The question of national and regional identity on the example of Polish and German interpretations of Gdansk architecture in the 19th and 20th centuries

M A L G O R Z A T A OMDLANOWSKA*

THE QUESTION OF NATIONAL AND REGIONAL IDENTITY ON THE EXAMPLE OF POLISH AND GERMAN INTERPRETATIONS OF GDANSK

ARCHITECTURE IN THE 19

AND 20

CENTURIES

Abstract: The architectural heritage and the mode of its analysis arid interpretation, specially in the perspective of na­

tional and regional question, can and often becomes the issue prone to manipulation. The attempts to define national and regional identity by means of cultural legacy have been accompanying the research into art and also the creation of modem architecture in the spirit of national Historieism already since the 19'1' century. The architecture of Gdansk has for years been the subject of a heated debate'of both German and Polish architects, historians of architecture, and conservators. In the recent years also politicians have joined in the debate, and so have writers. The paper analyses the issue of the relation of architectural forms and rhetorical formulas, namely the combination of architecture and specific contents treated as signs of local identity, as well as changeability and interpretational flexibility of those issues with regard to the needs of political circumstances (idioms versus interpretational variants, stereotypies, research myths, likings versus scholarly idiosyncrasies).

Special attention will be paid to the Gdansk architecture of the 2nd half of the 19* century and its contemporary and later in­

terpretations in the perspective of regional and national identification.

Keywords: architecture of the 19. and 20. centuries, national identification, Neo-Renaissance, Danzig, Gdansk, history of architecture

The architectural heritage and the mode of its analysis and interpretation, specially in the perspective of national and regional question, can and often becomes the issue prone to manip­

ulation. The attempt's to define national and re­

gional identity by means of cultural legacy have been accompanying the research into art and also the creation of modern architecture in the spirit of national Historieism already since the 19th century. The place where the phenomena can be observed in a particularly acute way is Gdansk, a city of extremely complicated identity, multicultural structure, and a rich architecftiral output, the latter having been on a number of oc­

casions a subject to national interpretations or over-interpretations.¹

* Malgorzata Omilanowska, Instimte of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences - Warsaw, History of Art Dept. Univer­

sity of Gdansk; E-mail: malgi irzata.oriiilanowska@ispan.pl, Fax: +48-22-831-31-49

The major problem concerning Gdansk and interesting in the context of the topic of the pres­

ent Symposium does not only touch on the very is­

sues of national and local interpretation of the his­

tory of architecture of the city by art historian, but first of all the translation of those interpretations into arcliitecttrre raised in the city in the 19th and 20' centuries by German architects until 1944 and the Polish ones after 1945, which in conse­

quence means the translation of those interpreta­

tions into the processes of restoration, conserva­

tion, and reconstruction of Gdansk monuments.

Architectural heritage of the old Gdansk, this meaning the main sphere of interest of the re­

searchers into medieval and early m o d e m art and the architectural cityscape that it shaped was dominated by buildings raised during the period when Gdansk belonged to the Polish crown. Naturally, already during the Teutonic times: in the 13* and 14lh centuries and in the first half of the 15th century, a number of impor-

Acln Historiae irtium, fomus 49.200o OO01-583O/2OO8/$2O.O0©Akad6miaiKiad6, Budapest

Originalveröffentlichung in: Acta historiae artium Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 49 (2008), S. 294-303

M. OMILA.NOW SKA. GDANSK ARCHITECTURE 295

tant lay and sacral edifices had already been built, yet many of them, e.g. the Town Hall of the main city in the course of time underwent sub­

stantial alterations or were added extensions sig- nificant for their external reception, such as a huge tower added onto the Marian Church. In ef­

fect, only one important symbol of the city, namely the Crane Gate, dating from the Teu­

tonic period has, apart from churches, survived unaltered until the modern times.

