Dwa modernizmy - warszawski i lwowski - próba porównania

Abstract

Two modernisms - the Warsaw and Lwów (Lemberg, now Lviv) ones - attempt of comparison

In the present paper the attention is focused on the similarities and differences in architecture of Lviv and Warsaw of the years 1905-1923. The time limits, mutual contacts of both environments, the dominant stylistic currents and sources of creative inspiration are discussed. Considering the time limits the year 1912 was very important for both cities. In Lviv it was the time when building trade enjoyed the highest prosperity. In Warsaw it was the time the new bridge on the Vistula River was opened, giving the impulse for development of the new part of the city. The year 1918 brought significant changes in building trade in both cities. Warsaw became the capital of Poland, which created the need for extending the city and Lwów lost its status of the main center of Galicia and much of its former profits. The development of architecture in Lviv and Warsaw followed a very similar course and both circles were in contact with each other. That phenomenon was enhanced before 1918 by migration of architects from the Vistula Country (Pryvyslansky Kray) to Lviv and after 1918 from the capital of Galicia to Warsaw. After 1905 some 30% of students of the Lwów Technical University came from Warsaw and other Polish territories under Russian rule. Also some eminent architects, coming to Lwów via Warsaw, graduated from the Lwów Faculty of Architecture (like for instance Zbigniew Brochwicz-Lewiński, who was a very active Lwów architect). Outstanding Lviv building engineers - e.g. Maksymilian Thullie and Stefan Bryła - often came to Warsaw, summoned as consultants at building new Warsaw edifices. After the year 1918 a team of some the most active Lwów architects and building engineers moved to the developing Warsaw - for instance Roman Feliński, the most influential Polish architect of the years 1918-1926 and Stefan Bryła. In the architecture of both cities one can notice slight, but important differences. Warsaw after 1918 was dominated by various form of historism - both the neo-classic style and cosmopolitan repetitions of Berlin patterns were very popular. In Lwów architecture one can see more diversity of style and the dominance of historic and national motifs combined with the most modern technical solutions. Many architects in both cities were inspired by the architecture of Berlin and other German cities (Dresden and Munich). Numerous Warsaw and Lviv tenement houses and public buildings repeated the Berlin patterns. Those inspirations gradually forced out the influence of Vienna and Russia on the architecture of both cities.