What about the Phoenix? Conservation Dilemmas and Truoblesome Heritage. Debate

On June 2, the International Cultural Centre will host a debate devoted to the Feniks tenement house in the Market Square in Krakow. Participants: Dr. hab. Aneta Borowik, Grzegorz Piątek, Anna Syska, Professor Andrzej Szczerski, Dr. Michał Wiśniewski. Hosts: Magdalena Kursa, Michał Olszewski.

The House of the Feniks Insurance Company at the Market Square in Krakow is a unique record of changes taking place in Polish architecture of the first half of the 20th century and an intriguing conservation problem. Just before the First World War, to make place for a new hotel at the corner of the Market Square and Św. Jana Street, the walls of medieval tenement houses were demolished. The new building did not begin to be erected until the end of the 1920s. Initially, the design referred to baroque forms, then to the native Renaissance, and finally its author, Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz, gave it a modern, modernist shape. The building aroused controversy from the very beginning, often anger and resentment. During the occupation, the modernist facades of Feniks were considered unworthy of Adolf Hitler Platz, as the Market Square was called at that time. The German reconstruction according to Georg Stahl's design changed the character of the building, erasing its modernist quality.

After the war, this place continued to influence Krakow's architecture. For several years it housed the Miastoprojekt office, where the design for Nowa Huta was created. However, it was not a time to reflect on the architecture of interwar modernism. Today we are faced with the question of how to deal with buildings with such history. The passage of time necessitates further conservation works. How to run them? What is more important: the value of heritage and history, or the attractive form of a symbol of modernity lost during the Nazi occupation?

Participants: Dr. hab. Aneta Borowik, Grzegorz Piątek, Anna Syska, Professor Andrzej Szczerski, Dr. Michał Wiśniewski.

Hosts: Magdalena Kursa, Michał Olszewski

Date: June 2, 18.00

Venue: The International Cultural Centre, Rynek Główny 25, the Ravens Hall

The meeting with interpreting into Polish Sign Language will be streamed on the ICC Facebook profile.

Dr. hab. Aneta Borowik— Polish art historian, doctor of humanities. Lecturer at the University of Silesia in Katowice. Author of numerous publications devoted to Polish architects active in the 19th and 20th centuries. She headed the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments as the Deputy, and then (until September 2015) as the Silesian Provincial Conservator of Monuments in Katowice. From November 2018 to February 2019, she was the Małopolska Provincial Conservator of Monuments. As an expert, she cooperated with the International Cultural Centre, the Regional Heritage Institute in Katowice and the Europa Nostra Award Committee. She was also the Chairperson of the Programme and Business Council at the Department of Art History at the University of Silesia in Katowice. She is involved in the promotion of the cultural heritage of Upper Silesia and the Dąbrowa Basin. She actively works for the protection of the monuments of the region. She collaborated with the Institute of Architecture in Krakow on the catalogue of the exhibition “Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz reactionary modernist” and on the development of the Krakow route of modernism.

Grzegorz Piątek – Polish architect, critic and historian of architecture, in 2005–2011 editor of the “Architektura-Murator” monthly, in 2011–2019 member of the board of the Architecture Centre Foundation. In 2008–2009, he was the coordinator of the architectural part of Polska! Year – the Polish cultural season in Great Britain. Curator of exhibitions and art projects related to architecture. Author of books and articles on architecture, design, and the city.

Anna Syska – architectural historian, she worked at the Silesian Centre for Cultural Heritage and the Regional Institute of Culture in Katowice. Her research focuses on the cultural heritage of the Silesian Voivodeship and Western Lesser Poland, especially the architecture of the 20th century, industrial heritage, and post-war architectural decorations. Her research interests include also the architecture of the Bata company, Tychy and sports architecture. Co-author of the book “Styl gotycki wyklucza się. Międzywojenna architektura w województwie śląskim”, editor of “Podróż ku nowoczesności. Architektura XX wieku w województwie śląskim” and “Tak, pałac! Pałac Kultury Zagłębia 1958–2018”. Author of numerous essays on architectural history, which she published in: “Herito”, “Architektura & Biznes”, “Arch”, “Archivolta”, “Artpunkt”, “Autoportret”, “Estetyka i Krytyka”, “Zabytki. Heritage”. She is the founder of the Napraw Sobie Miasto Foundation.

Professor Andrzej Szczerski – art historian and critic, lecturer and head of museum curating studies (2005–2011) at the Institute of Art History of the Jagiellonian University. He also lectured at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main (2003) and at the University of St. Andrews in Great Britain (2004). Fellow of numerous universities and research institutes, among them Oxford University, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich, Universita per Stanieri in Perugia. He also obtained scholarships from the Lanckoroński Foundation and the Foundation for Polish Science, as well as grants from the National Science Centre and the National Program for the Development of Humanities. Laureate of the City of Krakow Award (1996) and the Awards of the Rector of the Jagiellonian University. In 2018, he received the annual Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage in the category of “Protection of cultural heritage”. Author of numerous publications. Director of the National Museum in Krakow.

Dr. Michał Wiśniewski ­– a graduate of the Institute of Art History of the Jagiellonian University and the Faculty of Architecture of the Krakow University of Technology. He works at the International Cultural Centre, involved in the development of post-graduate studies at the Academy of Heritage, and lectures at the Krakow University of Economics. Fulbright fellow (Columbia University). Co-founder and board member of the Institute of Architecture Foundation. He is interested in the relationship between modern architecture and politics.

Magdalena Kursa— journalist of “Gazeta Wyborcza”. She writes about politics, local government, and changes in the city.

Michał Olszewski – journalist, writer, columnist. In 2007–2012 he worked as a reporter and head of the reportage department of “Tygodnik Powszechny”. Since 2014, he has been the editor-in-chief of the Krakow branch of “Gazeta Wyborcza”. In 2015, he received the Ryszard Kapuściński Award for a literary reportage for his book “Najlepsze buty na świecie”.