The most attractive, and as the time has shown most important buildings in the perspec­

tive of the reception of Gdansk architecture in later centuries were either created or thoroughly altered in the second half of the 15 century, throughout the 16'1' century, and in the first half of the IT1'1 century. The buildings of the Great Ar­

moury, the Green, High, and Golden Gates, the Old Town Hall, and the Court of the Brother­

hood of St. Ceorge, as well as of the altered Main Town Hall and the Artus Court have become the icons of the city. The character of the city is also shaped by dozens of tenement houses of typical narrow facades crowned with gables and pre­

ceded by perrons. The profile of the city domi­

nated by edifices from High Middle Ages, Renais­

sance, Mannerism, and Baroque was additionally consolidated by a construction stagnation w hich lasted through the 18* century and the majority of the 19th century.

Anyone at least rudimentarily familiar with the facts from the Polish-German relations finds it absolutely obvious that the artistic legacy of Gdansk was bound to turn to he almost from the very beginning of the research into it a sphere of controversy and exttemely differentiated inter­

pretations between the Polish and German art historians. For the German scholars Gdansk ar­

chitecture constituted an integral part of the Ger­

man cultural legacy, yet the Poles regarded the buildings from the period when the city belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a part of their own tradition, interwoven, whether we want it or not, with various influences result­

ing from a peculiar character of a multi-denomi­

national, multi lingual, and multi-cultural state.

The present is not an appropriate opportunity to discuss in detail the German and Polish state of research into the architecture of Gdansk. Let me remind, however, that the German research into Gdansk architecture as seen in the perspective of

German art was started really early.2 The best ac­

complished Gdansk buildings could be found al­

ready among the prints of Georg Moller's portfi >li< >

published in 1821, whereas the publications from the 1850s, 1860s, and 1870s, mainly by Wil- helm Liibke, consolidated in the general German awareness the image of Gdansk architecture of the Renaissance as one of the better examples of German architecture.4

Views of Polish scholars on the architecture of Gdansk (I do not deal here with some detailed topographic studies) began to appear at tin; be­

ginning of the 20 century.'' The researchers traced in it first of all Netherlandish and Italian influences, at times literally denying any connec­

tion that it may have had with German art. It is enough to mention in this respect controversies regarding the terminology with reference to the architecture of the 16 and IT"1' centuries. The Germans defined those buildings as raised in the style of German Renaissance and Baroque. The Poles, in turn, preferred the term Northern Ren­

aissance and Mannerism, eagerly emphasizing the main feature of this architecture, namely its relations with Netherlandish architecture, some­

times even excessively promoting the concept of Netherlandism in the context of Gdansk.1'

The 18 century brought no essential alter­

ations in Gdansk's townscape. After 17⁽)8, Gdansk was encompassed within the boundaries of Prussia, whereas during the Napoleonic wars it suffered enormous devastation, losing for some decades to come almost completely any eco­

nomic importance, at the same time starling the period of stagnation w hich also affected the cre­

ation of new buildings. It was only once a new West Prussian Province had been formed post 1878, namely after the establishment of the Ger­

man Empire, when Gdansk was elevated to the status of the capital of the province, that a new momentum in the development of the city was gained, the economic growth accelerated, and a stimulus formed for the expansion of the city and enriching it with new public buildings. Histori- cism of the second half of the 191'1 century deter­

mined the choice of a style from the past for them. The decision was made to follow the Ger­

man No<(-Renaissance, already popular in the ar­

chitecture of many German towns.'

In 1880-1887, several projects were imple­

mented in Gdansk, these being first and fore-

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most the buildings of the Supra-Presidency and Western Prussian Public Notary (Oberpixisidial- und Regierungsgebdude, Fig. 1) designed by the Berlin architect Karl Friedrieh Endell and of the Governance of the Western Prussia Provinces (Landeshaus, Fig. 2) designed by the Berlin ar­

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the same time the latter also raised two other im­

portant edifices in Gdansk: the Great Synagogue and the building of the Saving Bank (Sparkasse).

In professional media in which all the designs were published it was emphasized that the build­

ings stylistically adhered to German Neo-Renais- sance; additionally, on a specified wish of the then city's Oberbilrgermeister Eeopold von Winter, as is testified by source texts, a clear reference to the local architectural legacy was enhanced."

