Berlin Bopst&Caro Office. The debates on the
construction law, the urban plan of the reconstruction
of the old town, and the architectural form of
tenement houses and the Town Hall were
participated by both Polish and German members of
the local government and administration of various
levels.
Interpretatively, it has been possible to create in
Polish professional literature the myth of the Polish
character of reconstructed Kalisz, although actually
all the proposals and designs unambiguously
referring to the Polish national style were rejected in
the course of debates. The Poles were dreaming of
resuscitating a truly Polish town that Kalisz was in
their imagination, while the Germans wanted to
reconstruct the city annexed into their territory
referring to the local urban tradition co-created by
German architects and urban-planners. The final
urban and architectural shape of the centre of Kalisz
turned out to be the sum of the knowledge,
experience, and creativity of the participants in the
multi-stage process of shaping it.
Translated by Magdalena Iwińska