The youngest monument in Poland is only eleven years old. "Votum Aleksa", or wooden chapel, which was built in Tarnow (Wilga commune, Garwolin district) and by the decision of the Mazovian Conservator of Monuments was entered in the register of monuments of the Mazovian province.
"Votum Alexa" is erroneously called a chapel, which is due to the lack of consecration of the building. Despite the lack of official consecration, it is difficult not to count this building among the sacred architecture. Located in the village of Tarnow-on-Vistula, the chapel was built in 2011 and designed by the Beton studio of Marta and Lech Rowinski. The building was constructed on a private plot of land, and the investor was a private individual. The building also made the short list for the Mies van der Roheaward in 2011. The building was entered in the register on December 1 of this year. This is how the Mazovian Conservator of Monuments justified his decision.
The youngest monument in Poland is 11 years old.
Photo: Mazovian Conservator of Monuments
Placing the building under individual protection in the form of an entry in the register of monuments justifies its precursor character and innovation, consisting, among other things, in the combination of minimalist form with semi-wild nature used as architectural material. This extremely minimalist, modest and frugal work planned as a place of worship and contemplation may give rise to other good examples of contemporary sacred architecture in Poland. The apt, proportions, the use of light, the landscape of the site and the structure as elements that consciously compose the architecture, the visual values resulting from the organization of the north-south axis, the linear, decorative, rhythmic character of the interior space determine its high artistic value," stresses Jakub Lewicki, Mazovian Regional Conservator of Monuments.
interior of the chapel
Photo: Mazovian Conservator of Monuments
save from oblivion?
What was the reason for the chapel's entry in the register? As the conservator points out, first and foremost from the desire to preserve the object, which, despite its short period of existence, requires the necessary conservation work to be undertaken, as mentioned by Professor Jakub Lewicki himself.
The entry of the Tarnów chapel in the register of monuments, next to the entry of the Central Station in Warsaw, is the second most important decision I have made as a conservator. I believe that the entry of the Tarnów chapel will protect the building and preserve it as an outstanding work of wooden architecture, just as the entry of the central station saved the building from planned demolition. The entry will make it possible to save the chapel by subsidizing the renovation of this monument and at the same time an outstanding work of wooden architecture, which is and will be mentioned in all studies of wooden architecture in Poland. If the only possibility of preserving the chapel is its translocation to another worthy place, this should happen," Jakub Lewicki pointed out.
The conservator'sactions were not without hype, which we can see in social media. The entry of "Votum Alexa "in the register is also worth looking at from another angle - perhaps a good introduction to the discussion of the protection of monuments of modern architecture, as well as what has been entered in the registers of monuments so far.
In the period of the Third Republic after the political transformation, only four buildings built after 1990 were entered in the register of monuments. All of them are characterized by one thing - they are sacred objects. To the gate chapel in Yalowka (designed by Aleksander Grygorowicz), the rebuilt Church on Grabarka (designed by Krzysztof Rymsz and Jan Pawlicki) and the Church in Bialy Bor (designed by Jerzy Nowowsielski and Bogdan Kotarba) joins Votum Aleksa.
However, the registers lack secular buildings, not so often outstanding, but important from the perspective of heritage preservation. Nothing defended Wrocław's Solpol, one of the most interesting examples of postmodernism, from demolition. Perhaps it is Votum Aleksa that, once listed in the Register of Historic Places, will start a meaningful discussion on how we should protect the heritage of the recent past.
Votum Aleksa needs conservation work
Photo: Mazovian Conservator of Monuments
