Architecture of the Polish People’s Republic as a Reflection of Political Ideas

The article proposes to consider the conception of architecture as a way of presentation of political ideas through aesthetic categories, basing on the analysis of the socialist constructions: the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw and Nowa Huta (Kraków region). This article explores the functions of architecture in the presentation of the political ideology of the Polish People’s Republic. The issue of political engagement of art, including architecture, remains relevant at the present stage, when the problem of political manipulation is still widespread in society. The environment, organized by the architecture, is also constantly affects the emotions, the mind and human be-havior. It is possible to transfer pre-programmed information through architectural structures. The subject of the research demands the interdisciplinary approach. The methodological foundation of the research is going to base on the comparative, problem-chronological, semiotic methods, art and system analysis. The article presents the architecture of the Polish People’s Republic as a special socio-political space, easily re-enco ded  according to the regime change. This can be noticed in the renaming of streets and squares, replacing the world’s heroes by the national ones, etc. With the establishment of the communist regime in Poland, the principle of socialist realism was introduced into the culture; the art was subordinated to the needs of ideology and politics. The author explores the role of the architectural construction of the Polish People’s Republic in the changes in the structure of society. The special attention is focused on the relation of the modern Polish society to the heritage of the communist era. The author concludes that the architecture is a visual interpretation of the political reformations in the country and the most long-term symbol of the communist era political aesthetics. 

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