The “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre in Lublin is a local government cultural institution. It works towards the preservation of cultural heritage and education. Its function is tied to the symbolic and historical meaning of the Centre’s location in the Grodzka Gate, which used to divide Lublin into its respective Christian and Jewish quarters, as well as to Lublin as a meeting place of cultures, traditions and religions.

Part of the Centre are the House of Words and the Lublin Underground Trail.

The “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre in Lublin is a local government cultural institution. It works towards the preservation of cultural heritage and education. Its function is tied to the symbolic and historical meaning of the Centre’s location in the Grodzka Gate, which used to divide Lublin into its respective Christian and Jewish quarters, as well as to Lublin as a meeting place of cultures, traditions and religions.

Part of the Centre are the House of Words and the Lublin Underground Trail.

Architecture and urban planning in Lublin – styles and periods

The Romanesque style was the first to manifest itself in the architecture of Lublin. The donjon at the Lublin Castle is the sole example of Romanesque architecture in Lublin and in Poland east of the Vistula river The double window on the southern face of the donjon is a perfect example of that style. Every style that entered the Polish architecture can be found in the architecture of Lublin: Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Historicism, the so-called Neo-styles, Secession, Modernism. The Lublin Renaissance style, represented by a few buildings in the city, is the most characteristic architectural style that can be found in the area of Lublin and the Lublin region.

Romanesque styleDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

The first widespread style in architecture, mostly in its sacred forms. It developed in Europe from the eleventh century until the thirteenth century, stemming from ancient art and using elements of ancient architecture to express the social and ideological needs of the early Middle Ages.

The most characteristic Romanesque buildings are churches – tall, massive, composed of various sections, of compact proportions. Their bodies consist of simple geometric forms: cuboids, cubes, cones. The layout of these forms reflects the layout of the interior. Romanesque churches were built on the Latin cross plan, with extensive choir sections. The vaults were of barrel or groin type, and round arches were in use. Stone was the primary construction material, used in the form of meticulously shaped slabs.

Donjon at the Lublin Castle

 

In Poland, Romanesque buildings were erected between mid-11th and mid-13th century – initially, in the form of a rotunda (the rotunda church of Saint Procopius of Sázava in Strzelno, central Poland), later they were single-nave churches (the church of Saint Giles in Inowłódz, central Poland) and single-nave churches with two aisles (the church of Saint Andrew in Kraków). Monastic architecture developed as well, represented by buildings of the Benedictine (Tyniec, near Kraków) and the Cistercian order (Sulejów, central Poland).

 

Romanesque style in Lublin

The donjon at the Lublin Castle was built in the years 1243-1244, in the form of a stone and brick tower on circular plan. The twin window divided by a colonnette (biforium), which can be seen from the side of the Old Town, is a typical Romanesque feature. It is rectangular, with each of the two sections topped with semicircular arch. The Lublin Castle donjon is the only example of Polish Romanesque architecture on the eastern side of the Vistula river.

 

 

 

 

 

Gothic styleDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

This architectural style emerged in mid-twelfth century France. It functioned in European art until mid-fifteenth century. From the very beginning, it was focused on architecture, which was reflected by the use of new structures based on ribbed vault, buttresses and flying buttresses, and lancet arch. The use of that construction system allowed for soaring, slender churches to be constructed, with enormous stained glass windows and manifold ornamental vaults (including stellar, net, and diamond vaults). Stone, brick and timber were the primary construction materials.


Gothic churches were laid out on longitudinal plans (derived from the shape of the Latin cross), with transept, several aisles and a ring of chapels situated along a path running around the chancel. This style culminated with the appearance of the form of cathedral, which embodied the Medieval idea of the “Celestial Jerusalem”. First pilgrimage churches also appeared in the Gothic period.

Secular architecture of the Gothic period produced distinctive urban complexes, as well as town halls, cloth halls, burgher apartment houses, city walls with towers and barbicans, and castles.

In Poland, this style was common between the second half of the thirteenth century and the end of the fifteenth century. Most Gothic buildings were cathedrals (Wrocław, Gniezno, Poznań) but wooden churches were constructed as well, mostly in the Małopolska region, southern Poland. Secular architecture and urban planning also experienced a period of dynamic development at that time. In cities emphasis was put on fortifications (Kraków, Gdańsk, Wrocław). First town halls (Toruń), cloth halls (Kraków), and gothic castles (Trail of the Eagles’ Nests – 25 castles in south-western Poland) were constructed in that period.


