NAVIGATING NOWY TARG SQUARE, WROCŁAW

AC2 HISTORY AND THEORY OF CONSERVATIONAnna Wojtun

April 2013

1562 WORLD WAR II DAMAGE191119031870

DEVELOPMENT UNTIL THE 20TH CENTURY

The most recent archeological research carried out in the Nowy Targ Sqaure revealed nine distinct layers of settlements which have accumulated since the area became populated.2 The oldest consists of two yards and fences extending diagonally (in relation to the modern layout of the square), estimated for the end of the 12th century. This pattern is subsequently adhered to by a layer of construction dated 1215. Shortly following this, the houses transformed from simple wicker-and-clay structures into log-cabins with basements and two rooms. In the first few decades of the 13th century further development took place and a regular pattern began to emerge. In 1261 the site was incorporated into the neighboring market town under the Magdeburg rights, which marked an important point in establishing its status quo. At this time some of the houses were dismantled and a vast square area created. The foundation of the marketplace appears to be linked to the date of 1263, when the New Town was delineated in its proximity to the Old Town. It is likely Nowy Targ (lit. New Market), as part of Old Town, was deemed to be key in maintaining its commercial advantage over the New Town. The regular character of the plots originates in that time, the square’s main outline has remained the same ever since.

By 14th century the East side of Nowy Targ coincided with the Amber Route - one of the most important trails connecting the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea. When, several decades later, the route’s path shifted further East, Nowy Targ’s importance was diminished to that of an subsidiary market. Nonetheless, over time its appearance was being shaped by its trade-related character as stalls and storages took over the majority of its space. The frontages derived their names from the goods on sale within, such as “Sea Side” (Pomerysche zyte) for the fishmongers or “Painters Side” (Malerseite). At the heart of the square in the medieval times a chest filled with dry cement, a crucial bleaching agent, helped merchants to maintain the trade area. It was later replaced with a wooden (1592), and subsequently a stone well (1732). The latter, commissioned by the city council, took form of a fountain with centrally placed column supported by four tritons and a Neptune holding a trident. It was colloquially called Gabeljurge - “a guy with a pitchfork” and had to be gated and guarded at night since the naked silhouette attracted local attention and vandalism.

FIRST YEARS AFTER THE WAR

Nowy Targ Square survived almost intact until 1945. In August 1944 Adolf Hitler announced Breslau a fortress (Festung Breslau). The city was to be defended at all cost and, if not possible, burned to the ground (the rule of Verbrannte Erde).8 The location of air raid shelters in underground spaces of the Oberprasidium building, which subsequently began to serve as the headquarters of command and defense, was an obvious target. The bombing of April 1st 1945 left the built fabric of Nowy Targ in pieces with only two relatively well preserved structures: the Oberprasidium itself and a corner house number 33.9 Some of the other buildings had their elevations standing, but damages were major and irreversible.

Even though the final borders of Poland were established in August 1945 in Potsdam, many German civilians were forced to leave Breslau as early as January to prepare the city for a deciding battle (the Siege of Breslau). Further depopulation happened between 1945-47, whilst the Poles were being gradually resettled, their number in Polish Wroclaw increased from 8.737 in December 1945 to 250,562 by the end of 1948.10 Along with the civilians the city abandoned conservation officers and professionals, such as a former Province Conservation Officer Gunther Grundmann, taking with them the architectural archives and documentation.11

On the day before the war, in German literature Breslau was described as one of the most beautiful European cities.12 In the aftermath it was left poorer of approximately 60% of its historically significant urban fabric. Since 1945 Nowy Targ was being gradually cleared from the rubble whilst remaining ruins dismantled. As an effect the square’s historic layout became illegible and disorientating to new settlers, who mistakenly called it Nankiera Square as it visually merged with adjoining urban quarters. The ruins of Nowy Targ served the new population for almost two decades as a looting market, where the plundered goods from abandoned houses and institutions, such as industrial machinery, furniture and even architectural pieces, were sold and lost forever.13

