Regional Historic Preservation Officers are of the opinion that monument protection system in Poland needs to be modified. According to them, however, these changes need to be preceded by in-depth analysis of the existing situation, e.g. the condition in which historic monuments and sites are preserved in Poland, the sources of financing works carried out to monuments and sites, the role that historic preservation offices play in administration combined with regional governors, and the current financial and HR situation in specific government bodies. Changes made to the monument protection system should result in improving the conservational state of historic monuments and sites as well as improving functioning of historic preservation service in competence-, organisation-, and finance-related aspects. Furthermore, as a consequence, local government bodies and the society should become more aware of their responsibilities pertaining to historic monuments and sites. The role of local government historic preservation service should be also taken into consideration. According to Regional Historic Preservation Officers, the changes should be aimed at the following: strengthening the office of General Historic Preservation Officer who will shape historic preservation policy in Poland and coordinate actions taken by state and local historic preservation service; subordinating Regional Historic Preservation Officers directly to the General Historic Preservation Officer (within structures of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage); improve the organisational and financial situation in Regional Historic Preservation Offices and adapt it to their needs; developing a model of local government historic preservation service in terms of their competences, organisational structure, and subordinance (control- and meritrelated) to Regional Historic Preservation Officers. It is necessary to make legislative changes to the monument protection law not only by issuing clear, uniform, and adoptable regulations but also by correlating regulations pertaining to protection of historic monuments and sites with other existing acts of law. It is also essential to perform comprehensive analysis of the list of Polish monuments and sites (register and record of historic monuments and sites) as well as develop and implement a financial support system for taking care of historic monuments and sites and include properties owned by the state treasury into this system. It must be also emphasised that there is a strong need for increasing social importance of guardianship of monuments and sites and making the society aware of limitations and benefits pertaining to monument protection.
Ten years have already passed by since the discovery of the unknown work of Henry van de Velde – interior decor and furnishings of the former sanatorium in Trzebiechów – was announced, which took place in 2003. It was the grandson of the last head of the sanatorium before the outbreak of the WWII, who picked up the trail of the artist and followed information relating Henry van de Velde to the sanatorium in Trzebiechów, erected between 1902-1905 from the funds of the Ducal Family of von Reuss. As deep as in the Archives of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin, he discovered the lists of the artist to Duchess Marie Alexandrine von Reuss. This proved the authorship of the Belgian, additionally confirmed by the later stylistic and comparative analysis. The discovery complemented the catalogue of works of Henry van de Velde and had wide repercussions throughout Europe. Conservation research in the buildings of the former sanatorium has been commenced soon after, followed by renovation as well as conservation works in the years 2004-2012, resulting in revealing the interiors in original colouring from the dawn of the 20th century. The 150th anniversary of the Belgian artist birthday, celebrated in 2013 in many European countries, including Poland, was a great opportunity to remind of the only work of van de Velde at the territory of our country. Henry van de Velde was a versatile man of art. His works include such domains as painting, architecture, furniture and textile design, book covers, posters, ceramic, china and metalwork designs, ladies clothing. He was also the author of studies on the theory of art. Van de Velde had a great impact on development of the European art of the 20th century and is considered one of the most recognized representatives of the Modernism. In 1902, Henry van de Velde arrived to Weimar, to take the position of the counsellor for art, industrial design and craft at the court. The Weimar period is considered to be the one of the most significant in his career. His Weimar designs include, among others, redevelopment of the house of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche into archive, the buildings of the School of Art and the Arts and Crafts School, as well as a house for his family, called Hohe Pappeln – a true manifesto of the New Style, by which the artist expressed drastically its clear departure from imitating the historical styles. The most significant works delivered during the Weimer period include construction of villa for the manufacturer H. Esche in Chemnitz, for Dr. W. Leuring in Scheveningen in Holland, for P. Schulenburg in Gera, redevelopment of villa for T. Koerner in Chemnitz and interiors in the sanatorium in Trzebiechów. Henry van de Velde’s output consists in more than 300 designs, including works of art and complex architectural structures. He designed 48 buildings along with their complete furnishings and interiors, following the idea with of combining different areas of artistic creation into a single work of art, in line with the vision behind the Gesamtkunstwerk. The list of his works depicts more than 100 interior designs, for the most from Belgium, Germany and Holland. The most outstanding are the interiors of the Folkwang Museum in Hagen, Nietzsche Archive in Weimar, H. Esche’s villa in Chemnitz, K.E. Osthaus’s villa (Hohenhof) in Hagen and sanatorium in Trzebiechów. Research performed in recent years revealed that the commission taken up by Henry van de Velde in Trzebiechów covered complex designs of vast majority of representative interiors, including colouring and decorative ornaments for staircases in two largest buildings of the complex, i.e. main building and the administrative and residential building called The Doctor’s House, accompanied by halls, social rooms for both ladies and gentlemen, billiards room and dining room situated in the main building. The artist designed also door and window woodframes, stairs, floors, floor finishing, panelling, etc. The designs covered many domains, from constructional solutions (structure of pseudo-ceiling in a dining room and side staircase in the main building) to minor details, such as ferrules or door and window handles. Both the scale and quality of the artistic output visible in the sanatorium in Trzebiechów and well-preserved original elements of the historical building make it one of the most distinguished works of Henry van de Velde. Regular research and conservation and reconstruction works performed in recent years brought to light and allowed to maintain the original elements of the historical building. That is why we may consider the former sanatorium in Trzebiechów, aspiring to the rank of the ‘monument of history’, as the work of art of the European scale.
