Obraz kartograficzny miast Królestwa Polskiego 1815–1836

Abstract

The years1815–1836 were very important for the cartography of Polish towns. As regards the technique of map production, Warsaw stood out against other towns, due to the fact that until the mid-19th c. the capital was mapped by the topographic corps of the army, which had at their disposal the most advanced technologies and the best specialist. A crucial development for the surveying and mapping of Polish towns was the establish-ment of the Town Committee within the structure of the Government Commission of Internal Affairs and Police on 4th January 1820. The committee was to supervise surveying and carto-graphic works. Its clerks prepared a new surveying instruction, published on 2nd September 1820; its next instruction, published on 28th March 1823, was in effect until 1836. It provided for the preparation of two maps of each town, at a scale of 1:1500 and 1:5000. Most of the large-scale maps prepared in the 1820s and 1830s were situation maps or situation-regulation maps, primarily reflecting data on real estate and development, sometimes with plans of regulating some parts or particular streets. Very few regulation maps of whole towns were produced at that time, an example being “The plan of Praga”, with a whole new network of streets and squares. Of the surviving large-scale maps from the Kingdom of Poland, particular attention is due to maps of those towns that were granted municipal right at that time. The growth of urbanization, especially in the western part of the Kingdom, was greatly stimulated by industrialization, particularly by the development of textile industry. Between 1815 and 1830 municipal rights were granted to six towns of the region: Babiak, Ozorkow, Aleksandrow, Zdunska Wola, Zgierz, Konstantynow and Tomaszow Mazowiecki.