Gothic style in Lublin
Examples of Gothic architecture in Lublin are: the Chapel of the Holy Trinity at the Lublin Castle, the Kraków Gate, and the former Bridgettine Church of Our Lady of Victory.

 

Castle Chapel
Kraków Gate
Former Bridgettine Church

 

RenaissanceDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

This architectural style emerged in Italy around 1420, as a result of revival of ancient art in all its excellence and its ideal beauty, fuelled by growing interest in humanism. Architects sought to develop ideal proportions and clear divisions according to the ancient standards that served as the source of interior design solutions. compositional schemes, architectural orders and ornamental patterns.

Buildings were usually laid out on central plan, topped with cupolas. Architects used ancient architectural orders, introducing round arches, arcades, ornaments, sgraffito and attics. Secular architecture gradually lost its defensive features, with urban palaces and suburban villas becoming the essential forms. Burgher architecture developed rapidly. Emphasis on refinement of form, liberty of the artist’s imagination, artistry, and formal and stylistic flawlessness were the foundations of Mannerism – a variation of the Renaissance style.

First renaissance buildings in Poland were constructed around 1502, owing to king Sigismund I who invited foreign artists to his Wawel castle in Kraków (the most notable of them was Bartolommeo Berecci). The Wawel castle played a vital role in the development of the renaissance architecture in Poland. It is a fine example of a secular royal residence, and the Sigismund’s chapel at the castle is a model Renaissance mausoleum. The chapel was frequently replicated, having a functional form that included a wide-ranging ideological and artistic aspect, with the renaissance tomb sharing the most prominent position with architecture itself.

A variation of the Renaissance style developed in the field of sacred architecture. It is referred to as the Lublin Renaissance (renesans lubelski, in older publications this sub-style was called the Lublin-Kalisz Renaissance but more recent studies refer to it as the Lublin type). It consisted in decorating Gothic buildings (usually single-nave churches with no towers) with characteristic ornament placed on the vault. A particular type of ornament was used, composed of stylized egg-and-dart motifs, pearls, acanthus, and set on a roll moulding made of mortar, which formed an ornamental net on the vault surface. Additional ornaments were placed within the net: crests, small angel heads and rosettes. Over time, the ornaments became more and more independent, and the vault itself evolved into background for intricate composition of rectangles, rosettes, hearts and stars. Those ornaments were made by masons using matrices.

The parish church in Kazimierz Dolny (in the western part of the Lublin voivodeship) is one of the oldest examples of buildings in the Lublin Renaissance style. Jakub Balin, the chief builder of the church, was among the best-known masters of the style. Apart from sacred buildings, secular architecture thrived as well. Most new buildings were castles (Pieskowa Skała, Krasiczyn), fortified mansions, town halls (Poznań) and entire urban complexes (Zamość). Renaissance architects who worked in Poland included: Bartolommeo Berecci, Tylman van Gameren, and Benedykt Sandomierzanin.
 

Renaissance in Lublin
Examples of Renaissance architecture in Lublin are: the church of the Conversion of Saint Paul at the Bernardine monastery, the church of St. Stanislaus at the Dominican monastery, the church of St. Nicholas, the church of St. Wojciech, Rafał Leszczyński’s fortified mansion, the Czartoryski family palace, and the Lubomelski family apartment house.

Moreover, examples of ornaments in the Lublin Renaissance style can be seen in: the church of St. Joseph at the Discalced Carmelites monastery (14, Świętoduska Street), the church of St. Agnes at the former Augustinian monastery (52, Kalinowszczyzna Street), the church of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (4, Staszica Street), and the orthodox church of Transfiguration (15, Ruska Street). In the case of the orthodox church, features of the Lublin renaissance style can be found in external masonried ornaments, where architectural details resemble the ornaments of the pediment of the church at the Dominican monastery).

 

 


 
Former Bernardine church Dominican Church Church of St. Wojciech Lubomelski family house

 

MannerismDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

In Lublin there are no examples of mannerist buildings. Features of that style can be found only in the architectural details of two of the houses at the Market (Rynek) Square.

