Tadeusz Barucki (born 13th June 1922) – architect and art historian. He is one of the most famous architects and travellers of the second half of the 20th century, researching, documenting and popularising the achievements of world architecture in Poland, and promoting Polish architecture in the world – ‘ambassador’ and ‘window to the world’ to the post-war architectural community of Eastern Europe. Thanks to many years of close friendship with Henryk Buszko, Aleksander Franta and Jerzy Gottfried, he was a frequent visitor to Silesia and knew the local architectural environment very well. Silesian architecture was very dear to him. Born in Białystok, he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Science and Technology in Cracow in 1949. He worked as a researcher at the Institute of Town Planning and Architecture in Warsaw, as a designer at the Coal Industry Architectural Design Office in Cracow and at the Communication Studies and Architectural Design Office in Warsaw. Between 1956 and 1961 he was the Warsaw division Secretary General of SARP. After 1961 he became involved in documenting and disseminating architectural culture and knowledge about world architecture. He has visited almost 70 countries, lecturing at universities and architectural associations. He established personal contacts with over 150 of the world’s greatest architects. His articles and reports have been published in Polish and foreign magazines.
The project ‘A collection of film portraits of architects of Upper Silesia from the second half of the 20th century’ presents profiles of the following architects: Stanisław Niemczyk, Marek and Ewa Dziekoński, Jerzy Witeczek, Janusz and Bożena Włodarczyk, all representatives of post-war architecture in Upper Silesia, and also architect Tadeusz Barucki – art historian and documentarian – who sets out the achievements of world architecture of that period. It is important in this project to not merely present post-1945 architectural heritage and associated surviving design documentation, but also, and perhaps first and foremost, to display profiles of their creators and their complex biographies and personalities. Our collection of film portraits constitutes a part of the documenting, archiving, research and popularisation activities of the Institute of Architecture Documentation at the Silesian Library.
The project is co-financed by the Polish History Museum in Warsaw as part of the ‘Patriotism of Tomorrow’ programme. Thumbnail photograph by Aneta Borowik
This work is available under license Creative Commons Uznanie autorstwa 3.0 Polska.
(Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Poland licence).