Objects

Untitled (Muranów Gate 1)

Żmijewski, Artur (1966 - )

It is part of the collection

This is one of two shots of the same subject (the other is MPOLIN-M1047) taken by the artist as part of a series of contemporary photographs of selected buildings from the area of the former ghetto – a photograph taken with a wide-angle lens showing a view of a fragment of the post-war buildings of the Muranów district built on the ruins of the ghetto, with a monumental gate in the central part of the frame. After the Second World War, on the ruins of the former Warsaw Ghetto, the Muranów Południowy (South Muranów, part of the Śródmieście district) housing estate was built. The concept of rebuilding Muranów, the former Jewish district and later the area of the ghetto – the place where its inhabitants were murdered which was finally razed to the ground – was prepared by Bohdan Lachert and his team. His idea was based on building complexes of terraced residential buildings with frontages along the former grid of the streets. The internal courtyards of the buildings were filled with greenery, small residential blocks and service facilities. Building this type of development was made possible by levelling heaps of debris, with slopes towards the streets. The whole district was located higher than the rest of the city anyway, so it was decided not to remove the debris from the site. Initially, Bohdan Lachert planned to build a modernist housing estate, but the introduction of the doctrine of socialist realism in 1949 resulted in the need to redesign the buildings according to the assumptions of this style. As a result of these changes, the whole estate has taken on a more axial, baroque plan. It was built between 1949 and 1956 in the area marked by the former streets: from Świerczewskiego to Dzielna and from Nowotki to Wolność and along Nowotki. There are gates leading into the estate, the most characteristic of them is a monumental one in the shape of a triumphal arch, which was supposed to be the symbol of the district’s rebirth. Żmijewski took this shot after the controversial renovation of its façade, as a result of which half of the gate and the buildings on the left side were restored, while the right side, covered with graffiti, remained not renovated for years. It was the result of administrative decisions, as the gate belongs jointly to two addresses - half of it is assigned to 1 Nowolipie Street (ul. Nowolipie 1) and the other to 1 Andersa Street (ul. Andersa 1).

MBK

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Information about the object
Author / creator
Żmijewski, Artur (1966 - )
Object type
photography
Time of creation / dating
21st century
Place of creation
Warszawa (mazovian province)
Technique
digital photograph
Material
unknown
Keywords
Copyrights status
contact the Museum
Owner
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Identification number
MPOLIN-M1046
Localization
The object is not currently on display