The early 17th-century portal of the 18, Rynek Square apartment house was made in the Pińczów workshop, in southern Poland. The masters who worked there were strongly influenced by Italian sculptor Santi Gucci, whose works were very popular at that time. The ornaments on the portal: small rosettes, mascarons, label stops, fancy curvatures, and cast ornaments – are Mannerist in character. The Konopnic family house at 12, Rynek Square was remodelled after 1575, using mannerist details produced in 1614 by one of the workshops in Pińczów. Carving in limestone, the Pińczów masters produced window frames, decorative cartouches, mascarons, rosettes, pillars to be set between window sections, and the attic. Those details are of Italian and Dutch origin.
 

Window frames of the 12, Rynek Sq. house Fragment of the portal of the 18, Rynek Sq. house

 

 

BaroqueDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

Baroque was an architectural style that emerged in Italy in the late sixteenth century, and developed until ca. 1670. It was related to the Counter-Reformation movement and the rise of absolutism. The main features of Baroque architecture are: domination of a single principal section over other elements of a building, dynamism of spatial layout and wall designs, obtained by means of multiple columns and pilasters, curved entablature with returns, and mixture of different materials and types of interior décor (wall paintings, sculpture, paintings on canvas) into one coherent work. Two phases are distinguished in the history of the style: the expressive phase and the classicizing phase.

Central plans were used in most sacred buildings. Elliptical and longitudinal plans were used as well, along with combinations of the two main types. The model of Jesuit church was developed and became widespread in the Baroque period, with the Il Gesů church in Rome serving as the “prototype”. As far as secular architecture is considered, palace complexes in the entre cour et jardin (between court and garden) layout were developed and gained popularity. Developments in the field of architecture also contributed to wide-ranging, dynamic progress in urban planning.

In Poland the baroque period began in the early seventeenth century and ended in the 1770s. The church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Kraków, built ‘by the Jesuit rulebook’, was one of the first baroque churches in Poland.

Sacred architecture experienced a period of rapid development. In the Lublin region a variety of the baroque style emerged, called “the Fontana baroque”. Churches built in that style are located in Lubartów, Włodawa, and Chełm. All of them were designed by Paolo Antonio Fontana. Secular architecture thrived too: notable buildings include palaces and mansions (Wilanów, Baranów), villas (Czemierniki), and burgher apartment houses. Among the architects active in Poland in the Baroque period were: Karol Antoni Bay, Jakub Fontana, Agostino Locci, Lorenzo de Sant, Tylman van Gameren.


Baroque in Lublin
The following buildings are examples of Baroque architecture in Lublin: the archcathedral of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, the seminary church of Transfiguration, also called the former missionary church, the church of St. Peter and St. Paul at the Capuchin monastery, the church of the Prophet Elijah at the monastery of the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance, the Jesuite church of St. Peter, the church of the Holy Spirit, the Tyszkiewicz family chapel at the church of St. Stanislaus. The chapel on Peowiaków St. is an example of small-scale baroque architecture.

 

Archcathedral of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist
Capuchin church of St. Peter and St. Paul
St. Elijah church of the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance
Chapel on Peowiaków Street

 

 

 

Historicism and the ‘Neo-styles’Direct link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

The terms ‘Neo-styles’ and ‘historicist current’ in architecture refer to the revival of old, widespread architectural styles. The architects who designed historicist buildings modified the historic models, and combined details, inspired by earlier periods, in order to create a new, coherent work. The historicist styles are: Classicism (Neo-Classicism), Neo-Gothic, Neo-Baroque and Eclecticism.

 

Neo-Classicism
This architectural style was in use from the second half of the eighteenth century until the 1830s. It developed under the influence of the classic cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. The artists who practised the style aimed for harmony, symmetry and rhythm of designs, seeking ways of producing the impression of order, moderateness, and balance. The style was associated with the principles of the Enlightenment and fascination with the archaeological discoveries in Pompeii.

Most buildings had central plans, the classic architectural orders were widely used, along with typical classic details: column porticoes, pediments, tympana. The Neo-Classicist period brought new types of buildings: schools, theatres, metropolitan apartment houses. Urban planning turned to complexes with large squares and wide arteries.

Polish Neo-Classicism was a period marked by the artistic patronage of king Stanisław August Poniatowski, starting with a makeover of the Warsaw Royal Castle interiors. Most sacred buildings used central groundplans (Holy Trinity Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession and the Church of St. Alexander, both located in Warsaw). The Neo-Classicist period also saw construction of numerous public utility buildings (the Grand Theatre in Warsaw), residences (Łazienki in Warsaw, palaces in Puławy and Biała Podlaska in the Lublin region), and garden complexes of unprecedented exuberance (Nieborów, central Poland). Among the architects who designed Neo-Classicist buildings erected in Poland were: Chrystian Piotr Aigner, Antonio Corazzi, Jakub Kubicki, Johann Christian Kammsetzer, Domenico Merlini, and Tylman van Gameren.

