Authenticity of Architectural Heritage in a Rebuilt City. Comments to Vaclav Havel’s Impression after His Visit in Gdansk in 2005

Abstract

There is no doubt that authenticity is a cardinal feature of architectural heritage and should be protected in the same way as historical and cultural value of monuments or their integrity. Sometimes, one decides to reconstruct a destroyed historical building due to important emotional, scientific, artistic or political reasons (e.g. the Zwinger Palace in Dresden or the Royal Castle in Warsaw). However, the solution which should be an unusual exception too frequently becomes a common and unnecessary practice in contradiction to the sense of architectural conservation. Moreover, a significant part of the society accepts this kind of action and mistakenly believes that copies of historical buildings are originals. Vaclav Havel, the former Czech president and the Nobel Prize winner, gave some consideration to this issue during his last journey to Gdańsk in 2005. With a dilettante casualness, contrary to the modern principles of conservation, Havel concluded that not the authenticity, but beauty/aesthetic value of monuments would matter to common people. In this paper, we try to confront his remarks with the main issues concerning the rebuilding of Gdańsk after the Second World War, especially the partial protection of the city’s historical plan and the socialist transformation of allegedly reconstructed burgher houses. We also outline the sad circumstances which led to the post-war annihilation of many survived historical houses in Gdańsk and show how they were ultimately replaced with the neo-historical façades. Moreover, we try to provoke reflection on this matter among people (including some architects) living in the era of “liquid modernity”.