New Versus Reconstructed Castles. Sentiments and Resentments at Play

The phenomenon of the construction of “new” castles, inspired by their medieval predecessors, is characteristic not only of Poland nor is it new. The first attempts at this kind of architecture were made in 18th-century England. In modern-day Poland, the point of renovating buildings that exist only as ruins is widely discussed. In Bolesław Szmygin’s opinion, the current interest of private investors in castles has two sources: firstly, the ruins are something like “open forms”, ready to be filled with any vision of a historic building. Secondly, the decision to rebuild such historically and socially relevant spaces, as most castles were, automatically puts the investor in the position of a modern Lord of the Castle. But in Alain de Botton’s opinion, the dark side of this kind of action may be the slow death of modernist architecture, which is being ignored in terms of its development potential.