Transformation of Political-Economic System in Poland and New Values of Built Heritage

Abstract

Transformation of political-economic system in Poland and the dispute about values of built heritage This paper concerns post-1989 changes and modifications of Polish built heritage. For Poland, the year of the fall of the Iron Curtain marked the beginning of political and economic transformation: a transition from a socialist state and a member of the Soviet Bloc to a capitalist state integrated with the European Union. The implementation of democratic institutions and procedures, and the rise of free-market economy based on private property, has nurtured profound changes in the standard of living, which in turn triggered significant transformations of the traditional cultural landscape. Along with the development of pluralistic society, new ideas and approaches arose in the heritage sphere. The phenomenon described by Pierre Nora * This article has been developed from a conference paper given during the session “Re-Writing History in the Time of Late Capitalism: Uses and Abuses of Built Heritage”, at the conference “What does heritage change?” held in Montreal on June 3–8, 2016 and organized by the Association of Critical Heritage Studies. Transformation of Political-Economic System in Poland...