Spolia – nowe spojrzenie na przedmiot badań

Abstract

AGNIESZKA ZABLOCKA-KOS (University of Wroclaw) / Spolia – a new perspective on the object of study

The text discusses Hans-Rudolf Meier’s book Spolien. Phänomene der Wiederverwendung in der Architektur (Berlin 2020) and points to new research leads on spolia in Poland. The reviewed publication is an overview, systematising and analysing the most diverse forms and meanings of the use of spolia in architecture, covering the period from antiquity to the 19th c. and more recent times. It is very richly illustrated and superbly produced from an artistic point of view. The author deals with a wide variety of architectural forms incorporated into newer architecture and, with an almost detective-like flair, introduces us to both the process of translocation and its symbolic and emotional meanings. Meier outlines the full range of applications of spolia in architecture, and the layout and subject matter of the chapters convince us that we are dealing with a work that addresses the issue in a comprehensive manner and from different points of view. No one has presented such a study so far. The subject of spolia, especially in the context of Polish history after 1772 until today, seems unexplored in our country. This fascinating subject, considered in the context of the Partitions, the continuous construction of the memory of the First Polish Republic, the saving of historical mementos, but also the treatment of “foreign” (i.e. associated with the partitioner) buildings or monuments as loot and trophies, provides an almost unlimited field of research. Meier’s book could become a great inspiration for such research.