Neo-classcist buildings in Lublin are: the Crown Tribunal, the Teatr Stary (old theatre) building, the Grodzka gate, the Lubomirski family palace (also called the former Radziwiłł palace) the evangelical church of the Augsburg Confession, the City Hall, the former voivodeship school (Szkoła Wojewódzka, today’s Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology of the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University).

 

Crown Tribunal
Grodzka Gate
City Halll

 

Neo-Gothic
This period was marked by the return to the features of the Gothic style. It began in mid-eighteenth century, and ended in the early twentieth century. It originated from England, as a result of the influence of literature and antiquarianism, being one of the currents within Historicism. In the formal aspects, it sought inspiration in the Gothic style but the forms were used freely, sometimes combined with ancient and oriental motifs. The style became widespread in sacred architecture and in countryside mansions of castle type, park pavilions, and public utility buildings.

In Poland the Neo-Gothic style gained reasonable popularity. It was modelled mainly after the English variety of Brick Gothic. The most famous examples of this architecture include the Kórnik Castle (western Poland) and the cathedral of St. John in Warsaw. This style manifested itself mostly in decorative motifs, which were often virtually “stuck” onto walls. Notable architects were: Antonio Corazzi, Adam Idźkowski, Francesco Maria Lanci, Friedrich Schinkel.

Examples of Neo-Gothic architecture in Lublin are: the Lublin Castle, the Trinitarian Tower, the bridge on the Bystryca river, the chapel of Holy Mother of God at the St. Peter and St. Paul church, the Lublin District Commission building (today’s Municipal Sanitary-Epidemiological Station) at the corner of 3 Maja and I Armii Wojska Polskiego streets, and the janitor’s cottage at the entrance to the Saxon Garden.

 

Lublin Castle
Trinitarian Tower
Janitor's Cottage

 

Neo-Baroque
This current in architecture consisted in imitating Baroque forms, and manifested itself mostly through secular architecture – public utility buildings, palaces, apartment houses. It originated in mid-nineteenth century in St. Petersburg, and gained acclaim in Paris and Berlin.

The Stephen Báthory gimnazjum (middle school) building in Warsaw, designed by Tadeusz Tołwiński, was one of the first examples of the style in Poland.

The best example of Neo-Baroque architecture in Lublin is the Hotel Lublinianka building.


Neo-Renaissance
One of the most important Historicist currents in nineteenth-century architecture, the Neo-Renaissance, developed as a result of studies of Italian Renaissance art, which served as the source of forms and details incorporated into Neo-Renaissance buildings. The style spread across all Europe, becoming particularly popular in Germany, where, among other buildings, the Semper Gallery in Dresden was constructed following the Neo-Renaissance architectural principles.

As for Poland, the most notable Neo-Renaissance architect was Enrico Marconi, among whose designs is the Hotel Europejski in Warsaw.

Examples of the Neo-Renaissance architecture in Lublin are: the Gubernyia Government palace, the building of the Towarzystwo Kredytowe Ziemskie (landholders’ credit society) on Krakowskie Przedmieście Street, the Hotel Europa, the Juliusz Osterwa Theatre, and the building of the Towarzystwo Kredytowe Miejskie (municipal credit society) on the I Armii Wojska Polskiego Street.

 

Hotel Europa
Juliusz Osterwa Theatre
Landholder's credit society

 

Eclectic style
Eclecticism consists in combining features and details taken from several architectural styles in a single building. Buildings with eclectic features in Lublin are: the former Chrzanowski family palace, the former Piotrowski palace, the district court building at 76, Krakowskie Przedmieście St., the apartment house at 11, Szopena St., the apartment house at 57, Krakowskie Przedmieście St. (at the corner of Wieniawska St.), the 2, Narutowicza St. apartment house (at the corner of Górna St.), the 9, Szopena St. apartment house, the PKP railway station building, some of the Dominican monastery buildings, currently used by the H. Ch. Andersen Theatre, the W. Michelisowa Social Care Centre building.

 

Former district court
Railway station
Piotrowski palace

 

SecessionDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

This artistic current of the late nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century took its name from the act of breaking away from the academic and historicist approach to art, although it was based upon some aspects of tradition, like Baroque and folk art, at the same time drawing inspiration from Far Eastern art. Most developments in architecture at that time regarded housing.