The houses built along the marketplace have evolved over the centuries, testifying to the square’s medieval, renaissance, baroque and the 19th century history. The 1562 plan presents regularly laid out structures which adhere to the burgage plots, only occasionally in parallel to the square. This land subdivision remained unchanged until the 18th century. By that time the great majority of the houses came into the possession of merchants, whose needs dictated the internal space divisions: interiors consisted of a ground floor vestibule, residential first floor and high attic serving as a storage. These were approximately four and five stories high, and two- or three-bays wide. In 1628 a fire severely damaged some of the late-medieval houses providing subsequent opportunity for the emergence of new buildings. As the gables and portals of the remaining houses were also subjected to renaissance and baroque makeovers, the original medieval features, such as the plain and crow-stepped gables, were already rare. In 1765 an 11-storeys house was built initiating an evolution towards more monumental character of the square. Throughout the 19th century further significant changes in houses appearance and volumes occurred. The most radical was the subsequent construction of Oberprasidium der Provinz Schlesien (Municipal Offices of the Silesia Province) in 1914-1918 - a vast edifice decorated in a baroque revival fashion.

IMAGINING THE CITY IN THE PRE-WAR ERA

On the 1st of April 1909 Breslau’s Municipal Building Officer post was taken up by Max Berg – one of the most famous and innovative German architects and planners. At that time Breslau was the densest city of Germany with the amount of 381 people per 1 ha.3 This determined a decision to expand the city borders and began development of the first comprehensive city plan aimed at improving housing conditions and city’s spatial qualities.4 The concept was based on the idea of linear systems and the division of three zones within the city: Wohnstadt (the city to live in), Arbeitstadt (the city to work in) and the Monumentalstadt (the city for culture and representative public administration).5 Berg’s vision, advocating the need to completely rebuild and re-edify the city’s downtown area, was published in 1920.6 Vast skyscrapers were to be built within the existing historic buildings of Market Square and Nowy Targ as part of this controversial reform. A year later an open competition was announced. The results were published in 1924, and included a mixture of the winning entrants’ and Max Berg’s concepts. It was planned to retain the city’s green areas, create new housing estates on the outskirts and delineate a wide motorway in the neighbourhood immediate to the medieval historic centre. The latter was in fact re-developed later and is nowadays known as the East – West Route.

In the 1930’s Breslau was announced as one of the five most strategic German cities (the so-called Fuhrerstadte) and scheduled for further expansion towards a more monolithic, historicist appearance supportive to Nazi political agenda.7 In 1938 Werner March announced a new city plan which covered the areas to the South of the Odra river. For the quarters around Nowy Targ it was assumed it would accommodate an underground air raid shelter and representative edifices adhering to the existing burgage plots. The only building in the city plan which was to retain its original character was the Oberprasidium der Provinz Schlesien. The implementation of the plans was, however, interrupted by World War II and as a result only the air raid shelters were erected.

MAX BERG AND LUDWIG MOSHAMER’S DRAWINGS OF SKY SCRAPERS AS ENVISAGED FOR THE HISTORIC MARKET SQUARE IN 1920s

NOWY TARG AS SEEN ON AN 18TH CENTURY DRAWING BY A SILESIAN ILLUSTRTOR FRIEDRICH BERNHARD WERNER

1892,VIEW OF THE SOUTH-WESTCORNER

1930,VIEW ONNORTH-SIDEHOUSESAND THE CENTRALFOUNTAIN

ABOUT 1950: CLEARED RUBBLE AND A FLEA MARKET

1850-1900,THE NEPTUNE FOUNTAIN CAPTURED ON ONE OF THE OLDEST PHOTOGRAPHS OF NOWY TARG

“[...] the city that is now called Wroclaw has changed its name many times. One can only try to guess what its original name might have been [...]”

