ON THE SPATIAL VALUES OF THE SAXON AXIS IN WARSAW

DANUTA KŁOSEK-KOZŁOWSKA

ABSTRACT

Considering the urban structure of Warsaw from the point of view of the value of its historical layouts that can be classified among the pinnacles of European urban planning, the baroque composition of the Saxon Axis (Oś Saska) would undoubtedly be the one most often mentioned and admired by the professionals. The concept is known to have been directly inspired by Versaille, where the royal residence, gardens and newly planned urban structures create a large-scale composition along a common axis with a far-reaching impact. Historical research confirms the relation between these two layouts, paying particular attention to the ideological and formal references they share. It emphasises the “infinite” west-bound reach of the Saxon Axis, prolonged by the arrangement of the fields in the remote Wola district, and the equally distant opening towards the east, continued across the interior of Krakowskie Przedmieście street, crossing the escarpment, and extending into an oxbow of the Vistula river to finally dissolve in the open landscape of the riverbank in the Praga district, poorly urbanized at the time.

Key words: Saxon Axis, Warsaw, large-scale urban composition, spatial values, 

 

 

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