Altana Słuszków czy „fontanna Szujskich”. Epilog : Uchwała Prezydium Rady Ministrów nr 572/53
The Słuszko Gazebo or the “Shuiskys’ Fountain”. Epilogue: the Presidium of the Council of Ministers Decree No. 572/53

Summary/Abstract: The 17th-century Baroque garden gazebo of the Słuszko family, wrongly thought by many to be the Moscow Chapel, survived as a ruin until 1953. Its reconstruction was designed by Mieczysław Kuzma; yet although funding was available and documentation had been prepared, on 3 November 1953 the building was pulled down, as it had been included on a list of Warsaw ruins marked for demolition. The list was appended to a secret decree of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers (No. 572/53), the passing of which (on 29 July 1953) was a deliberate political act intended not only to put the city in order, but also to symbolically end the process of rebuilding monuments. In practice, the decree provided the legal basis for the destruction of many buildings whose reconstruction would have been feasible, but whose remains were deemed to interfere with the positive reception of the construction ventures implemented in Warsaw during the Socialist Realist era. Decisions on this issue were made in agreement by Bolesław Bierut and Józef Sigalin, and the content of the decree was prepared without consulting any authority in the field of protection and conservation of monuments.

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