N. Davies, “Microcosm. A Portrait of a Central European City”1

NAVIGATING NOWY TARG SQUARE, WROCŁAW

AC2 HISTORY AND THEORY OF CONSERVATIONAnna Wojtun

April 2013

“CITYPROJECT”14; 15

In 1956-57 architects Wlodzimierz Czerechowski, Jerzy Natusiewicz, Anna Tarnawska and Jerzy Tarnawski co-operated with City Council towards the development of a new housing district situated to the East from the Wroclaw Old Town area. Nowy Targ was part of this comprehensive plan and was supposed to accommodate 4000 residents. The architectural proposal preceded a historical analysis of the square, its transport links, former streets, historic houses’ hights and volumes. A conceptual plan proposed separate pedestrianized routes within the volume of the square whilst vehicle transport was to be incorporated within the Old Town bypass partly delineated proximally to Nowy Trag. To counter-balance the monolithic appearance of the Oberprasidium building architects proposed a 32-meter high apartment tower to the East as the square’s new landmark and a functional hotel, cinema and a cafe. Further to the East three similar buildings were envisaged. It was hoped to create a visual connection with the bypass and the nearby ruins of former city walls. The Northern side of the square was to consist of a row of 5-storey houses with alternating gables to highlight the character of the historic burgage plots and meet the height of the only surviving 19th century house to its West. The houses on the West side of the square were given a continuous, pitched roof. Additionally single-storey pavilions were foreseen to visually close up the area to the East, it was also hoped that historic fountain would be recovered and re-situated in the centre. Temporary kiosks and stalls with flowers were proposed as a reference to the long-standing tradition of the square.

By the construction time, the initial project underwent a series of changes in order to meet economic and regulatory demands. Furthermore, changing local development planning guidelines caused particular elements of the original proposal to never be implemented. Subsequently, the constructed houses of the East and West side form rows of modules of alternating, 5- and 6-storeys, heights covered with a single pitched roof, mirroring each other both externally and internally in the arrangement of flats. Their horizontally aligned windows contributed towards a unite and monotonous appearance varied only by concrete, asymmetrically placed balconies and vast, glazed service areas localized at ground level. This implementation allowed the number of residential units to increase, but compromised the original architectural intentions with regard to the East side. Similarly, the Northern side, although most elaborate in its facade treatment, was shortened in length and the planned gabled roofs were withdrawn. The existing historic corner house was then lowered to meet the height of new frontages. To meet the standards of building regulations it was also decided to replace the services with flats. Despite those restrictions, the architect Anna Tarnawska succeeded in creating an individual appearance of the elevations by playful arrangement of window types, composition of black glazed tiles and depth variations between constituent architectural components.

Nowy Targ’s traditional trade function was sacrificed to serve the more pressing residential demand created by the continuously increasing Wroclaw population. It was composed to become a recreational area acting as a counter-balance to commercially-oriented “historic” Old Town. Guided by this vision the square was planted and decorated with geometrically arranged tiles. Unfortunately, the fountain has been deemed lost and never renovated and the originally planned hotel tower to South-East corner was re-developed later, by a group of Warsaw architects, as an ordinary office block. The Oberprasidium building has been adapted into City Council Offices, whose needs transformed the square into a gigantic car park, further affecting the quality of the original proposal.

CONSERVATION PRACTICE AND ITS THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS

The city’s destruction during the war was comprehensive, the greatest damage suffered the Old Town and areas to the South and the West of Odra river. From about 700 buildings listed before the war (excluding, at the time unrecognized, 19th and the 20th century heritage), the post-war inventory mentions 500 buildings, also those completely destroyed with only foundations and/or footprints remaining.16 The damage was the result of three particular factors: Soviet attacks in the city during the battle of Breslau, the self-destructive SS and NSDAP actions and arson caused by Soviets entering the city in 1945.17 Subsequently, after Breslau’s incorporation within Polish borders, the challenging task of its reconstruction was left solely to newcomers uncertain of its long-term future, with no knowledge of local culture, built environment and with very little available documentation to guide them. Although the first Polish conservation officer in Wroclaw, Jan Cialowicz, was offered help from two German advisors: dr Kurt Bimler and dr H. Hoffman,18 it was aimed mainly at helping with initial damage estimation. And despite the general conservation motto by Jan Zachwatowicz’s: “heritage has no passports”, the political circumstances of post-war Poland were strongly affecting all the aspects of the reconstruction process during this period.19

The clean-up process began in May 1945, it was administered by Reconstruction Ministry and its executive Wroclaw Reconstruction Directorate (Wroclawska Dyrekcja Odbudowy). As the priorities were above all given to Warsaw’s Old Town, Wroclaw struggled with people, instability, migrations and financial constraints. Even though the capital supported the reconstruction efforts in Lower Silesia by providing specialist advisors, they were often criticized for not giving the city due attention.20 To Wroclaw’s advantage was only the equipment left by the withdrawing III Reich. Furthermore, there was no comprehensive reconstruction plan from the beginning. Apart from the initial decision to rebuild the Old Town together with the adjacent Salt Square (Plac Solny), the rest of historic city centre, including Now Targ, was influenced by changing aesthetic concepts and economical conditions.21

