Tarnów

The most recent history of Tarnów brings together all the flaws and merits of modernity in its specific, Central European variety. The outskirts of Tarnów provided the grounds for the construction of Mościce, one of the flagship projects of independent Poland undergoing modernisation during the inter-war period, currently one of the neighbourhoods of the city. Tarnów is a good example to observe how modernism transmogrified into its own caricature, giving way to the development of the socialist era. Today, Tarnów is not only a monument to the former might of the Polish state, but also a burial ground of ideas, including architectural ones, typical of the region. But Tarnów also boasts pearls of peripheral modernism – treasures of the latest Polish architecture, which still await proper recognition. As seen by the editors of the present volume, Tarnów stands as a metaphor of modernity, whose limits are indicated by the totalising establishment of Mościce and the totalitarian reality of centrally planned architecture. Contributors to the book include Sebastian Cichocki, Jacek Dukaj, Jan Głuszak, Nicolas Grospierre, Grzegorz Piątek, Wilhelm Sasnal, Otto Schier, Jan Smaga, Zbigniew Warpechowski, among others.