Architektura – „narodowa w formie”
Architecture Which Is “National In Its Form”

Summary/Abstract: Socialist architecture today is perceived mainly as an aesthetic rather than ideological phenomenon. Thus, when we look at the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, we do not take in the symbol of Polish submission the Soviet Union, which it once was, but and interesting building which stands out from the rest of the city landscape. The history of Poland shows that architecture very quickly became a tool for Soviet ideology. Architects’ studios were taken over by the state and party authorities continuously supervised project design and construction. According to the Soviet imperative, architecture was to become an enormous social art distinguished by national form. Such a form did not, however, indicate the patriotic love of one’s country, but was based on a socialist and internationalist doctrine which, as everybody knows, stemmed from the Soviet Union. Therefore, the buildings erected in Poland and other socialist countries reflected Soviet style and it is obvious that patriotism was understood in a very specific way: new architectural and urban planning standards imported from the East were presented as national forms. The basic principle was for each building to express its function in an understandable way and this resulted in a broad range of designs: from the simple and unassuming forms of multi-family housing to the self-important and elaborate party buildings. “Socialist patriotism expressed in architecture is perceived today as mediocre, exaggerated and ideological”, concludes Piotr Marciniak.

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