Architektura i prestiż nowoczesnego urzędu: przypadek budynków ministerialnych w Warszawie, stolicy konstytucyjnego Królestwa Polskiego (1815–1830)
Architecture and Prestige of a Modern Office: the Case of Ministry Buildings in Warsaw, the Capital of the Constitutional Kingdom of Poland (1815–1830)

Author(s): Mikołaj Getka-Kenig
Subject(s): 19th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: architecture of public buildings; Palace of the Commonwealth; Palace of the Government Commission of Internal Affairs and the Police; Palace of the Ministry of Revenues and Treasury
Summary/Abstract: In the architecture of the ministry buildings of the period examined one may notice above all the desire to highlight the authority of the government of the “resurrected” Polish state. The themes of successful development that were expressed in sculptural decorations served all the more to draw attention to the government’s responsibility for social well-being. In this way they could strengthen the belief in the need for obedience to authorities whose efforts were aimed at such a good goal. Significantly, the preserved sources do not show that this was the way to underline the political evolution of relations between a state and citizens – democratization of access to power connected with the development of modern bureaucracy. The magnates’ former palaces – Old Polish client centres – now became the seats of the highest public offices, adapting their traditional ideological task, which was to inspire respect and reverence.

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