What Muranów? Debates: 🔸 5.11, 18:00 – We will delve into the history of Muranów, starting from the pre-war and wartime periods, as well as the subsequent stages of building the Muranów estate. We will learn about the priorities of the architects of that time. 🔸 3.12, 18:00 – Challenges of the future. We will talk about the needs of residents, perspectives, and ideas for further development of Muranów. 🔸 8.12, 18:00 – Does Muranów need the development of culture and art and their accessibility? What are the expectations of residents? History of Muranów: The first in a series of three lectures will allow us to delve into its turbulent history. We will look at its development. From the 19th century, when the areas of modern Muranów were inhabited by Jewish people. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was a part of the city with densely built tenement houses, dark and damp courtyards, often narrow streets. That Muranów was not homogeneous. As Józef Hen recalls (who lived in a tenement at Nowolipie Street), he visited his teacher living at the corner of Stawki and Smocza Streets. He did not think it was possible to live in such poor conditions. "Muranów, located within the borders of two districts: Śródmieście and Wola, is today a unique area of Warsaw. Even against the background of the post-war destruction of the entire city, it is a special case. Through the area that the Nazis turned into a ghetto, two bloody uprisings swept – as a result, by 1945 almost all the previous buildings of the Northern District, as the area between Okopowa Street and today's Gen. Anders Avenue, bounded to the south by today's Solidarności Avenue and to the north by Słomińskiego Street, was called, disappeared from the surface of the earth. But it was not always so. For a long time, free from typical urban development, for many centuries Muranów could be associated with the idyll of a green district, where among many ponds and gardens, individual villas and palaces were built. One of them, named Murano by its owner – architect Józef Belotti, who came from this Venetian island, gave the district its name. The rapid development of Muranów occurred at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The backbone of the district – Nalewki Street and the streets adjacent to it were then densely built with tenement houses with inner courtyards. The then Muranów embodied the nightmare of a modernist architect: dense, stuffy, dark, and little greenery; it was good that this urban creation at least had the large lungs of the Krasiński Garden. Already in the Second Polish Republic, the creators of the concept of social housing estates in Żoliborz dreamed of loosening the development and making Muranów similar to its northern neighbor, but changes in the style of Paris's reconstruction according to Haussmann's reform were prevented by ownership issues. The next stage in Muranów's history came after the war. Then it was already an ideal "blank slate" for avant-garde urban planners, a space almost completely free from previous buildings, turned into rubble with a total volume of 3 million cubic meters. Its earliest fragment, the establishment of the Muranów Południowy estate, realized in this area from 1949, is one of the first Warsaw estates built as part of the capital's reconstruction…" Fragments from the book "Guide to Good Architectural Practices – Muranów" First Edition Warsaw 2019 ISBN 978-83-956477-0-3 Panelists: - Ewa Kalnoj-Ziajkowska, art historian. For two decades professionally associated with conservation services. She deals with Warsaw and Mazovia. Together with urban planner Dr. Eng. Artur Filip, she prepared conservation guidelines for local spatial development plans for several historic areas of the capital. She also collaborates with the Centrum Architektury publishing house. She is co-author of two architectural atlases for Warsaw districts: 'PRA. Atlas of Warsaw Praga Architecture' (2020) and 'ŚRÓ PN. Atlas of Northern Śródmieście Architecture' (2021). She is also co-author of guides to good practices for historic estates and complexes published for residents by the Office of the Capital Conservator of Monuments, including for Muranów, post-war estates of Warsaw Praga, the Jazdów cottage estate, and the serial wooden houses of Boernerowo estate. - Katarzyna Domagalska, art historian and architecture researcher, conducts research and educational activities around topics such as regionalism, place identity defined by architecture and urban planning, architectural heritage. She deals with the issue of "communication in architecture" and "cultural codes of architecture." She conducts research in Middle Eastern countries in the context of projects carried out there by Polish architects. Head of the Education Department at the National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning. Substantive manager of programs: postgraduate studies Archi:kultura. Architectural educator and Laboratory of Regions. Author of books: a series of architectural guides: "Guide to Good Architectural Practices," "Archiculture Notebook. Practices and Inspirations" and an educational book for children – "Little Architect. A Toolkit for Viewing the City." - Marek Slusarz, Foundation Jeden Muranów. Active resident of Muranów, for whom "Muranów is close to his heart." He began social activities for the local community in 2000 for the housing community at Miła Street. He encouraged residents to get involved in the revitalization of both the community's resources and its surroundings. In 2003, he inspired residents to create a place where they could spend time. Thus, rooms called Biała na Miłej were built in the basements of a 1960s building. In 2014, the Jeden Muranów Foundation was established. Its activity for the local community, as well as involvement in consultation processes and the development of many city programs, is widely known. Member of 3 participatory budget teams in Wola, for three years chairman of the District Social Dialogue Commission in Wola, member since 2015 of the presidium of the Social Dialogue Commission for Participation. Since 2015, member of the Warsaw Council for Public Benefit Activities. Initiator of the Partnership Recipe for Muranów. Co-organizer of the Stop Graffiti campaign. Originator of the Smocza Parade. Enthusiast of new technologies, electronics, programming, computer graphics, and renewable energy sources. The housing community he leads was the first in the estate to use a thermal modernization loan. Also the first in Muranów to install photovoltaic panels on the building's roof. A series of meetings, discussions, and walks on the topic of Muranów's environment and greenery is part of the "Muranów is close to our hearts" Festival, which since 2023 has focused not only on neighborhood celebration but also on discovering the character and diversity of the estate. It creates a space to learn about Muranów's culture, both material and immaterial – constituting the genius loci of the estate and observing its ongoing transformations. The "Muranów is close to our hearts" Festival is an annual socio-cultural event in Warsaw's Muranów, attracting hundreds of residents to celebrate together. The first festival took place in 2013 at Miła 22, thanks to the efforts of several neighbors who wanted to bring some culture to their courtyard. Since then, the scale of the event has been constantly growing, and on the stage at Miła we have already hosted, among others, Marysia Sadowska, Maria Czubaszek, and Krzysztof Daukszewicz. An inseparable element of the festival has always been the inaugural children's run "Muraton" and inspiring performances and concerts. The cycle of meetings, discussions, and debates about Muranów's environment and greenery has also joined the musical and neighborhood celebration. Organizer: Jeden Muranów Foundation Partners: - Intergenerational Café – Śródmieście Cultural Center - National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning - Recipe for Muranów - The project is co-financed by the City of Warsaw
