Warsaw. The conservator initiated proceedings to enter South Muranów into the register of monuments

– The documents submitted by the social activists, including the “Jeden Muranów” foundation, were not complete, which is why the proceedings were initiated by an ex officio body. Until the proceedings were initiated, the documents had not been supplemented. The Mazovian Provincial Conservator of Monuments would like to protect the monuments of Muranów, which is why the authority previously asked all applicants in writing to indicate the threats to this area – explained MWKZ prof. Jakub Lewicki.

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Lewicki pointed out that currently Muranów is in the municipal register of monuments, which means that major renovation and construction works (actions within the monument based on the provisions of the Construction Law Act) must be obtained in advance by the conservator of monuments anyway. – Until the completion of the registration procedure, the estate will be under the so-called temporary protection, i.e. it will not be possible to agree on any works carried out in this area. If the Muranów construction complex is entered, i.e. an area entry, the indicated spaces between the buildings would be protected, i.e. the layout of specific squares and streets, the size of the squares, as well as the dimensions and scale of the buildings, he added.

The conservator pointed out that the procedure will determine the scope of protection of this area. Earlier, MWKZ applied to the National Heritage Board for a specialist opinion defining the most appropriate form of protection for the Muranów Południowy estate.

The housing estate was designed in 1948 by architect Bohdan Lachert and his team and implemented in the years 1949 – 1956. The area of ​​the newly designed housing estate covered 57 hectares and was intended to fully meet the living needs of future tenants. Three schools, eight kindergartens, five nurseries, one clinic and 78 commercial and service premises were to be located on its premises.

– The housing estate, built on the ruins of the ghetto, was intended by the architect to be a monument to the pre-war district doomed to destruction and at the same time to become a symbol of its revival and – therefore – victory. In the social narrative of the time, the symbolism of the act of building was emphasized in a place where a few years earlier – during the liquidation of the ghetto – entire quarters of buildings were demolished and a new life was created on the former ruins. The symbolism was not limited to the process of building the new on top of the old. The new buildings were built of hollow bricks made of ground local rubble and concrete, so the old buildings were reborn not only symbolically, but also materially, explained the conservator.

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In principle, the housing estate was designed as modernist, but it gained elements typical of socialist realism at that time, such as arcades, triumphal arches, columns and half-columns. – However, the modernist spirit of the layout was taken into account when designing the arrangement of individual houses, which took into account the aspect of human scale and the introduction of green areas. Muranów also differed from other housing estate projects of that period (Mariensztat, Młynów, Mirów, Marszałkowska Housing District) by the small architecture introduced: external stairs, terraces, fountains, which were also favored by the form of hilly rubble, described Lewicki.

The area of ​​South Muranów does not have a valid local spatial development plan. The plan is under negotiation