TheCultural Passage is now available (unfortunately, still with a terrible roofing). The City Hall Museum has opened a new exhibition. The pillory and the Bamber well are back. Benches are standing. There were also (visually aggressive) commemorations of the past. Poznan's Old Market is coming back to life. However, there is no end in sight to the fixes and the final finish of the renovation.
The renovation work on Poznan's Old Market Square may already be included permanently among the city's tourist attractions. Although the slab of Poznań's most important square was opened to pedestrians between Christmas and New Year's Eve, workers are still working on it. You can see excavators, tractors, trucks. The clatter of grinders can be heard. The renovation is essentially underway since the spring of 2022, although excavation work was already underway in the Old Market, and part of the pavement was removed in the fall of 2021. Meanwhile, the third month of improvements, finishing work, equipping the Market with small architecture and installing illuminations is beginning. The renovation was originally scheduled to end last summer, then the end was announced for December.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - Friday, March 8, 2024, a few minutes after twelve o'clock, contractor's cars drive between tourists who moments ago watched a show of ramming goats on the Town Hall tower; in the foreground you can see fresh traces of surface improvements
Photo: Jakub Głaz
it's a pity to ask
Thedeadline for the work is therefore no longer worth asking. We learn that the corrections will continue until the quality of workmanship achieves the intended effect everywhere. Because - despite the fact that in the Old Market many things were accomplished, overall, the organization of the renovation and its level was far from perfect. We described it more extensively more than two months ago, focusing primarily on the pavement and lighting. Nevertheless, on bright weekend days crowds of strollers show up at the Market Square . If only to see what new things have appeared in the space of the historic square. New things have recently arrived.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - view of the Passage of Culture from Wroniecka Street, old granite slabs visible in the foreground, Arsenal City Gallery and the passage's canopy in the background
photo: Jakub Głaz
Themost important is the opening of the so-called Passage of Culture (J.B. Quadro Street), a passage between the modernist pavilions of the Arsenal City Gallery and the Wielkopolska Military Museum in the middle of the Market Square. We wrote about the passage's extremely unsuccessful roofing in November, and - as we learned recently - there are no plans to dismantle this disastrous structure of steel and translucent plastic. Everything about it is mediocre: its clumsy form, the way it rests on the buildings, its asymmetrical slope, and the fact that - contrary to its intentions - the roof obscures the view of City Hall, the City Scales and the townhouses. Its slant, contradicting the symmetry of the layout of the two pavilions, also closes the view axes of Wroclawska and Wroniecka Streets in an unpleasant way. The roofed space of the Passage is to be intensively animated by Estrada Poznanska this year. Then we will find out about the functionality of the canopy.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - the new canopy over the Passage of Culture obscures the view of the City Hall, view from the south
photo: Jakub Głaz
even and red
And how does the Passage look? First of all, it has gained an even surface of large granite slabs: the new ones between the pavilions and the old ones (which used to lie in the Market Square) between the City Hall and the City Scales. Therefore, it is certainly more convenient and makes it easier to pass through the Old Market on a north-south axis (the old uneven cobblestones, which were preserved in the Market along the perimeter of the mid-market block, were not used here). In line with the renovation of the entire Market - this increases the accessibility of the space for the elderly, people with disabilities and in general - enhances the comfort of all pedestrians.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - view of City Hall from the Passage of Culture, on the floor you can see a reproduction of the former walls of the tenements
photo: Jakub Głaz
Unfortunately, irregular fields and strips of clinker bricks have been incorporated into the stone pavement of the Passage . The effect is unsightly and - above all - incomprehensible. This is because it is a reproduction of the walls of former tenement houses that have been uncovered underground. Admittedly, this is to be informed by the plaques that will be inserted into the brick fragments, but this will not change the fact that the detail of the mapping makes little sense. It is impossible to imagine non-existent buildings on the basis of such shapes anyway, and the red color of the bricks attracts attention very strongly. After all, it would be enough to mark the outline of the walls with a discreet line made of good quality material (e.g., more carefully selected clinker, copper, steel). All the more so because before the renovation, the commemoration of the past in the Cultural Passage was much more subtle (in the 1960s, stone slabs surrounded by fine granite pavers were used).
