Architecture styles in the process of spatial nationalization on the example of interwar Bydgoszcz
Architecture styles in the process of spatial nationalization on the example of interwar Bydgoszcz

Author(s): Jan Szczepański
Subject(s): Geography, Regional studies
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Bydgoszcz; nationalism; architecture; interwar; functionalism
Summary/Abstract: This article attempts to stimulate the discussion on the causes, ways and effects of implementing the idea of new architectural styles (mainly functionalism) in Bydgoszcz during the Second Republic of Poland. Bydgoszcz was one of the largest Polish cities at that time. The article’s main focus are aspects related to construction investments from the late 1920s to 1939 and an emphasis on their architectural style on the basis of non-obvious national subtext. The author lists the most important conclusions, and briefly characterizes them. Moreover, he finds and shows evidence that the new facilities, apart from their useful and necessary functions for the city’s development, also played a symbolic role in building a completely new part of identity. This combination finally creates the unique Bydgoszcz atmosphere and recalls times of hidden nationalism in architecture.

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