Starożytny ideał i wyzwania nowoczesności. Antyk w cywilnej edukacji architektonicznej konstytucyjnego Królestwa Polskiego (1815–1830)

Although the period of the constitutional Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland) between 1815 and 1830 was relatively short, it was marked by significant events in the history of the reception of classical antiquity in Polish architectural education. The government of ‘resurrected’ Poland was interested in a wide-ranging reform of the country and society, including the development of the local built environment. Such architectural officials as Chrystian Piotr Aigner, educated and trained at aristocratic courts, proved to be well-prepared for the most prestigious public commissions. However, their specific competencies and experiences made them rather unfit for contemporary university careers since the lecturers were expected to teach not artists but ordinary building engineers. The public demand for architects conversant with classical orders and their exquisite ornamentation was much smaller than for those who specialised in plain but technically correct constructions. It was the development and wide dissemination of ordinary building which was of prime importance to the Kingdom’s government. Consequently, the classical architectural heritage was rather disregarded in contemporary academic curricula. Nevertheless, the growing number of affluent landowners after 1825 contributed to the rising interest in the classical heritage in the academic discourse already before the dissolution of the constitutional Kingdom. Initially, it was an academic manual by Henryk Marconi, published in 1828, which promoted the idea of classical orders as the pillar of good architecture. The book was followed by a treatise by Adam Idźkowski, originally announced in 1830, but eventually published only after the November Uprising, in 1832. The book also underscored the validity of the classical heritage, simultaneously presenting a more pluralistic idea of beauty in architecture by treating classicism on equal terms with the medieval tradition.