Colonial Regionalism: The Problem of Identity in the Architecture of Zakopane

Abstract

The text attempts to analyze the architectural traditions of Zakopane through the prism of postcolonial theory. The main goal is to reflect on the contemporary identity of architecture in Zakopane in the context of references and the possibilities of the resonance of traditional, historic artistic concepts. The formation of Zakopane’s architectural identity bears relation to a clash between the “Zakopane manner” promoted by the Austro-Hungarian partitioning power, and the Zakopane Style initiated by Stanisław Witkiewicz. The “Zakopane manner” – propagated primarily at the Zakopane School of Wood Industry, headed by directors Franciszek Neużil and Edgar Kováts, implemented the artistic program of the partitioning power, which enabled designing an “imagined” regionalism on the empire’s peripheral borderlands. Initially, the Zakopane Style, an architectural-artistic proposal by the Polish painter and critic Stanisław Witkiewicz, would counter the activity of Neużil and Kováts in Zakopane. In the course of its development, it went beyond its regional frame and was recognized as the first national style. However, the regional genealogy of the two architectural concepts for the growing mountainside resort reveals a certain ambivalence. The ideas inspired by local folk handicraft were forms of artistic oppression against the inhabitants of the Podhale valley, created by “non-locals” for “non-locals,” which manifests itself today in the contemporary architecture of Zakopane, torn between the two traditions.

Keywords

• monika stobiecka
• zakopane
• postcolonial theory
• zakopane style
• stanisław witkiewicz
• zakopane school of wood industry
• franciszek neużil
• edgar kováts