The idea of reconstruction, widely adopted by postwar Poland, derives from the Violet-le-Duc practices.22 It gained support of Polish art historians and conservationists who, driven by emotional and political motivations, desired to create a united and often idealized image of cities lost and scarred by war.23 In Wroclaw there were additional rationales fueled by official communist propaganda announcing the newly incorporated lands “reclaimed”. Subsequently, the government favored renovations of gothic architecture as a testimony to the city’s Polish origins and simultaneously neglected destroyed palaces, residences and merchants’ houses as “relics” of capitalism and German nationalism. It also forced removals of any traces relating to German history unless the links with Poland were proven. Finally it allowed and fostered historical manipulation in reconstruction practices, such as reviving renaissance forms of buildings whilst erasing their 19th century features.24 The ambiguous position of the General Conservation Officer Jan Zachwatowicz, who signed and agreed with Venice Charter in 1964, critized the idea of reconstruction as “exception to the rules” and simultaneously co-directed the Warsaw Reconstruction Office, constituted a tacit consent for the continuation of such conservation practices.

The Nowy Targ Square was affected by this inflow of ideas. In March 1946 under the directory of Tadeusz Ptaszycki there was Wroclaw Planning Office established, but shortly after abolished. Between 1950-1953 studies for re-development plans were supervised by Emil Kaliski who promoted the idea of 1800’ frontages reconstruction. For ideological reasons it was also planned to demolish the Oberprasidium building and erect new houses in historical forms. In case of missing iconography, inspirations for architectural detailing were sourced from other areas of the city. Such a selective approach was supported by leading professionals and some of the most notable art historians.25 In October 1949 the city municipal offices began brick recycling a result of which was the dismantling of any remaining ruins. At this time the criticism towards reconstruction practices intensified, and the alternative concepts of Alois Riegl and Max Dvorak entered a wider discussion.26 Reaching towards greater authenticity in architecture as well as for the economic reasons, non-historical forms propagated into this discourse. In 1952 further development of Nowy Targ was handed to Workers Estates Construction Directory (Dyrekcja Budowy Osiedli Robotniczych) and the final decision about withdrawing the historicist reconstruction plans was made. In 1956 “Cityproject” initiated construction of a new housing complex. Thirty years later, in 1988, the already poor condition of the estate prompted city council to develop a regeneration proposal which has never since come to fruition. In 2005 new conservation guidelines as part of Local Development Plan were defined.27 They assume a demolition of postwar intervention and full reconstruction of the square’s historical appearance. The reconstruction drawings, prepared by Marcin Siehankiewicz, are based on existing documentation and former concepts by Emil Kaliski. In 2010 a competition for the square’s regeneration proposal was announced afresh28 and its winning scheme has now, as of 2013, reached the implementation stage.29 The Nowy Targ’s defining residential component has not however been subject of the renewal, leaving Wroclaw’s post-war reconstruction history yet to be finished.

1949

A CADASTRAL MAP WITH LAND DIVISIONS AND EXISTING BUILDINGS’

LAYOUT

A WINNING REGENERATION SCHEME

Refrences: Illustrations: “Wratislaviae Amici” Wroclaw Online Archives Database: www.dolny-slask.org.pl

