The Konin Modernism Route was created thanks to the activities of the Konin City Beautification Association. The initiative aims to popularise Konin’s post-war heritage and draw the inhabitants’ attention to the value of the buildings and other objects they encounter every day in their city.
The Konin City Beautification Society collective is made up of people fascinated by the beauty of Konin’s urban planning and architecture. To begin with, they focused on the architecture of the new part of the city, but in their future activities they plan to deal with pre-war modernism, industrial heritage, contemporary challenges or giving their opinion on newly created solutions.
The Route of Konin Modernism encompasses buildings created during the communist era, including the Palace of Sports (1971) on 1 Maja Street and the Konin Hotel (1974), standing on the same street, St. Maximilian’s Church (1974) and the “Centrum” Department Stores (1974). In addition to commercial, cultural and sacred buildings, the route also includes post-war outdoor sculptures and five welcome signs announcing the entrance (or exit) from the city. These used to be found in almost every town, but today the vast majority have disappeared, displaced by unified placards or more modern versions.
Photos of the places placed on the printed map in the form of a leaflet can be found in the gallery. Their author is Aleksandra Kopras, whose large-format black-and-white works can be seen at an exhibition in the foyer of DK Oskard, also located among the trail buildings. In December, architect and urban planner and one of the founders of the collective, Filip Walkowiak, organised a walking tour of the city, where you could learn about the modernist heritage of the new part of Konin. He claims, with good reason, that New Konin should be praised, as it is a testimony to the times of post-war urbanisation of the country, just as Gdynia and Nowa Huta are witnesses to their era.
Photo: Aleksandra Kopras
Source: Society for the Beautification of the City of Konin, architektura.muratorplus.pl
Read also: City | Architecture in Poland | Modernism | Interesting facts | Konin
