Marian Lalewicz (21 November 1876–21 August 1944) - was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

architect and one of the main proponents of

Academic classicism Academic art, or academicism or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie d ...

in interwar Poland.

Early life and studies

Lalewicz finished school at a ''

gimnazjum ''Gymnasium'' (and variations of the word) is a term in various European languages for a secondary school that prepares students for higher education at a university. It is comparable to the US English term '' preparatory high school''. Bef ...

'' in Suwałki in 1895. He then studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint-Petersburg, from which he graduated in 1901. He continued his studies in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, Norway, Germany, Austria and Italy. Until 1917, he taught the history of art and the

history of architecture The history of architecture traces the changes in architecture through various traditions, regions, overarching stylistic trends, and dates. The beginnings of all these traditions is thought to be humans satisfying the very basic need of shelt ...

in Saint Petersburg schools, while at the same time designing various buildings in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. After World War I he moved back to newly independent Poland. Between 1925 and 1927 he was the dean of the Architecture Department at the

Warsaw Polytechnic The Warsaw University of Technology ( pl, Politechnika Warszawska, lit=Varsovian Polytechnic) is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professor ...

, and between 1935 and 1938, he was a

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

. He was active in various social organizations dedicated to the preservation of historic buildings.

World War II

After the Nazi invasion of Poland, Lalewicz served as a director of the emergency medical services (Pogotwie Techniczne) during the Siege of Warsaw. Under

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

he was a teacher at one of the

secret universities World War II saw the cultivation of underground education in Poland ( pl, Tajne szkolnictwo, or '). Secretly conducted education prepared scholars and workers for the postwar reconstruction of Poland and countered German and Soviet threats to era ...

(all education past primary school for Poles had been banned by the Nazis). He was expelled by the Germans from his home in 1943. Lalewicz was executed during the Warsaw Uprising by German units, in the Mass murder on Dzika street on August 21, 1944. A symbolic grave was erected after the war at Warsaw's Powązki Cemetery (244-I-29).

Major works

In Poland

In Russia

* The Palace of M.K. Pokotilov in Saint-Petersburg (1909). * The F.L. Mertens department store building in Saint-Petersburg (1911–1912). * The tenement house of M.A. Soloveychik in Saint-Petersburg (1911-1913). * The cinema/theater "Parisiana" in Saint-Petersburg (1913–1914). * An administrative building for the Russo-American Manufacturing Firm "Treugol’nik" in Moscow (1916).

Awards

Architecture Other *Commander's Cross of the Order of

Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on foreigners for outstanding achievement ...

References

National Geographic traveler: St. Petersburg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lalewicz 1877 births 1944 deaths Polish people executed by Nazi Germany Architects from Warsaw Art Nouveau architects People from Vilkaviškis Lithuanian people executed by Nazi Germany Warsaw Uprising insurgents Polish civilians killed in World War II