The cracow school. Arising of the national style in polish architecture of the interwar period

Abstract

In the 1920s, the architects belonging to the so-called Cracow School faced the challenge of creating public buildings to suit the needs of the re-born state administration as well as the challenge of defining the iconography and symbolism with which it could be identified. The School’s strong position soon after Poland regained independence was due to the fact that Cracow was the most important Polish artistic center at the time. From 1901, operated there the Association of Polish Applied Art, which through various publications, contests, and exhibitions, looked for a Polish national style based on Polish vernacular art and European modernism. The artists belonging to the Association, and later to the Cracow Workshops, best suited the artistic needs of the re-born state. Apart from being commissioned to carry out various prestigious projects, many of them also reached top positions at Art Academies, which had fundamental significance for the development of the Polish arts. The history of the Cracow School represents an appropriate background for a vast analysis of the relations between the arts and politics and also economic and social factors in Central Europe during the interwar period.