In view of the research into the architecture of German Neo-Renaissance, which points to its strong national and bourgeois connotations, as well as its relations with the myth of the Hanseatic League,9 the choice of this very style for the new architecture of Gdansk - the capital of an Empire's province may be considered most just from the point of view of the city authorities' political ambitions, which was later testified by Gdansk's career. It allowed to enhance the fact that Gdansk belonged to the Empire, and at the same time signalled its local distinctness, it made reference to the bourgeois tradition of the town and referred directly to the times of the former grandeur of the city whose restoration was the dream of its inhabitants.

The second stage of the extension of Gdansk took place in the years 1895-1910, after the modern city fortifications had been pulled down.

German Neo-Renaissance was already by that

Acta llixi. An.. Tom. Si. 200S

M. OMILANOWSKA, GDANSK ABCHITECTURE 297

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I til. 4. Gdansk, Technical University (Technische I lochschule Danzig). Albert Carsten, 1900-1904,

repr.: Technische Hochschule in Danzig. Festschrift zur Erqffnung 6 Oktober 1906, Danzig 1904, after p. 8.

time a n officially acknowledged, t h o u g h not the only national style of the E m p i r e , a n d it almost fully d o m i n a t e d the style of buildings raised in the t o w n at the time. In this context it seems that the m o s t interesting is the episode related to the construction of the Technical University (Tschni­

sche Hochschule Danzig) c o m p l e x . T h e decision to select G e r m a n N e o - R e n a i s s a n c e as the style

for all the c o m p l e x buildings was m a d e in Berlin; it was also in Berlin that the ministry of p u b l i c works designed the first c o m p l e x , with H e r m a n n Eggert initially working o n it, to be fol­

lowed b y G e o r g T h i i r (Fig. 3). A l r e a d y in the first p u b l i c a t i o n s written a m o n g the Berlin circle o n the p l a n n e d university it was said that " i n the ar­

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Danzig's did Renaissance buildings should be sought". In 1899, the designs were given a pos­

itive opinion by the Akadetnie der Bauwesen, yet on the Emperor's order: "auf AUerhochste Anordnung", the initially designed forms appar­

ently referring to Dutch Renaissance were re­

placed by ^Alt-Danzinger Bcuuveise" forms, closer in character." The final implementation designs authored by Albert Carsten were, in fact, enriched with a much greater number of gables than liggert and Tlnir had assumed (Fig. 4).

In the last years of the 19¹'¹ century and the first decade of the 20 century some dozen Neo- Renaissance public buildings were raised in Gdansk, this including the police headquarters, the edifice of the Insurance (Lunclesrer.siche- rungsanstalt, Fig. 5), the Reich's Bank, the Town Archives and the Court (Land- und Amtsgerichts- gebaude, Fig. 6), as well as an impressive Rail­

way Station, with a tower quoting almost literary the tower of the Town I lall. What is more, the

success of the style spread over to tenement houses and villas, hotels, department stores, bank headquarters, and many others. In major public buildings only some few cases of refer­

ences to a different style can be observed, each time this style being Neo-Gothic with additional clear reference to Gdansk buildings.

The new architecture of Gdansk In 1880- 1910 was equally German and Gdansk in its srvl- istics, it allowed for both national and local iden­

tification, which was clearly read by the then German inhabitants of the city. This did not.

however, remain equally obvious for the Poles as much as the local identification w as clear alsi i I'c >r them, the relations with the national German style were no longer so. This is testified not only by the writings of the period, starting from the re­

ports on the expeditions of Polish architects to Gdansk,'"2 to the guide texts on the other ex­

treme," but also the episodic as it might be, but meaningful at the same time use of the "Old

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Gdansk" sty le in the exhibition pavilion of the Okocim Brewery built in Lvov by the Cracow ar­

chitect Tomas Pryliriski in 1894 (Fig. 7). The use of tbe "'Old Gdansk forms" was in the eyes of the commissioning entity meant to emphasize the long tradition of beer brewing in Okocim, as a matter of fact located in the south of Poland, in the then Galicia.

