UOBECNIANIE PRZESZŁOŚCI W TERAŹNIEJSZOŚCI. KAZIMIERZ SKÓREWICZ I ADOLF SZYSZKO-BOHUSZ
MAKING THE PAST PRESENT IN THE PRESENT. KAZIMIERZ SKÓREWICZ AND ADOLF SZYSZKO-BOHUSZ

THE DISPUTE OF THE CREATORS OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF IDENTITY AND REPRESENTATION AT THE ROYAL CASTLE IN WARSAW

Summary/Abstract: After Poland regained its independence, Kazimierz Skórewicz and Adolf Szyszko-Bohuszfaced the difficult task of adapting the Royal Castle in Warsaw – which had been destroyedduring the partitions – for museum purposes and, above all, for use by the Polish president andthe newly established state. They were to create a building that would help shape the identityof the reborn country; it was to be a symbolic visualization of the state and an expression ofits potential, while at the same time carrying a message that would unify a society that hadbeen divided by the partitions. They consciously selected and updated elements of the pastthat could become a common image of the past in the service of the current needs. By makingchanges to or basing on historical materials, they constructed a specific vision of the culturalcommunity both in time and space with the help of memory implantation. However, they nevercooperated, because the differences in their approach to historical matter and the scale ofmodernization were irreconcilable.

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