Ludwik Bohdan Grzeniewski (1930–2008) was Polish essayist, poet, critic and novelist. He was born and died in Warsaw, where he spent all his life. Well known as varsavianist, he was also master of literary miniature. It is not a literary genre in the strict sense. “Literary miniature”, coherent artistic statement, as short as possible, combines elements of poem, essay, short narrative and others. Grzeniewski always highly valued precision, he preferred condensed form of expression. I therefore think, that the books of this writer (Igły w stogu siana, “Drobiazgów duch, wspaniały i powietrzny…”, Taniec z mufką and others) deserve attention.
Runoff estimation is a key component in various hydrological considerations. Estimation of storm runoff is especially important for the effective design of hydraulic and road structures, for the flood flow management, as well as for the analysis of land use changes, i.e. urbanization or low impact development of urban areas. The curve number (CN) method, developed by Soil Conservation Service (SCS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for predicting the flood runoff depth from ungauged catchments, has been in continuous use for ca. 60 years. This method has not been extensively tested in Poland, especially in small urban catchments, because of lack of data. In this study, 39 rainfall-runoff events, collected during four years (2009–2012) in a small (A=28.7 km2), urban catchment of Służew Creek in southwest part of Warsaw were used, with the aim of determining the CNs and to check its applicability to ungauged urban areas. The parameters CN, estimated empirically, vary from 65.1 to 95.0, decreasing with rainfall size and, when sorted rainfall and runoff separately, reaching the value from 67 to 74 for large rainfall events.
The article discusses selected issues related to the process of creating a document, Strategy Warsaw 2030, adopted in May 2018. The construction of the strategy lasted almost two years and was characterized by high social involvement. The experience that Warsaw can share with other cities and municipalities clearly shows that creating documents in a participatory manner is the most possible and gives many opportunities to create synergies. At the same time, the scope of changes that the document specifi es in the context of its implementation, orders careful observation of the actions of the city authorities in the future. The article focuses primarily on the following issues: the period in which the strategy should be updated, the city’s relations with its surroundings, the strategic team, socialization and fi nally the implementation of the strategy.
Paul Valéry (1871-1945) was considered in the 1930s one of the greatest French poet and essayist. He was the author of the famous poems: La Jeune Parque (The Young Fate) and Le Cimetiere marin (The Graveyard by the Sea). Many times in different situations he spoke very highly of Poland and Poles. Wednesday, October 28th 1936, Valéry arrived in Warsaw. He delivered two lectures during his brief stay. They met with great interest, they were in the papers, they have been mentioned by Polish writers: Wacław Grubiński, Zofia Nałkowska, Tadeusz Breza. Also, Czesław Miłosz and Ludwik Hieronim Morstin have written about meetings with Paul Valéry. Poet`s visit, although very short, was a significant event in Polish cultural life.
The article presents a scientific research concerning the role and development of one of the most important leisure and recreation areas in Warsaw — Pole Mokotowskie, located near the city center, in three districts: Ochota, Śródmieście and Mokotów (part of the area is the Park of Józef Piłsudski). The research concentrates on determining the influence of contemporary spatial transformations of the park area on the spatial composition of the park.
Neighbouring as a type of social interchange and multi-dimensional social phenomenon is of funda-mental importance in the social sciences and problems associated with intercultural and interethnic neighbouring are currently on the increase. Contemporary migration processes and ethnic diversity in Poland are relatively new issues that are reflected in the experiences of both migrants and representa-tives of the host society. The aim of this article is to analyse intercultural neighbourly contacts be-tween Poles and migrants in Warsaw in the context of Erving Goffman’s sociology of interaction. These contacts and the social processes they involve are of great importance when it comes to mi-grants’ integration in their new place of residence. The article considers how glances, gestures and behaviours are interpreted, leading to the formation of specific opinions and attitudes between mi-grants and Poles. Both ‘unfocused’ and ‘focused’ interactions are analysed, with an emphasis on ex-pectations and definitions of tactful behaviour in intercultural neighbourly encounters and the concept of ‘polite indifference.’ Conclusions are based on semi-structured interviews conducted with Poles and migrants from Vietnam, Turkey and African countries living in Warsaw, Poland.
The paper is a part of the war diary of Aurelia Wyleżyńska (1881-1944), in which she described the political and social life in Warsaw (and not only there) from September 1939 until June 1944. Aurelia Wyleżyńska, a scion of Polish gentry, was a writer and journalist, the author of over a dozen of novels and hundreds of articles in Polish and French-language press, concerning mainly literature, feminism, pacifism (and civilizational progress, which she identified with the latter). She investigates the mood of the civilians and the views of Polish soldiers she met. She analyses social conditions, including her Jewish friends. She shows the dreadful German invasion and the accompanying changes to life and death. She also comments on the Soviet invasion. In her diary she shows how quickly the bustling Polish capital turns into a ruined cage for individuals struggling for survival.
The article discusses the architectural expression of houses built on water, based on the design process of the floating house in the Czerniakowski Port in Warsaw, designed by Mai Bui Ngoc and Rafał Mazur. The question of the form of the floating house was the starting point of the work on this project. Usually buildings are designed in a specific location, which gives architects an inspiration for the design of the new form. In the case of the floating houses the goal was to make a universal artefact as a car or a phone. This artefact should be more connected to the owner than to the landscape. This artefact should be also neutral to the landscape and it should not be destructive for the surroundings. The answer lays between two archetypes; a typical house and a boat. Analysis of the existing floating houses gave the conclusion that authors of these houses were usually very close to one of these two archetypes. It is a need to put a lot of effort to design an object which does not remind a real house and a yacht design.
