DOI article:
Getka-Kenig, Mikołaj: Traktat Sebastiana Sierakowskiego a problem popularyzacji wiedzy architektonicznej w Księstwie Warszawskim
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44918#0097
education and practice. He speaks of the one who “taught the first modern lesson
of architecture to those who went on to create their works during the first half of
the nineteenth century” - the very J.N.L. Durand, whose publications enjoyed
great popularity in Poland at that time.11 From this point of view, the treatise by
Sierakowski (who - from a conservative position - undertook polemics with the
theses of the lecturer of the Paris Ecole polytechniąue, who was a contemporary of
his) necessarily fell in the category of pre-modern texts.12
The bibliography of studies on Sierakowskis treatise, outlined above, oscillated
between two opposing perspectives of looking at that works historical significance.
For some, this was a publication that concluded the early modern period, while
for others, it laid foundations for a modern way of thinking. At the same time,
however, everyone perceived in this book a work that was unique, because it had
no precedent in the Polish publishing market in terms of its thematic scope. This
fact has also attracted the attention of the American researcher Carolyn C. Guile,
author of the essay on Sebastian Sierakowski, S.J. and the Language of Architecture:
a Jesuit Life during the Era of Suppression and Restoration, published in 2014 in the
collection Jesuit Survival and Restoration: A Global History, 1773-1990 d3 She did
not analyse the Architecture treatise from the point of view of the history of thought
or architectural practice structured periodically, epoch after epoch; instead, she
focused on the socio-cultural dimension of the publication. Instead of considering
Sierakowskis work in the context of earlier and later statements about architecture,
Carolyn Guile investigated the historical moment in which this publication occurred,
trying to answer the question about the meaning of this unique text for Sierakowski s
contemporaries. This is all the morę justified because, as she pointed out, there is no
shortage of political references in the treatise. In her interpretation, Sierakowskis
book was intended to disseminate the classical architectural principles that would
not only contribute to the maintenance of national culture during the time of the
suppression of the Polish State, but that would also in themselves have regenerative
qualities. Thus, morę than the place of the treatise in the history of architectural
thought, her interest was directed at what the treatise had to say about the place of
architecture in contemporary culture.
Nevertheless, the truły innovative (and even brilliant) approach to the Architec-
ture treatise, which was proposed by Carolyn Guile, has one major disadvantage.
The researcher considers the political significance of Sierakowskis publication
from the point of view of a generally understood historical period, in which the
author was active in the architectural sphere (from the reign of Stanisław August,
to the first years of the Kingdom of Poland and the Free City of Kraków), without
paying attention to the specifics of the particular historical moment when the
treatise was published, and when it took its finał form, which is the subject of the
analysis. This approach translates into a certain superficiality of the interpretation
that she proposes. We are talking here about the truncated Polish State, “resurrected”
by Napoleon in 1807, known as the Duchy of Warsaw, whose significance for the
11 A. Rottermund, Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand a polska architektura 1 połowy xix wieku, Wrocław
1990, p. 8.
12 Ibidem, pp. 65-66.
13 C.C. Guile, Sebastian Sierakowski, S.J. and the Language of Architecture, in: Jesuit Survival and
Restoration: A Global History, 1773-1900, R. A. Maryks, J. Wright (eds.), Leiden 2014, pp. 99-126.
Sebastian Sierakowskie treatise and the question of disseminating architectural knowledge... 95
of architecture to those who went on to create their works during the first half of
the nineteenth century” - the very J.N.L. Durand, whose publications enjoyed
great popularity in Poland at that time.11 From this point of view, the treatise by
Sierakowski (who - from a conservative position - undertook polemics with the
theses of the lecturer of the Paris Ecole polytechniąue, who was a contemporary of
his) necessarily fell in the category of pre-modern texts.12
The bibliography of studies on Sierakowskis treatise, outlined above, oscillated
between two opposing perspectives of looking at that works historical significance.
For some, this was a publication that concluded the early modern period, while
for others, it laid foundations for a modern way of thinking. At the same time,
however, everyone perceived in this book a work that was unique, because it had
no precedent in the Polish publishing market in terms of its thematic scope. This
fact has also attracted the attention of the American researcher Carolyn C. Guile,
author of the essay on Sebastian Sierakowski, S.J. and the Language of Architecture:
a Jesuit Life during the Era of Suppression and Restoration, published in 2014 in the
collection Jesuit Survival and Restoration: A Global History, 1773-1990 d3 She did
not analyse the Architecture treatise from the point of view of the history of thought
or architectural practice structured periodically, epoch after epoch; instead, she
focused on the socio-cultural dimension of the publication. Instead of considering
Sierakowskis work in the context of earlier and later statements about architecture,
Carolyn Guile investigated the historical moment in which this publication occurred,
trying to answer the question about the meaning of this unique text for Sierakowski s
contemporaries. This is all the morę justified because, as she pointed out, there is no
shortage of political references in the treatise. In her interpretation, Sierakowskis
book was intended to disseminate the classical architectural principles that would
not only contribute to the maintenance of national culture during the time of the
suppression of the Polish State, but that would also in themselves have regenerative
qualities. Thus, morę than the place of the treatise in the history of architectural
thought, her interest was directed at what the treatise had to say about the place of
architecture in contemporary culture.
Nevertheless, the truły innovative (and even brilliant) approach to the Architec-
ture treatise, which was proposed by Carolyn Guile, has one major disadvantage.
The researcher considers the political significance of Sierakowskis publication
from the point of view of a generally understood historical period, in which the
author was active in the architectural sphere (from the reign of Stanisław August,
to the first years of the Kingdom of Poland and the Free City of Kraków), without
paying attention to the specifics of the particular historical moment when the
treatise was published, and when it took its finał form, which is the subject of the
analysis. This approach translates into a certain superficiality of the interpretation
that she proposes. We are talking here about the truncated Polish State, “resurrected”
by Napoleon in 1807, known as the Duchy of Warsaw, whose significance for the
11 A. Rottermund, Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand a polska architektura 1 połowy xix wieku, Wrocław
1990, p. 8.
12 Ibidem, pp. 65-66.
13 C.C. Guile, Sebastian Sierakowski, S.J. and the Language of Architecture, in: Jesuit Survival and
Restoration: A Global History, 1773-1900, R. A. Maryks, J. Wright (eds.), Leiden 2014, pp. 99-126.
Sebastian Sierakowskie treatise and the question of disseminating architectural knowledge... 95