Lech Krzyżanowski
35 Years of "Ochrona Zabytków"
Ochrona Zabytków 36/1-2 (140-141), 4
35 YEARS OF ’’OCHRONA ZARYTKÓW
In Ju n e 1948 Józef E. D utkiew icz, in itia to r of th e fou nd ation an d E dito r in Chief for 20 years, took up publishing a q u a rte rly . ’’Thin as it was, unim - posing, on greyish, today alread y yellow ed, p ap er, still th is firs t edition filled us w ith g re at pleasure...” — recalled P rofessor J a n Z achw atow icz on th e occasion of th e p ublishm ent of th e h u n d re d th edition in 1973. The subsequent successors of J. E. D utkiew icz w ere W ładysław Slesiński (1969— 1973) and O lgierd C zerner (1974— 1975).
Our m agazine was founded on the in itia tiv e of th e U nion of th e H isto rians of A rt and C u ltu re (at p re sen t — th e A rt H isto rian s A ssociation) who a t th e sam e tim e w ere its first publisher. In 1962 th e m agizine w as ta k e n over b y th e C entre fo r M onum ents P rotection. ’’O chrona Z ab y tk ó w ” is the only P olish scientific m agazine devoted to the problem of th e p re serv atio n of cu ltu ra l p ro p e rty . Its p a tro n is th e G en eral M onum ents C o nserv ato r of th e M inistry of C u ltu re and A rt.
t The first concept of th e m agazine w orked out by J. E. D utkiew icz re p re sented an open and, on th e whole, popularizing ch aracter. In 1961 E ditor in Chief changed it ra d ic ally and gave it a decidedly s p e c ia lis ts character; since th en the m agazine has been issued in its p re sen t fo rm a t. Going th ro u g h th re e n um bers of o u r bibliog raphies (up to 1977, th e n e x t one is being p repared) and reaching fo r some item s a few g en e ral reflectio ns can be form ulated.
And so, th e firs t stage w hen the m agazine was published in a sm all form at, is characterized by a fierceness of professional discussions and a v ast n u m b e r of detailed rep o rts on w orks c a rrie d out. Of special im p o rtan ce w ere rep o rts of d istrict m onum ents conservators. The second stage, in itia te d in 1961, realized th e form ula of p resen tin g scientific and re se a rc h rep o rts; problem s associated w ith m ethods of studies and com plex co n servation ex ecutions w ere fre q u e n tly encoun tered a t th a t tim e. In ad ditio n to this, problem s of legal n a tu re w ere intro d u ced on a larg e scale; th e sam e r e fers to in te rn a tio n a l problem s. A n ev er grow ing scope of the p re serv atio n of c u ltu ra l p ro p e rty affected decidely th e topics raised in articles and com m uniques. The n u m b er of au th o rs and rev iew ers got also increased. A lthough d u rin g professional discussions it has often been po in ted ou t th a t th e re is an u rg e n t need to have a sep a rate p ap e r for technologists, as long as those ju stifie d postulates re m a in as m ere w ish fu l th in k in g , ’’O chrona Z abytków ” m u st function as a u n iv ersa l m agazine. T herefore, in each edition we tr y to p re se n t a fu ll ra n g e of problem s.
Out of num erous problem s th a t we hav e to cope w ith we w ould like to m ention ju st a few. D espite o ur effo rts we are n o t able to in crease th e edition; hence the publicatio n is available only to th e sub scrib ers. In our opinion, th ere is not enough controversial m a te ria l th a t could b e described as a conservation criticism . N evertheless, a ca refu l re a d e r w ill find this kind of p re sen tatio n s as well. In th is respect we set g re a t hop>e on th e A ssociation of M onum ents C onservators being now b ro u g h t to life.
We are not satisfied w ith th e q u a lity of sum m aries in fo reign languages, w hich is of significance, especially th a t n e a rly 30 p e r cent of th e edition goes abroad. S till, o u r biggest shortcom ing is an ex tre m ely long pu blishing cycle w hich a t p re sen t has exceeded one y e a r and w hich, in tu rn , h as r e sulted in the pub lishing of two n u m b ers to geth er. We h av e decided to do it for techn ical reasons, filled how ever w ith com punction befo re th e A u t hors an d the R eaders.
The condition of th e ed ito rial portfolio and an ever b ig g er n u m b er of au th ors allow us to believe th a t we are en terin g th e n e x t th ir ty years not only w ith a positive balan ce b u t also w ith optim ism .
D r L. K rzyżanow ski E d ito r in C hief