If the characterization of avant-garde proposed once by Henri Saint Simon, and later maintained by Daniel Bell as well as Lidia Burska in the book entitled Awangarda i inne złudzenia. O pokoleniu ‘68 w Polsce (“The avant-garde and other illusions. On the ’68 generation in Poland”) is adopted, the philosophical revisionism inside Polish Marxism (the Warsaw school of the history of ideas) may be considered a phenomenon analogous to the artistic avant-garde which gained prominence in the middle of the 1950s. In Burska’s understanding, the significant trait of avant-garde is effective impact on the state of consciousness, stances and choices of the public. This essential factor highlights the connection between avant-garde and revisionism, due to the fact that, as it was commonly believed in Poland, the Warsaw school played a major role in the formation of the Polish post-war humanities. The purpose of the paper is to propose an understanding of the impact exerted by the Warsaw school of the history of ideas. In relation to this problem, the author refers to the testimonies of people who constituted that milieu, and he focuses on some topics from the hermeneutics of H.-G. Gadamer (the concept of the efficacy of history; the concept of application) and from the philosophy of H.R. Jauss (the concept of the horizon of expectations).
Positivism is a family of philosophical views characterized by a highly favorable account of science. The characteristic theses of positivism are that science is the only valid knowledge and that philosophy does not possess a method different from science (scientism). Positivists attempted to eliminate all metaphysical components in the area of philosophy. Wolniewicz was one of the most original Polish analytical philosophers of second part of 20th century and he was a strong opponent of anti-metaphysical tendencies. The author discusses the problem of the relationship between science and philosophy and presents Wolniewicz’s arguments against positivism and scientism.
Formation of cities was always dependent on water. Location over the water areas gave the opportunity for develop-ment and increase of prosperity. And although water was also a threat and cause of damage, the benefits of its neighbour-hood prevailed. Today, the challenge for developing cities is a climate change observed in recent decades, which results in violent natural phenomena, e.g. floods and hurricanes. One of the main problems faced by residents of housing estates lo-cated on the water is the increasing risk of flooding. Actions are taken to adapt the functioning of the urban structure and buildings to new water conditions. Currently, the process of floodplain development is progressing on a larger scale. This phenomenon is intensifying and as a result many housing estates are created in areas exposed to flooding. The approach to flood issues in the context of architecture and spatial planning has evolved in recent decades. The new water paradigm is expressed in striving to keep it in place.
How did the settlement in the floodplains look once and today in Warsaw? The research study was preceded by a his-torical feature and then the article drew attention to the ways of shaping new housing estates in flood areas in Warsaw. Us-ing the case study method, new housing estates developed in the flood plains have been analysed, with a listing of their strengths and weaknesses and the assessment of solutions. Issues were discussed on how to protect the buildings from the harmful effects of water. On the basis of the conclusions from the Warsaw case study, project guidelines for floodplains in Warsaw were developed, the aim of which was to identify the most important priorities in the development of floodplains and increase the security of investment arising in these areas.
The collection of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw contains significant objects representing the culture of peoples from many regions of Asia, including Polynesia, Indonesia and even Papua New Guinea. The cultures of Turkish and Mongolian peoples of Central Asia are richly represented among them. Among the objects of these regions and cultures, a collection of felt products significantly distinguishes itself. However, these felts have never been exhibited as a whole collection, nor as a part of a monographic exhibition dedicated to the craft of felt. A significant part of them belongs to the earliest collections from the 1990’s from Afghanistan. It represents many different cultural groups: Turkmen, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz people and even Tajiks. From the historian’s or art historian’s point of view, it is a very young and new collection. But, taking into account the specifics of felt production and the ways it is used, as well as the fact that felt is rather underestimated by its producers, users, traders, researchers and collectors (in terms of the art market), it should be noted that felt products were rarely bought and collected by esteemed institutions. Apart from museums of Tsarist Russia, and later, their heirs: Soviet and post-Soviet museums in Central Asian countries, along with some western European museums, collections of felt products are rather rare in the world. The felt collection of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw appears to be a rare example here. The aim of this paper is to present the felt collection of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw, in terms of its objects, as well as its ethnographic and historical value.
Photographs from the Archive of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw were taken by Eugeniusz Helbert and Ewa Soszko-Dziwisińska.
Photographs from the author’s archive were taken by Marzena Godzińska.
The organization of graduate and postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Theology of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw reveals the specificity of the theology in Warsaw. In the future, the Faculty of Theology should pay a special attention to the high level of the specialisations within the scope of the classical theology, but on the other hand should care about new specialisations, which should be more attractive.
Biblical studies, fundamental theology, dogmatic theology, moral theology are at the very heart of theology. It is necessary to foster doctoral and habilitation thesis in the field of these specialisations and to care for their high, world-class level. Considering the needs of the Church, the development of the liturgical studies and catechetical studies needs to be supported.
As far as future career opportunities for graduates of the Faculty of Theology are concerned, new specializations should be promoted, such as media education and journalism, theology of culture, tourism in biblical countries. A scientific reflection on the role of mass media and on the relations between theology and culture is also very important. Th ere should be place for vetera et nova at university, for the theology conceived in the traditional way and for attempts at practising theology in a new way.
In 1875 a steel railway bridge was built in northern Warsaw. It had seven spans of 66.22 m and two spans of 15.24 m. In 1908 the second railway bridge was built downstream of the older one. The spacing of supports and spans were the same as in the older bridge. During World War I, both bridges were blown up and then rebuilt, first temporarily and then permanently. Again both were blown up in 1944. In 1945, a temporary crossing was built. In 1947 a permanent bridge was rebuilt, partially replacing rivets with welding. On the pillars of the older bridge, the Gdański Bridge was built (not in this study). In 1963 welded connections were strengthened, in 1980 the structure of the northern track was replaced. In 2016, the northern track was renovated. The replacement of the structure of the southern track is ongoing since 2018.