The dominance of German Neo-Gothic in Gdansk architecture was in a way consolidated by establishing a strong centre of research into the old architecture of the city which was created at the Architecture Department at Gdansk Tech­

nical University in 1904. The architects who formed it became a conservative opposition ver­

sus any attempts to build differently, in a more modern manner, in compliance with German and European Avant-garde trends in architec­

ture, while promoting conservative solutions.

Meanwhile, the Gdansk milieu willingly accepted the influence of Heimatschlttzbewegurtg, which was soon to be seen in the architecture of villa quarters, first of all in Langfuhr and the estates in the style of "garden-cities'1, such as e.g. the com­

plex of a clerks' cooperative in Neuschottland.

The focus on the past and the values of old architecture yielded even before the outbreak of World War I the first attempts to restore the orig­

inal homogeneous character to the old quarter of the city. In practice, this meant the rejection ol the buildings from the first half of the 19'1' cen­

tury, yet at the same time the first voices of criti­

cism of late Historicism could be heard. In 1910, on the initiative of the private real-estate's own­

ers a competition was held to alter two houses adjacent to the Baroque so-called Schluter

lf-/„ Hit. Irt.. Tom. •*<>. 2IHIS

M. OMILANOW SKA. GDANSK ARCHITECTURE 301

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Fig. I lb. Gdansk, Stqgiewna (former Milchkiiiirwgtin.ie).

after rerunstnietmiis 1907. fcil. 2007. M. Oinilannwska

House in Jopengasse (today's Piwna Street). The winning design was authored by Carl Anion Meckel and it assumed the stylistic adjustment of the buildings to be altered both to the above- mentioned houses and buildings along the w hole street. In effect, a pastiche on Baroque architec­

ture was achieved: formally, very close to the Schliiter House, yet featuring shapes that those houses most probably had nev er had (Fig. 8a-b).

hi the intervvar-period, during the existence of the Free Citv of Danzig, architects affiliated with the Architecture Department of the Techni­

cal University continued to have a decisive voice on the shape of Gdansk architecture. They effec­

tively hampered any attempts to raise any Avant- garde designs in the historical city centre, which Martin Kiesslinc. holding the office of Gdansk's city architect in 1927-1929 verified personally (Fig. 9). He had succeeded to have two schools raised according to his designs m some other dis­

tricts of Gdansk, yet the idea to introduce any modern urban solutions in the strict centre < »f the city was strongly criticised, mainly by Otto Kloep- pel and these projects, in fact, remained unac­

complished.1

After the National Socialist Party had won power in 1933, in Gdansk a broad campaign to restore the monumental centre of the city was started. Within 6 years a great effort was put to restore the old aspect to the city by removing shop windc >ws pierced at the turn of the 19'' cen­

tury, by reducing the number of aggressive ad­

vertising, but first of all by altering houses that

"did not match'1 the historical architecture in the spirit of the architecture of the old Gdansk.1'' It was first of all buildings from the 19,h and the be­

ginning of the 20'1' century that fell victim to those alterations, for their Neo-Renaissance forms characteristic of late Historicism not longer matched the concept of the true Old Gdansk architecture of the generation deciding on the new shape of the centre of Gdansk in the 1930s. The accomplished result proved to create a verv homogeneous whole, specially as any re­

mains reminding of the fact that the city had once belonged to Poland and which had sur­

vived the Prussian times were as a matter of fact eliminated (Fig. 10).

The year 19+3 resulted in an almost com­

plete annihilation of the historical centre of Gdansk, whereas in the aftermath of the decision of the great powers the city was to be on the terri­

tory of the Polish People's Republic. Its former inhabitants who had not managed to evacuate before the war front arrived, were displaced, their homes to be populated by the Poles, mainly coming from the eastern territories of Poland in­

corporated into the Soviet I n i d i i . V new stage in the history of the city started in which political and social needs related mainly to the need to tame space and gain new identification moti­

vated the decision to rebuild the destroyed city

[da I Hit. Art.. Tom. - r t Jims

302 CIHA NA TIONAL - POST-NATIONAL

centre. T h e works that h a d survived f r o m the times of Prussia where then cursed a n d only those edifices which for utilitarian reasons c o u l d b e used without a n y greater financial input sur­

