Bohdan Lachert’s Architectural Treatise: Summa of Avant-Garde Myths or Record of Experiences?

Abstract

Bohdan Lachert’s architectural treatise is a summary of the attitudes manifested in the environment of architects of the avant-garde modernist trend in Poland. In the pre-war period, Lachert  belonged to the group of the most outstanding initiators of modern architecture and experts in the theory of modern art. He cultivated his creativity by displaying strong emotional commitment, which he considered a decisive factor in architectural work. In the post-war period, he encountered restrictions in his activities resulting from the doctrine of socialist realism. At the end of the 1950s, he decided to write down his beliefs taking into account contemporary historiography and philosophy. The prepared treatise did not play a major role in the history of Polish architecture due to the small role of independent architectural attitudes in the political system of real socialism. The current publication of the treatise makes it possible to see in it not only a document of two past eras, but also a work that contains elements coinciding with contemporary intellectual trends.