Idea społecznej opieki nad zabytkami zapisała się chlubnie na kartach historii naszego kraju, jak również w powojennej historii ochrony zabytków na Ziemi Lubuskiej, czego przykłady sięgają lat 60. XX w. Dzięki temu wiele zabytków rezydencjonalnych na terenach przyłączonych do Polski po 1945 r., narażonych na akty wandalizmu i zniszczenie, zostało zabezpieczonych do czasu podjęcia prac remontowych, co umożliwiło ich przetrwanie do naszych czasów. Zaangażowanie społeczne i troska o dziedzictwo kulturowe małych ojczyzn, szczególnie widoczne od końca lat 90. XX w., stanowi potencjał, który należy wykorzystać i nadać mu należną rangę. Wojewódzcy konserwatorzy zabytków wspierają działania społeczników na wielu płaszczyznach i współpracują z nimi w trosce o zabytki. Znamy liczne przykłady inicjatyw, które zaowocowały przywróceniem wielu zabytków do dobrego stanu, należy więc rozpowszechniać stosowanie dobrych praktyk w tym zakresie. Wymaga to wprowadzenia rozwiązań systemowych, które poszerzą pola działania organizacji społecznych i osób zaangażowanych w opiekę nad zabytkami, określą zasady finansowania i współpracy ze służbami konserwatorskimi.
EN
The idea of social care for monuments has gone down proudly in the history of our country, as well as in the post-war history of monument protection in the Lubusz region, examples of which date back to the 1960s. As a result, many residential monuments in the areas annexed to Poland after 1945 are exposed to against acts of vandalism and destruction, were protected until renovation works were undertaken, which enabled them to survive to this day. Social involvement and care for the cultural heritage of small homelands, especially visible since the late 1990s, is a potential that should be used and given due importance. Provincial monument conservators support the activities of community activists on many levels and cooperate with them to care for monuments. We know numerous examples of initiatives that have resulted in the restoration of many monuments to good condition, so good practices in this area should be disseminated. This requires the introduction of systemic solutions that will expand the scope of activities of social organizations and people involved in the care of monuments, and define the principles of financing and cooperation with conservation services.
A physiotherapy-diet sanatorium founded by Prince Heinrich VII Reuss-Köstritz and his wife, Princess Marie Alexandrine, was opened in Trzebiechow in 1905. The author of the project was Max Schündler, an architect from Zwickau. The decorations and outfitting of the stately interiors were entrusted to the Belgian artist Henry van de Velde. Extant parts of the former sanatorium include the buildings of the complex and the park. The absence of significant repair during the inter-war period proved conducive for the preservation of numerous elements of the original outfitting and interior design. In 2004 the connection of the monument with the name of the celebrated Belgian artist proved decisive for the inauguration of studies, and a year later – for the first conservation-restoration undertakings aimed at recreating the original colours of the interiors, whose essential element consists of the perfectly preserved window and door joinery, the stair balustrades, the panelling and the benches. The conducted research disclosed the original intense colours either harmonising or contrasting with the walls and ceilings embellished with original ornamental motifs. The eight discovered decoration motifs of the interior constitute the most extensive set of the artist's preserved works in Europe; in 2005 they were subjected to conservation. Both the investigations and the conservation and restoration carried out in the Trzebiechow sanatorium have not been completed. Nonetheless, it may be said with full conviction that such a copious programme of interior design by Henry van de Velde has not been found elsewhere, a fact which enhances the rank of this particular complex among the cultural resources not only of Poland but also on a European scale.
JavaScript jest wyłączony w Twojej przeglądarce internetowej. Włącz go, a następnie odśwież stronę, aby móc w pełni z niej korzystać.