Uwagi o niektórych zabytkowych układach miejskich na obszarze Polski środkowej

• Autorzy: Kulesza, M.

Warianty tytułu

EN

Remarks on Certain Historical Urban Configurations in Central Poland

• Języki publikacji: PL

Abstrakty

EN

The article presents the mediaeval urban configurations of several historical towns situated in Central Poland. The object of interest are the historical spatial configurations of Radziej˘w, Radomsko, Brzeziny, Pabianice and Zgierz, whose origin dates back to the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. The intention of the study was also to capture traces of the past, preserved in contemporary plans, with emphasis placed on the oldest, original elements, testifying to the town planning form accepted for a given solution. The examined morphogenesis encompassed five centres, of which three (Uniej˘w, Radomsko and Brzeziny) are unaffected by dynamic nineteenth-century industrialisation; hence, the modern plans of those localities retained significant relics of the oldest town planning solutions. The other two examples (Pabianice and Zgierz) are centres which underwent thorough industrialisation. Nonetheless, extant traces assisted in a reconstruction of their original plans. The most interesting in the multi-part settlement- town planning complex of Uniej˘w are probably relics of an early mediaeval settlement, and the almost unchanged extant configuration of the mediaeval location town from the fourteenth century. Uniej˘w is one of the scarce towns, not only in Central Poland, which preserved the original town planning solution from the Lorca period. A rare configuration is represented by Radomsko, whose origins are hypothetically placed in the eleventh century. The first written mention of this locality dates back to 1234. Radomsko is frequently mentioned as a pre-location urban settlement. The market square of the location town had a trapezoidal form, similar to the shape of the former fair square. This type of urban planning depended on an area purposefully chosen for a settlement, rather frequently encountered on Polish lands in the twelfth and thirteenth century. Brzeziny developed near a village of the same name, while the oldest fragment of the town grew along a route, subsequently known as the Old Town. The New Town appeared in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. The town planning of this locality was affected by the pattern of routes running across it as well as the river Morzyca, flowing through the town. Here also, the mid-sixteenth century witnessed the emergence of a multi-part settlement complex, composed of an old part of the town with its own church of its own, a New Town, situated to the south of the location town, with its own church, and the suburbs of Szydowiec, Na G˘rce an Zielonka. Soon after the location of f Pabianice there emerged a settlement complex, composed of three parts: a landed estate located to the west of the river Dobrzynka, a manor (castle) lying to the east of the river, built in 1565-1571, and the town itself, situated to the east of the manor (castle). The sixteenth century denoted a period of an extraordinary territorial development of Pabianice. The year 1533 initiated the realisation of a planned expansion of the town by organising the so-called New Town, an example, characteristic for Polish town planning of the period, of a spatial development of an urban centre, in which the growing population and functions required a new division of municipal space. Zgierz, first mentioned in 1232 and one of the oldest towns in Central Poland, is a second centre among localities which in the nineteenth century experienced dynamic industrialisation. The town planning of Zgierz from the period of the location of the town remained the fundamental core of its configuration for centuries to come, to the beggining of the nineteenth century; its traces are visible up to this very day. A typical feature for this configuration is the market square, whose shape is close to a trapezoid, surrounded by four town planning blocs, irregulary shaped and of assorted sizes, a departure from the principles of mediaeval town planning. The spatial configuration of pre-industrialisation Zgierz contains a certain visible dependence of the more important elements of the plan of local topographic conditions, and especially the water courses. This adaptation of the spatial configuration to topographic conditions can be observed best upon the example of the course of certain streets, the river Bzura and the town pond. We could say, therefore, that the configurations of the analysed localities preserved a legible composition plan, with such individual and charateristic properties such as: planning, street network, organisation of a lot interiors (plots and market squares), localisation of architectonic (sacral and secular) dominants, and other elements of town planning, specific for each example. Another attention worthy fact is the survival of the oldest, early mediaeval relic of fair settlements, best exemplified by Uniej˘w and Radomsko, similar to those preserved in other regions of the country. Those town centres, and partially Brzeziny, to a significant degree maintained plans from the location period. In other words, they offer an opportunity for becoming acquainted with "mediaeval town planning reality", principles of planning, measurement and division of the municipal functions. In those centres which underwent town planning transformations caused by industrialisation, such as Pabianice and Zgierz, it is also possible to notice numerous traces of the past, preserved chiefly in their communication configurations and town square solutions. Each of the examined urban centres possess its own individual and unique climate, created by topographic location, planning tradition, and the predilections and needs of the inhabitants. This quality should be not only perceived but predominantly protected and cultivated for the sake of the towns themselves and Polish historical town planning.

• Czasopismo: Kwartalnik Architektury i Urbanistyki
• Rocznik: 1998
• Tom: T. 43, z. 1-2
• Strony: 95-107
• Opis fizyczny: bibliogr. poz. 30,

Twórcy

autor

Kulesza, M.