vived. Instead, the o l d architecture f r o m the times of the P o l i s h - L i t h u a n i a C o m m o n w e a l t h was worth restoring, m a i n l y d u e to the fact that in the course of the d e b a t e the o p i n i o n o n its Pol- ishness prevailed.1' In the course of the recon- struetion all the city " i c o n s " were faithfully re­

stored: the City Gates, churches, T o w n Halls, A r t u s Court, a n d the C o u r t of St. George, yet the residential architecture w a s rebuilt in order to satisfy the needs of a n already n e w w o r k i n g es­

tate, hiding behind the 'Gdansk'1 gabled n a r r o w facades o r d i n a r y a p a r t m e n t blocks g r o u p e d a r o u n d internal courtyards, o n c e very densely built u p . '8 O n the very occasion a n attempt to

"Polemize" or rather " d e - G e r m a n i z e " the recon­

structed buildings was m a d e to consciously m a ­ nipulate iconographic motifs of the facade deco­

ration, specially along the stately route a l o n g Dluga a n d Dlugi T a r g Sneets.l Q T h e c o m p l e x of the reconstructed o l d centre of the city was to be­

c o m e the s y m b o l of P o l a n d ' s eternal presence o n the Baltic (Fig. t la-b).

A n a m a z i n g newest chapter i n the history of the reception of G d a n s k architecture a n d search­

ing for the places of local identification b e g a n in the 1990s. A p p a r e n t l y , a m o n g the circles of quite an influential g r o u p of G d a n s k intellectuals a concept w a s b o r n to reconstruct the works of Neo-Renaissance architecture f r o m the W i l h e l m times, as the latter w a s regarded to be a n excel­

lent e x a m p l e of the G d a n s k genius loci a n d a signpost for m o d e r n architects searching for a n e w expression for G d a n s k architecture.2 0 Para­

doxically, in the eyes of s o m e c o n t e m p o r a r y G d a n s k residents d i e G e r m a n architecture, the Criinderzeit, turned out to b e a n attractive alter­

native to s o m e c o n t e m p o r a r y designs. T h e result of a such-conceived policy of cherishing the local genius loci a n d revealed in the brick-stone eleva­

tions, volute gables, b a y w i n d o w s a n d Renais­

s a n c e turetts, c a n be seen, e.g. i n the buildings raised i n the 1 9 9 0 s a l o n g the southern street front of Stqgiewna Street (former Milclikannen- gasse), w h e r e i n synthetic plasters the facades of h o u s e s f r o m the times of the Griinderzeit were recreated not extremely faithfully. T h e seducing picturesque quality of those buildings effectively o v e r c o m e s i n m a n y P o l i s h beholders historical, a n d until recently negative, connotations. P a r a ­ doxically, this possibility of local identification w i t h the architerture of the G e r m a n times turned o u t to b e so attractive, as it provides a n opportu­

nity to create yet another G d a n s k m y t h o n the city's tolerance, openness, multiethnic character, m e a n i n g features desirable for the united E u ­ r o p e of the 21s t century.

AcUially, the analysing of G d a n s k architec­

tural legacy in the national categories of the Pol­

ish or G e r m a n qualities h a s created a n u m b e r of myths, fabricating this or that m y t h for the pur­

p o s e of current political needs. O v e r the last two centuries authors writing a b o u t G d a n s k architec­

ture h a v e d e v e l o p e d a w h o l e range of strategies of a p p r o p r i a t i o n s u p p o r t e d by a strong aware­

ness of a multi-century-lasting P o l i s h - G e r m a n n a t i o n a l conflict. A n d the easiest w a y out always t u r n e d out to b e the reference to the local d i m e n ­ sion of things, the m y t h o l o g y of a n always free a n d i n d e p e n d e n t G d a n s k , o v e r w h e l m e d b y that genius loci w h i c h allowed it to m a i n t a i n cultural continuity despite a complicated political history.

