A Tale of Restoration

The difficult history of the architecture of Poznan’s castle finds no comprehension in the latest renovation project. The body responsible for choosing Witold Milewski’s project, The Royal Castle Reconstruction Committee, tried to defend its decision by pointing to broad social support for the investment and the need for a new big tourist attraction, which in their opinion, Poznan requires. Lack of public discussion about the form the building would take and the committee’s aversion to differing opinions have been widely commented on in the media. Two interesting modern projects stand in contrast to Milewski’s historic vision: Jaroslaw Kozakiewicz’s Punctum (2007) and Forum Wirtua (2009) by architecture student Maciej Armanowski. Sadly, it was already too late for them to lead to anything more than discussion among a small group of art historians and architecture lovers.