HANNA GRZESZCZUK-BRENDEL

A comparison of two exhibitions held in Poznań, i.e. Ostdeutsche Ausstellung (1911) and the Polish National exhibition [Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa (PWK)] of 1929 made it possible to determine their political goals thanks to the conducted spatial management analysis for both spatial arrangements and their relations with the city.

The honour courtyard of Ostdeutsche Ausstellung was located at the present Grunwaldzka Street, but the architectural image of the exhibition was dominated by the Upper Silesian Tower, situated near the railway station. However, it was the official entrance to the exhibition which opened the panorama of the new imperial district with a strong symbolic impact, which explains the location of the honour courtyard seemingly at the outskirts of the exhibition grounds and located the exhibition as the background for the city. A similar design of entrances to the Polish National Exhibition was used, placing the Representative Hall at Grunwaldzka Street. An analysis of the official road to the Polish National Exhibition indicates that this time this entrance was used to turn away from the spatial arrangement of the imperial district and to ignore the massive Upper Silesian Tower, while Poznań became the background for the exhibition. In this situation a more important role was played by the architecture of exhibition pavilions, representing all directions in architecture of that time.