[online] Polish architecture: From ruins to reconstruction
[online] Polish architecture: From ruins to reconstruction
Wednesday 14 October 2026 at 6:30pm—7:45pm
When Poland regained independence in 1918, modern architecture exploded across the newly independent country - the capital, Warsaw, gained its first skyscraper, the Prudential (1933), and clubs with modern technology and revolving dance floors; the coastal fishing village of Gdynia was built up rapidly to become a modernist dream-city; Katowice became a 'Polish Chicago' for its Art Deco designs. But this was all to change as war erupted across the region once again in 1939, with the mass destruction of many buildings of Polish modernism across the country. Warsaw itself was razed almost to the ground.
Yet Poland's architectural story did not stop there, and post-war, there were further efforts to rebuild the country, within its new, post-war borders, and under Soviet control. The rebuilding of Warsaw's Old Town was a civic miracle, bolstered by the support of Poles from across Poland. Yet a socialist realism also took hold, including in the planned socialist realist settlement Nowa Huta in Kraków. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a new emphasis in architecture has emerged, including the rebuilding of lost interwar constructions, and the protection of twentieth century heritage.
Part of a new C20 series exploring modern architecture and its protection around the world.
Juliette Bretan is a researcher, writer, and broadcaster focusing on Poland and Eastern Europe. She has recently finished a PhD at the University of Cambridge on depictions of Poland in English literature and has written for Newsweek, The Sunday Times, The Independent, The New Statesman, and other media, on Polish and Eastern European culture, politics, and history, as well as presenting on BBC Radio 3.
Note: This is an online lecture, that will be recorded. If you can't make it to the live streaming on the day, you'll receive the lecture recording.
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The Twentieth Century Society is an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building conservation) recognised CPD provider and is a registered charity, no 1110244
Image above: Śródmiejski Passage in Warsaw, 1971. © Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe