Rafał Bielski, owner of one of the largest collections of Warsaw photographs, postcards and maps, invites you to a lecture about old Warsaw and to explore unique iconographic material that brings the city’s past to life.
The theme this time is the interwar period, and the meeting relates to the third volume of the bestselling album “There Was Such a City… Warsaw in Old Photographs and Postcards from the Collection of Rafał Bielski. Vol. 3: 1918–1939”. Topics will include derussification and the defense of Warsaw in 1920, large patriotic ceremonies, the return of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s remains to Warsaw, the May Coup of 1926, and the implementation of major investments and Stefan Starzyński’s concepts. The album also contains a reproduction of the “Greater Warsaw” plan from 1930, produced in the W. Cukrzyński graphic studio in Warsaw.
So far, Skarpa Warszawska publishing has released three volumes in the series “There Was Such a City… Warsaw in Old Photographs and Postcards from the Collection of Rafał Bielski” – vol. 1: 1860–1905, vol. 2: 1905–1918 and vol. 3: 1918–1939. After the lecture, all volumes will be available for purchase at the publisher’s booth.
The uniqueness of the publication lies in combining original photographs with quotes from guidebooks and contemporary texts, creating an unrivaled guide to Warsaw from over a hundred years ago. The album not only presents the city’s architecture and life but also gives voice to those who lived and observed the changing capital. As a result, the book becomes a fascinating journey through time, where each photograph and postcard tells its own story.
Host: Rafał Bielski – lawyer, collector of Warsaw photographs, postcards and maps. Author of the repeatedly reissued album “There Was Such a City. Warsaw on Old Postcards”, co-author of the album “Lost City. Warsaw Yesterday and Today”. Member of the Society of Friends of Warsaw. Enthusiast of historical novels as well as thriller and crime literature.
Co-organizer: Bielańska Fototeka
🎫 Free admission
