1999 Photographs from Szczecin | Panoramic Photograph | 1997 Text and Photographs from Szczecin | Poland Site Index | Home
The morning began with a fairly uneventful ride to Szczecin. The train was scheduled to arrive in mid-afternoon and I hoped to walk to the hotel quickly to contact a few people at their offices before the end of the day. Stepping off the train, I thought I knew where I was going. I did not. Instead of a direct line, I walked a zig-zag route from the station. It was not the most efficient direction but I was able to see a part of the city I had not known before.
Since my previous visit nearly two years earlier, the city seemed much more alive. People were on the streets in larger numbers. Shops and businesses were open and active while the quantity of shops seems to have increased as well. It crossed my mind that the weather could be altering my outlook. Impressions on a mild, sunny day are always better than on a cold grey one. However, I don't think it was the forecast. The streets were simply more active.
I
had deliberately chosen a hotel close to the Podzamcze site so I would have easy access
to it at various times of day. I walked right by the site on
my way to the hotel. A large area of the main square was blocked
by construction fencing where new development was just beginning initial
sitework. The partially completed
facades I had seen before were now complete. The stucco and
paint still looked fresh, the window aluminum window frames were
still shining, and some of the glass even had the remains manufacturer's
paper tags on them. I was excited to see the project but something
did not appear quite right.
The
scale and detailing of the buildings is a little off; it is definitely
a contemporary construction trying to imitate something that
it is not. The colors are too bold. The roof tiles are too uniform.
In some places, the detailing is clunky and not always well considered.
If this was meant to be a reconstruction, it is not an authentic
one. But as I was told, it was never meant to be completely authentic.
Only the corner building on the square were somewhat true to
historic forms, down to the decorative plaster work and window
openings. These corner buildings do appear respectable. But moving
away from these defining corners, the building quality seems
to deteriorate. Many of the designs are simple blocks with gabled
ends and balconies. In several cases, buildings are given architectural
interest and patterning only by variations in paint color. Even
the balconies abstractly recall the construction and detailing
seen on other communist era housing blocks.
Moving towards the rear of the
site, new construction has begun on another medieval block. The
exterior forms were still unpainted grey stucco. All the forms
and applied elements of the buildings are large, there is no
detailing of the assemblies. However, this is the nature of the
construction being used, block and poured concrete. Of course,
not all the buildings were unsettling. Some were well done and
well suited to their siting and interpretation of the medieval
buildings. Others simply seemed out of place from the "historic"
character the site is trying to recreate in some manner. A glass
corner and a porthole window does not fit this historic definition.
