The main theme of the meeting was the involvement of the Faculty of Architecture at Gdańsk University of Technology in the research and conservation of Gdynia’s cultural heritage in the context of its inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In addition to Prof. Jacek Purchla’s lecture, Prof. Edward Denison from The Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London also spoke. The event, which took place in the Senate Hall of Gdańsk University of Technology, was organised by the Rector of Gdańsk University of Technology and the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Gdańsk University of Technology.

Professor Purchla on Polish inscriptions on the UNESCO World Heritage List

On the eve of the 48th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, at which the decision was taken to inscribe Gdynia’s modernist city centre on the prestigious List, Professor Purchla spoke about the significance of this distinction in an interview: “The inscription of Gdynia’s modernist centre will place it alongside Le Corbusier’s projects already on the UNESCO List, the modernist urban plans of Berlin, Tel Aviv and Brasília, and amongst the most outstanding works of 20th-century architecture and urban planning”.

Professor Jacek Purchla is Poland’s national expert on the World Heritage Committee, and together with Director Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik, they form part of the team responsible for Poland’s membership of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (UNESCO World Heritage Committee) for the 2025-2029 term. Between 2015 and 2020, Professor Purchla served as Chair of the Polish National Commission for UNESCO, and from 2016 to 2017 he chaired the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

Photo: Krzysztof Krzempek/PG (courtesy of Gdańsk University of Technology).