Project of a descent onto the bridge and view of Castle Square in two variants

The coloured watercolour painting Vue de la place à ouvrir à côté du château et de la descente au pont [View of the open square near the Castle and the descent onto a bridge] presents two versions of the initial fragment of the descent onto the planned bridge. The main card features a project which consists in extending the outbuilding of the Royal Castle near Grodzka Gate, thus veiling the Pod Blachą (Tin-Roofed) Palace. The smaller sheet attached along the bottom edge presents the second variant of the solution with the beginning of the descent onto the bridge located in front the southern side of the Castle.

In the first version, the upper part of the Pod Blachą (Tin-Roofed) Palace would be visible above. Raising or superimposing the smaller sheet on the card offers the possibility of comparing the two versions. In the 1830s, the only one bridge available to the residents of Warsaw was at the extension of Bednarska Street. Access to the bridge was narrow and inconvenient for vehicles and pedestrians alike. At the beginning of the following decade, the authorities commissioned a project of a new descent onto the bridge from engineer Feliks Pancer (1798–1851). He was a member of the Polish Military Engineer Corps, an official at the Department of Land and Water Communication of the Government Commission of Internal Affairs. His idea consisted in constructing a descent from Castle Square on a flyover to Dobra Street “above the streets of the lower city.” In 1843, the Bernardine Church and cloisters which had enclosed the south-eastern street front of Castle Square between St. Anne’s Church and the Royal Castle were pulled down in order to acquire space for the new flyover.

The displayed design project by Pancer is extraordinary given the manner of presenting alternative solutions. Both variants can be seen by raising or superimposing the attached sheet. It is the only such artefact in the collection of the Museum of Warsaw.

Project of a descent onto the bridge and view of Castle Square in two variants
A. VARIANT
WITH A VIEW OF THE POD BLACHĄ [TIN-ROOFED] PALACE
B. VARIANT
WITH AN EXTENDED ANNEX AT GRODZKA GATE BLOCKING
THE VIEW OF THE POD BLACHĄ [TIN-ROOFED] PALACE
FELIKS PANCER
WARSAW, AFTER 1843
INK, WATER COLOUR ON PAPER
MHW 8253/PL
41,2 × 55,6 CM

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