1 Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse, Microcosm: A Portrait of a Central European City (London: Pimlico, 2003), 17.2 The section is based on the historic data quoted and comprehensively discussed in articles by Rafal Eysymont: Rafal Eysymont, “Wrocławski Nowy Targ, Jego Dzieje i Rewaloryzacja” [Wroclaw Nowy Targ, Its History and Revaluation], Quart 1, no. 1 (2006): 60-72; Rafal Eysymont, Łukasz Krzywka. “Plac Nowy Targ we Wrocławiu - reaktywacja” [Wroclaw Nowy Targ Square - reactivation]. Ochrona Zabytków, no. 2 (2006): 41-49.3 Janusz Dobesz, Wroclawska Architektura Spod Znaku Swastyki Na Tle Budownictwa III Rzeszy [Wroclaw swastikan architecture against a background of a III Reich built environment] (Wroclaw: Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Wroclawskiej, 1999), 11.4 Monika Rutkowska. “Nowy Targ We Wroclawiu. Odbudowa Ze Zniszczen i Plan Zagospodarowania Do Roku 2004.” [Wroclaw Nowy Targ. Postwar Reconstruction and Local Development Plans until 2004.] Bachelor’s thesis, University of Wroclaw, 2004. 8.5 Jerzy Ilkosz and Beate Stortkuhl, eds., Wiezowce Wroclawia 1919 - 1932 [Skyscrapers of Wroclaw 1919 - 1932] (Wroclaw: Archiwum Budowlane Miasta Wroclawia, 1997), 41.6 Ibidem, 56.7 Janusz Dobesz, Wroclawska..., 17.8 Miroslaw Przylecki, “Zniszczenia wojenne i odbudowa historycznych miast Dolnego Slaska,” in: Architektura Wspolczesna w Miescie Zabytkowym [Contemporary architecture in a historic city] (Wroclaw: Muzeum Architektury, 2000), 109.9 Rafal Eysymont, “Wrocławski Nowy Targ...”, 72.10 Monika Rutkowska. “Nowy Targ...”, 1411 Miroslaw Przylecki, Wielonarodowe Dziedzictwo Kulturowe Na Dolnym Slasku i Jego Ochrona Po 1945 r.[Multinational cultural heritage in Lower Silesia and its protection after 1945] (Warsaw: Dom Wydawniczy, 2002), 79.12 Edmund Malachowicz, Stare Miasto We Wroclawiu: Zniszczenie, Odbudowa, Program [Wroclaw Old Town: Destruction, Reconstruction, Programme] (Wroclaw: PWN, 1976), 99.13 Marcin Bukowski, Wroclaw z Lat 1945-52. Zniszczenia i Dzielo Odbudowy [Wroclaw between 1945-52. War damage and the work of reconstruction] (Warsaw: 1985), 63.14 Based on information given by: Monika Rutkowska. “Nowy Targ...”, passim15 Based on information given by: Monika Rutkowska “Powojenny Modernizm - Zabudowa Nowego Targu We Wroclawiu,” [Postwar modernism – buildings of Wroclaw Nowy Targ] Rocznik Wroclawski 11 (2009): 95-110.16 Edmund Malachowicz, Stare Miasto..., 99.17 Miroslaw Przylecki, “Zniszczenia...”, 110.18 Miroslaw Przylecki, Wielonarodowe..., 79.19 Miroslaw Przylecki, “Zniszczenia...”, 111.20 Marcin Bukowski, Wroclaw z lat..., 60-63.21 Edmund Malachwicz, Stare Miasto..., 6.22 Michal Murawski, “(A)political Buildings: Ideology, Memory and Warsaw’s ‘old’ Town,” (Docmomo e-proceedings 2, Edinburgh, December 2009), http://www.fredmussat.fr/e-proceedings2_dec09/mirror_of_modernity_murawski.htm (accessed April 11, 2013).23 Teresa Jakimowicz, “’Polska Szkola konserwatorska’ - mit i rzeczywistosc [‘Polish conservation school’ - myth and reality], Kwartalnik Architektury i Urbanistyki 38, no. 3 (1984): 421-27.24 Miroslaw Przylecki, “Zniszczenia wojenne...”, 111-112.25 Eysymont, Rafal, Krzywka, Łukasz. “Plac Nowy Targ we Wrocławiu - reaktywacja”..., 49 - 5126 Compare: Jukka Jokilehto, A History of Architectural Conservation (Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann, 1999), 213-19.27 Discussed in: Eysymont, Rafal, Krzywka, Łukasz. “Plac Nowy Targ we Wrocławiu - reaktywacja”..., 51-5528 “Konkurs Na Opracowanie Koncepcji Architektonicznej Zagospodarowania Obszaru Placu Nowy Targ We Wrocławiu.” http://www.um.wroc.pl/m3529/p130328.aspx (accessed March 23, 2013).29 “Roman Rutkowski Architects,” http://www.rr-a.pl/index.php?go=projects&id=100 (accessed April 11, 2013).

1965-75

EAST SIDE HOUSES’ FRONTAGES CAPTURED FROM THE BACKYARDS

HOUSING COMPLEX DURING THE CONSTRUCTION PERIOD

EAST SIDE FRONTAGE

(juxtaposed by the author):

TOP: 1939 ARCHITECTURAL

DRAWINGCENTRE: 1950-53

E. KALISKI’S RECON-STRUCTION PLAN

BOTTOM: 2005 M. SIEHANKIEWICZ’S

RECONSTRUCTION PLAN

NOWY TARG SQUARE NOWADAYS

2013