T h e Renaissance arcliitecture of G d a n s k , in­

terpreted by scholars, architects, a n d the 19th-cen- tury Prussian residents of G d a n s k served as g r o u n d s for creating the architecture of Histori- cism in its national style, yet of local connotarion.

w h i c h apparently 1 0 0 years later has been re­

garded b y the Poles living in the city as a manifes­

tation of the'genius loci a n d has b e e n raised to the status of a two-aspect model: of local identificatic m a n d a n over-national tolerance at the s a m e time.

N O T E S

1 Let me just remind yon the very- basic historical facts which have given the shape to the city. The settlement recorded lor the first time in 997 developed as the capital of a Slav Pomeranian Duchy, and around mid-13 century it was given town privileges. Captured by the Teutonic Order in

13()P>. in 1361 Gdansk was incorporated into the activity of the Hanseatic League. In 1-H>(>. after the 13-years' War Gdansk separated from the Teutonic state and incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth gaining, however, an ex­

ceptional and very privileged position. After the second 179.3

icta Hist. l/t, Tom. 49, Jims

M. 0 M 1 L A N O W S K A , G D A N S K A R C H I T K C T L RK

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" I d o not m e n t i o n here earlier p u b l i c a t i o n s of topographic- descriptive character p r e p a r e d m a i n l y a m o n g the G d a n s k circle.

M o l l e r , G e o r g : Beitragp. zur Kenntniss der deutschen liiiiikuti.il des Mittekdters enthaltend eine Reihe eon llerken aits (li'm Slen bis zurn I6len Jahrhundert ( D e n k m a l e r d e r d e u t s c h e n B a u k u n s t , B d . l ) , D a r m s t a n d t 1821.

4 I.ill ike, V? l l h e h n , (leschichle der deutschen Renaissance (Gegchichter d e r B a u k u n s t , B d 5), Stuttgart 1873.

k n i s z v i i s k i . T a d e u s z : Staiy Gdansk i histoiya /ego szlukt (The Old Gdansk and die History of its Art). W i e l i c z k a 1913.

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landish Artists in Gdansk in die Time of I land I redeman de t ries. M a t e r i a l f r o m the C o n f e r e n c e o r g a n i z e d by M u s e u m of the H i s t o r y o f the Git) of G d a n s k a n d W e s e r r e n a i s s a n c e - M u - s e u m S c h l o f i B r a k e L e m g o , G d a i i s k - L e m g o 2 0 0 6 , p p . 2 3 - 2 9 . O r n i l a n o w s k a , Malgorzata: Architektura G d a r i s k a hit 1 8 7 1 - 1 ' ) 14 (Architecture o f G d a n s k of 1 8 7 1 - 1 9 1 4 ) : Q lansk (>r (rather) G e r m a n ? In: Mecenal a artvslwzne oblicze nnasl. Ma­

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sance. Petersbertr 200")

111 •

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" D i e N e u b a u t e n f u r die T e c h n i s c h e n H o c h s c h u l e m D a n z i g . Zentralblatt der Bauuerwaltung, 2 2 ( 1 9 0 2 ) , p. 4 5 4 .

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tion of G d a n s k A r c h i t e c t u r e in the L v o v Circles at the T u r n of t h e 1 9 * C e n t u r y ) , in: Studia nod archileklitrq Gdariska i I'o- morza, (Studies in the Architecture of Gdansk and Pomera- nia), ed. A n d r z e j C r z v b k o w s k i . \ \ a r s z a w a 2 0 0 4 . p p . 2 1 5 - 2 2 ( >

(here p. 2 2 3 ) .

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H L e w i c k i 2 0 0 4 (see n o t e 12). p. 2 2 0 .

''' P u s b a c k , Birte: Sladt als lleimut. Die Danzinger Denk- malpflege zwischen 1933 and 1939, K o l n 2 0 0 6 , p p . 2 0 3 - 2 0 9 .

' ^ P u s b a c k 2 0 0 0 (see n o t e 15), p p . 1 9 2 - 2 0 3 .

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Icto Hist. iri.. Turn. 49, 2008