Metadata language
Przestrzeń publiczna Warszawy w pierwszej połowie XIX wieku
Subtitle:Warsaw public space in the first half of the nineteenth century
Creator: Contributor:
Polish Historical Society ; Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Publisher: Place of publishing: Date issued/created: Description:Bibliography p. 171-176. Index ; 184 p., [16] c. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm ; Summary in English.
Subject and Keywords:public spaces - Poland - Warsaw - history - 19th c. ; space (architecture) - Warsaw - history - 19th c. ; Warsaw (Poland) - history - 19th c.
Abstract:
The term public space is coined by and for the use of twentieth-century urban planning. It is also a subject of research of various faculties of humanities, such as history, sociology, psychology or anthropology. The term public space is used to refer to these parts of a city which are owned by the state or the city itself and generally are open and accessible to its inhabitants, who can feel at ease there. Thus, a typical public space is an open area, such as city roads and squares, and not the insides of buildings (even the public ones) or shops. The main purpose of public space is to gather and integrate its users. It was also used, and still is, to manifest the splendor and might of the authorities (ceremonies, gatherings, parades), and at the same time to manifest the views and opinions of its users (peaceful or violent as, for instance, riots). Public space in order to properly function needs a public sphere which consists of a system of public institutions acting as an intermediary between the authorities and the society. Aside from that, the society has to get a necessary level of public awareness, which is facilitated by social participation in governing. Both public sphere and the level of awareness were small in the first half of the nineteenth century, but it was in this period that they began to develop rapidly. In the present book the concept of public space, with all its ambiguity and complexity, is referred to nineteenth-century Warsaw. The author ask the question if it is possible to refer the term of public space in its present meaning to the centre of the city in the first half of the nineteenth century. Warsaw – a capital city of the Kingdom of Poland under the control of the Russian Empire – is an interesting example of changing conditions in functioning of the analysed space. In 1815–1830 the Polish statehood was reborn after the partitions of 1772–1795, when under Tsar Alexander I of Russia Warsaw centre witnessed a total rebuilding, unprecedented in its history. Its public space, specifically the public buildings and the private ones surrounding them, were monumentalised in order to, among other things, demonstrate the centralisation of the centres of power and stabilisation after the Napoleonic wars. Yet, the constitution, upholding the sovereignty of the Polish Kingdom, was violated, which was evident in the elimination of Polish symbols within the city. It resulted in increasingly frequent public manifestations – especially by students and other young users of public space – of aversion to especially detested Poles and Russians. In the period under Namestnik Paskevich (1831–1856), during the reign of Tsar Nikolai I, in reprisal for the uprising against Russia (1830–1831), Warsaw public space was militarised (martial law was imposed until the end of the analysed period), and all attempts to manifest Polishness in public spaces were severely suppressed. The crisis infunction of public spaces was accompanied by the regress of public sphere: the Kingdom was made consistently uniform with the Russian Empire, and all independent centres of Polish authority were gradually liquidated, which resulted in the changes in function of public buildings and suspension of building of new ones. A dialogue between the society and the authorities was broken up, and everyday performance of public spaces – so far very colourful, as evidenced by the press reports in popular „Kurier Warszawski” („Warsaw Daily”) – were derived of their most vital – in the author’s opinion – political function. The epilogue of this story is a revitalisation of public space made by the increased manifestations of patriotic feelings in 1861, after the period of the so-called Post-Sevastopol Thaw. Mass public demonstrations transformed into a real war for the public space of the city, ended by the Russian troops and repeated imposition of martial law.
IH PAN, call no. II.13052 ; IH PAN, call no. II.13051 Podr. ; click here to follow the link
Language: Language of abstract: Rights:Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license
Terms of use:Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -
Digitizing institution:Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Original in:Library of the Institute of History PAS
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