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - a strip of brick along the southern elevation of the Wlkp. Military Museum
photo: Jakub Głaz
Unfortunately, the office of the Municipal Conservator of Monuments has decided that here, too, it will consistently continue the method chosen in Poznań by conservators in the 1990s. Red concrete cubes (formerly) and bricks (for more than a decade) are used to mark not only the course, but also the outline of the city's former walls and gates, as well as arbitrarily selected buildings that no longer exist. It happens, unsurprisingly, that tourists or locals take them for random patching of streets after repairs to underground utilities.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - non-communicative mapping of the walls of Wrocławska Gate on Wrocławska Street, realization: 2015.
photo: Jakub Głaz
However, attempts to convince conservators to develop a new, legible and aesthetically pleasing method of showing the uncovered relics during the renovation of the Old Market failed in vain . One that would ultimately replace everywhere the unfortunate solution of thirty years ago. So the brick lanes and fields have also returned to the now-renovated section of Paderewskiego Street. Fortunately, city officials are aware of the poor workmanship of these latest brick commemorations. Here, too, therefore, improvements await. Worse, the laid clinker has not - as was done with the new granite pavement in the Market Square - been tested for resistance to grease, lubricants and other cleaning nu isances.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - mapping the walls of the old tenement houses on Paderewskiego Street, which connects the Market with Wolności Square
photo: Jakub Głaz
the pillory in the sandpaper
February also saw the return to Market Square of its two important symbols. We're talking about the pillory in front of the Town Hall and the well with the figure of Bamberka by the City Scales (at the exit of the Cultural Passage).
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - restored manhole with Bamberka, on the left the fence of works in the passage between Odwach and the City Scales, old granite slabs visible
Photo: Jakub Głaz
The Bamberka presents itself without reservations. Worse with the pillory. Unevenly cleaned column, on which stands the executioner statue, looks unsightly. It was already more pleasant to look at it before the renovation, when it was evenly covered with a layer of black tarnish. The manner of maintenance is surprising if one looks at the carefully cleaned Bamberka, or - standing next to it in front of the City Hall - the fountain of Proserpine.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - pillory after restoration and repositioning
photo: Jakub Głaz
In recent weeks, aesthetically pleasing and comfortable benches have also been placed in front of the Town Hall, the third and final "island" of greenery and rest near Odwach has been completed, trash garbage cans have finally appeared, additional spotlights have been installed on the lamp posts to illuminate the facade.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - new benches opposite the Town Hall along the eastern frontage of the Market Square
photo: Jakub Głaz
Last Saturday we also saw a mapping on the facade of the Town Hall, announcing that after four years of closure and renovation, the Town Hall has been partially opened to the public. Partially, because for now the first floor and Gothic cellars are accessible. The Museum of Poznan (formerly the Museum of the History of the City of Poznan), which operates in the City Hall, has prepared a new permanent exhibition on the lowest floors .
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - Museum of Poznań in City Hall, new exhibition in Gothic cellars
photo: Jakub Głaz
there's money for floors
The basements, which can be visited for the first time in more than 30 years, contain a rather laconic account of the city's first centuries. Next to them is also a very interesting study warehouse, where the museum displays in display cases, drawers and on sliding racks a selection of various artifacts from its collection.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - Museum of Poznań in the City Hall, study cabinet
photo: Jakub Głaz
The City Hall is certainly worth a visit, although we will postpone our assessment of the exhibition until later, when the rest of the exhibition - on the first and second floors - opens. This is expected to happen after the renovation. A few days ago, the museum boasted a grant of 90 million zlotys from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for this purpose. The money is also to be used to build the long-announced Residents' Museum in two valuable townhouses opposite the City Hall.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - Museum of Poznań in City Hall, study cabinet, visible Soviet star removed from obelisk in Citadel park
photo: Jakub Głaz
In the spring, on the other hand, we will see the opening of the extensively renovated and currently being finished Arsenal City Gallery at the Cultural Passage. From the outside, one can already see that the renovation has had a good effect on the modernist form of the building. It's just a pity that the twin pavilion of the Wielkopolska Military Museum (owned by the National Museum in Poznan) can't wait for renovation. The contrast is glaring.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - facades of the renovated Arsenal City Gallery, view from the Passage of Culture (J.B. Quadro Street)
photo: Jakub Głaz
Finally, in the next few weeks, the paving and construction of rest areas (as well as an extensive trash arbor) in Kurzanoga Street in the middle of the Market, parallel to the Cultural Passage , and in the isthmus between Odwach and the City Scales will finally be completed. We will report on their form, execution, as well as on the progress of finishing works in the Old Market again before the May long weekend.
Old Market Square, Poznań, March 2024 - general view from Paderewskiegoi Szkolna Street
photo: Jakub Głaz