The Secessionist character of architecture – which at the time favoured asymmetry, a-tectonic forms, accentuation of the linear aspects of details, and turned to nature as a source of inspiration – manifested itself mostly in details: long, flexible lines, subtle and bright colours, floral ornaments: vine scrolls, canes, lilies, bindweeds, dandelions, roses, animals, insects (especially dragonflies), as well as fantastic and fairy tale creatures.

Warsaw, Kraków and Łódź were the main centres of development of Secessionist architecture. Notable architects included: Franciszek Mączyński, Mikołaj Tołwiński, Tadeusz Stryjeński, Stanisław Wyspiański.


In Lublin secessionist buildings are concentrated mostly on Szopena and 3 Maja streets.

 

Detail of the apartment house at 12, 3 Maja Street
Detail of the apartment house at 12, 3 Maja Street
Detail of the apartment house at 11, Szopena Street
Detail of the apartment house at 9, Szopena Street

 

ModernismDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

The term ‘Modernism’ is sometimes used to describe all works of art that turned away from the nineteenth-century Eclecticism and Historicism. More specifically, the term refers to the transition phase between Secession and contemporary architecture, characterized by rejection of ornaments (producing more moderate and cleaner façades) in favour of attention to structure and function.

In Poland Modernist trends first appeared in the 1920s, and later merged with the Monumentalist current in architecture. The first Polish Modernist building is the former Muzeum Techniczno-Przemysłowe (technology and industry museum) in Kraków, designed by Tadeusz Stryjeński and Józef Czajkowski. Construction works began in 1909. After 1930, the avant-garde philosophy of Constructivism gained prominence, supported by European trends close to Functionalism (Bauhaus, Le Corbusier), and activities of Polish avant-garde groups, which had an architectural programme on one hand (stressing the value of simplicity, functionality and structure), and a social one on the other (a flat as a ‘machine for living’, experiments with modules and pre-fabricated elements).

In Lublin the Modernist architecture is represented by the following buildings: the NBP (The National Bank of Poland) building, the church of St. Michael in the Bronowice district, the so-called ‘officers’ housing area’ (osiedle oficerskie), the former Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK, state development bank) – today’s Pekao SA bank at 64, Krakowskie Przedmieście St., the Stanisław Kostka middle school and high school building (the so-called Biskupiak), and the former Health Care Fund (Kasa Chorych) building at 4, Hipoteczna Street.

 

National Bank of Poland
Bank Pekao SA
Church of St. Michael
Stanisław Kostka school

 

Socialist RealismDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

This current in Polish architecture existed between 1949 and 1955 (it was linked with the implementation of the six-year economic plan). Socialist Realism was founded on critical attitude towards dehumanized avant-garde architecture of the inter-war years and on the belief that it was necessary to preserve typical national forms that drew inspiration from a wide variety of sources: the Renaissance attics, the Neo-Classcist colonnades, the picturesque Baroque forms, and folk art. Thus the resulting architectural style was plainly eclectic. Socialist Realist designs proposed urban complexes where the concept of residential areas as separate units was replaced with the idea of city as a coherent whole.

Notable examples of Socialist Realist Architecture are: the Nowa Huta district in Kraków, the Marszałkowska Dzielnica Mieszkaniowa residential district and the Ministry of Agriculture in Warsaw.

In Lublin the Zamkowy Square urban complex can serve as an example of Socialist Realist architecture.


 

 

Text by Joanna Zętar

Translated by Jarosław Kobyłko

LiteratureDirect link for this paragraphGo back to indexGo back to index

Kowalczyk J. (1956) Kościół pobernardyński w Lublinie i jego stanowisko w renesansowej architekturze Lubelszczyzny, Lublin;
Kubalska-Sulkiewicz K. (ed.) (1996) Słownik terminologiczny sztuk pięknych. Wydanie nowe, Warszawa;
Łoziński J. (1985) Pomniki sztuki w Polsce, vol. 1 – Małopolska, Warszawa;
Tatarkiewicz T. Typ lubelski i typ kaliski w architekturze kościelnej XVII wieku, „Prace Komisji Historii Sztuki PAU”, vol. 7, year. 1937/38. 
Zabytki architektury i budownictwa w Polsce. Województwo lubelskie, Ośrodek Dokumentacji Zabytków, Warszawa 1995.

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