Media about Waliców Street

In the years 2017-19 POLIN Museum organized and co-organized events aimed at drawing attention of Warsaw residents, local activists, architects, urban planners and the municipal administration to the issue of revitalisation of the tenement houses on Waliców Street, to their cultural potential and historic value. They also aimed at presenting various points of view and proposals for the development of this area and the buildings.

The speakers and POLIN Museum guests were often asked to voice their opinions in the local and nationwide media: in the press, on the radio and on TV. We do believe that the role of the media in reclaiming Waliców Street back to the residents of Warsaw is crucial. The media help preserve the memory of the history of this place; they also inform people on the current state of the buildings.

Below we present excerpts from the selected media reports regarding the subject of Waliców Street.

• Interview with Guido Morpurgo and Annalisa de Curtis for Wyborcza.pl by Alicja Bobrowicz >>
  "Tenement houses on Waliców Street are an archaeological find equal to those of Troi or Carthage, for Warsaw, similarly to these ancient cities, experienced an apocalypse of sorts," claims Guido Morpurgo. The architect who co-designed the Shoah Memorial in Milan has fallen in love with these derelict tenement houses in the Wola district of Warsaw.
   
• Reportage titled "Tenement houses on Waliców Street. DNA of pre-war Warsaw", Program 2 of the Polish Radio, by Aldona Łaniewska-Wołłk >> 
  Historian Jarosław Zieliński spoke about the history and former residents of the buildings; Zuzanna Schnepf-Kołacz from POLIN Museum spoke about the DNA of pre-war Warsaw.
  "During the radio program, we debated on how to restore the old tenement houses and give them back to the residents of Warsaw. Is it possible for this part of the city to reclaim its pre-war identity, to revert to the times when the streets, the courtyards and the houses were brimming with life? Is there a space in the heart of the Warsaw City for memorialization, and for a meeting place that could become the hub of communal life?"
  Prof. Morpurgo from the Politecnico di Milano announced that these tenement houses carry the DNA of pre-war Warsaw. "He has spotted a system of the no longer existing city in these houses," said Zuzanna Schnepf Kołacz. "Pre-war plans reveal that the city was made of this type of tenement houses. Various configurations of such buildings constituted the urban tissue, but one element was always present: a tenement house with one or two courtyards."
   
• "Ring twice for Ms Lunia" read the beginning of Jakub Korus’ text in Newsweek Historia and Newsweek.pl >>
  "Tenement houses on Waliców Street are a solid chunk of Warsaw history. It is time to reclaim them back, while the Wola district is rising to the sky all around them. The discussion on this topic was launched on 4 March at POLIN Museum."
   
• "Debate on the century-old tenement houses on Waliców Street. One of them has nearly been demolished lately" – informed Tomasz Urzykowski in the Stołeczna supplement to Gazeta Wyborcza >>
  "During the debate on <Waliców: DNA of Warsaw - Heritage of Europe> experts from Poland and from abroad will present their ideas on how to revive the derelict tenement buildings. "Our goal is to develop a preliminary plan for the tenement houses at 10, 12 and 14 Waliców Street, which would then be submitted to the municipal administration and to the Wola District Council as a proposal on the future of this unique spot," said Zygmunt Stępiński, Acting Director of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
  "I do hope that the municipal administration will accept the expert recommendations, and that an architectural competition for young architects on renovating the buildings will be organized. The testament to the past must be preserved for future generations," appealed Professor Guido Morpurgo from the Politecnico di Milano in an interview for Radio dla Ciebie >>.
   
• Waliców: The DNA of Warsaw, The Heritage of Europe >>
   
• "An older man in a blue-black jacket is watching with interest the work carried out at 14 Waliców Street. He approaches when I take out my camera. I was ready for questions, a reproach perhaps, and yet, surprisingly, he encourages me: "Take photos, take photos while it stands, because they will demolish it soon!" A reportage on Waliców was prepared by Piotr Bakalarski, a TVN Warsaw reporter >>
   
• Radio programs by Karolina Głowacka and Mikołaj Lizut on TOK FM Radio >>

The publication constitutes part of the project: “Critical Heritages: performing and representing identities in Europe – CoHERE” (Horizon 2020 - program of the European Commission). 

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 693289.