Krakowski Kazimierz w dobie upadku: od najazdu szwedzkiego (1655–1657) do dzieła Komisji Dobrego Porządku (1786–1791) i trzeciego rozbioru Polski (1795)

Abstract

KAZIMIERZ – KRAKOW’S SATELLITE TOWN – IN THE ERA OF DECLINE: FROM THE SWEDISH INVASION (1655–1657) TO THE WORK OF THE COMMISSION OF GOOD ORDER (1786–1791) AND THE TH IRD PARTITION OF POLAND (1795)

The paper makes references to Michał Niezabitowski’s publication on the formation of “the first Greater Kraków” in the period 1791–1802. The direct consequences of the Swedish invasion (war damage, plunder, etc.) were in fact less acute than the indirect ones, i.e. the progressive ruination of the town’s buildings and architectural layout as a result of the impoverishment of its population. Levels of destruction varied: the architectural complex stretching along the high street was preserved intact, however, in other parts of the town there were places where up to 75 per cent of houses and infrastructure had been destroyed. Living standards dropped disastrously. The water-supply system did not work, the banks of the River Vistula were not properly protected (the shifting of the main riverbed increased flood hazard in the area), the public bath and the bridges did not function. Despite the king’s orders, a modern system of city defences was never built in Kraków, and the Swedish fortifications were nothing more than temporary, field defences. It was only the religious orders (most notably the Pauline Fathers) that carried out a lively construction and development activity; by 1680 the monastery complexes in the Stradom suburb (two Bernardine monasteries and the monastery of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre) had been rebuilt. On the site of private properties ruined in the course of the war new monastic centres were built: the Monastery of the Missionary Fathers in Stradom (1682–1694), and the Trinitarian Monastery (1688–1693). No new temples were erected in the Jewish town after the Swedish invasion. Following the Northern War (1702–1712), war tribute practically replaced the previous tax system, and Kazimierz entered the era of its deepest decline, loosing most of its original urban layout. Almost the entire construction and development activity concentrated around the monasteries. By contrast to the rather mediocre church and monastery complexes designed and built by the local architects and constructors in the 2nd half of the 17th century, the new churches built by the Missionary Fathers (1719–1728), the Pauline Fathers (1733–1749), and the Trinitarians (1751–1758) were excellent examples of grand architectural design created by eminent foreign architects. The crisis became even graver during the Bar Confederation (1768–1772), with war tributes, plunder perpetrated by the Russian army, and the quartering of soldiers in this area. Following the First Partition of Poland (1772) the construction and development activity of monasteries came to a halt, as these were ruined by the forfeiture of monastic property beyond the border posts. The decade of 1776–1786 brought about an economic revival, however, parallel to carrying out new investments representatives of municipal authorities surreptitiously stole whatever was left of the city’s property. Revitalization of the city often involved the total demolition of buildings, e.g. St Lawrence’s Church and St James’s Church. Attempts to overcome the crisis were made by the Commission of Good Order (1786–1791) whose activities boosted construction and development in the city and stimulated the establishment of new manufactories (e.g. the lime kiln on the former St James’s Church premises, or the cloth manufactory in Stradom). A local echo of the national reform policy was the struggle to abolish the anachronistic separateness of Kraków’s satellite towns (including Kazimierz) and jurydykas that was initiated by the aforementioned Commission. In the face of the general decline of the Republic of Poland, the massive efforts undertaken by the Commission to introduce practical changes in the city were bound to fail; nevertheless, they did lay the foundations for future development in terms of law and administration (the inventorying of the city’s properties), city planning (the first modern land surveying project), and ideas (the vision of „Greater Kraków” and the struggle to eradicate corruption).