Poland's Concert Hall Building Boom

Like much of Germany, Poland was decimated during World War 2.  Caught between the Nazi forces (set out to wipe the state from the map) and--eventually, following Hitler's ill-fated attempt to overcome the Russian winter, the Soviets--the country suffered nearly intended fate of the German Socialists.  The initial attack began on September 1, 1939.  Both the UK and France would declare war on Germany, but no one came to Poland's aid and its own army surrendered in October.

First, the Nazis established the Jewish Ghetto and then began shipping the inhabitants to Auschwitz.  The ghetto was eventually destroyed along with most of the capital, Warsaw.  The entire country lay in ruin.

85% of Warsaw was in ruins following the war.

Following the war, the country was given over to the Soviets as one of its satellites behind the Iron Curtain.  Any investment at all was made in restoring the country's basic infrastructure, 80% of which was destroyed nationwide.  Up until recently, very little was put forth into cultural amenities of the nation of Chopin.

But since the fall of communism, a movement which began in Gdansk (the city formerly known as Danzig, which has an interesting history of its own), we have seen what the New York Times calls Poland's Concert Hall Revival.  Among some of the more significant developments include

• Warsaw:  Among the first buildings to be bombed, the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall was not reconstructed until the mid-1950s.  It's rendering was a pastiche between its former grandeur and Soviet realism.

Current Philharmonic Hall

A design contest was held to build a replacement.  Combining both the shoebox (for acoustics) and arena (for sight lines) styles, Austrian architect Thomas Pucher has proposed an exciting 1,800 seat venue, looking something like this:

Sinfonia Warsovia Concert Hall

• Krakow:  Among Europe's newest concert venues is the city's Congress Hall, resplendent with a 2,100 seat concert space (that's large for Europe).  

Other new sites in smaller Polish cities include:

Polish National Radio Symphony Hall, Katowice

Philharmonic Hall, Szczecin
This really doesn't work for me...

interior

National Forum of Music, Wroclaw

National Forum of Music, interior

Lest one believe that everything is new, efforts were completed in 1965 to restore and actually enlarge the magnificent Grand Theater of Warsaw, home to the Polish National Opera.

Grand National Theater, Warsaw (1,841 seats)

the stunning interior

One has to believe that, if such building can take place in once-war-torn Poland, it should be able to happen anywhere.  Of course, there needs to be a commitment to a country's culture.