Stare Miasto w Chojnie : problem zagospodarowania obszaru zabytkowego

The earliest records referring to the town of Chojna date from the 13th century. The town developed on the site o f an earlier settlement, as indicated by remnants of a gród (circular fortified centre) and an early-mediaeval market square. The civic rights, based on the Magdeburg law, were confirmed in 1298. The town — together with its defences — was completely shaped in the 14th century. Its successful development continued until the Thirty-Year War which brought a considerable destruction in its the wake. The town’s repeated development in the 17th and 18th centuries was characterized by half-timbered construction o f the buildings raised there at time. The process of that reconstruction was interrupted by the Napoleonic war after which Chojna has never recovered its former splendour. In 1945 the town suffered again almost complete destruction. Among the ruins there have survived few dwelling houses and the walls of the most important historical monuments: St. Mary’s Church dating from the 15th century, burnt down and left in ruin, the Augustinian Church and Monastery, 14th century, already reconstructed, the Town Hall — dating from mid-15th century, partly rebuilt in the 17th, burnt in 1945, and intended for reconstruction as a seat o f the municipal library. What has also been preserved is a complete ring o f 14th century town walls, with gates and watch-towers, and the building of former caserns now adapted for dwelling purposes. Chojna, with the population of 5,656 makes at present the administrative centre o f the commune. Its principal functions are the administrative activities, those in the field of services, industrial production, agricultural production, market gardening, breeding and also in that of services for agriculture and forestry. In spite of its total destruction the Old Town district continues to be that o f supreme compositional value. This is manifest in the panorama of the town as well as in its interior where the main historical monuments — dominating by their size and attractive in their architectonic detail — spring up from the historical ground-work o f streets. The programme for revalorization, prepared in close correlation with that for the economic and regional development o f the town of Chojna and its environment, should start from the following criteria: — the Old Town makes an area valuable from the historical and compositional point of view, calling for due consideration o f the existing lay-out and the historical monuments preserved; — the building dating from the 18th and 19th centuries — especially in the neighbourhood of the monastery grouping and the town walls — should be preserved and complemented with individual buildings filling the gaps therein, stress should be laid, in particular, on the lay-out of the old market square within the boundaries of which the town hall and the parish church are situated; — the area between the said church and the market square should be intended for buildings not higher than two storeys so as to provide for a visual contact between those two historical m onuments; — transit traffic should be eliminated from the Old Town district and only the local one — o f limited range — made admissible without any change in the character o f the streets; — a promenade and green belt should be laid out around both the outer and inner side of the town walls; •— the new building should be noted for commination of the streets and pathways and emphasis laid on vertical divisions referring to the old property division; — the Old Town should be given the character o f a residential district provided with some non-onerous, basic and municipal services; i.e. the retail shops, craftsmen’s workshops, catering establishments and cultural life and tourist facilities. The reconstruction of the town, conducted in 1968—1976 did not fulfil, for the most part, the postulates above what is confirmed by the illustrations inserted in the text. Hence the urgent need for a revision of both the presently binding general plan and the detail one for revalorization o f the historical district discussed. The relevant proposals are comprised in the enclosed concept o f its revalorization and development, as expounded by Andrzej Skorupski in his M. Arch, degree-thesis, prepared under the au th o r’s direction at the Department o f Building and Architecture, Szczecin College of Science and Technology. The concept meets all the postulated mentioned above. The condition of the reconstruction work carried out so far gives the grounds to assume that the prospects o f changes in the mode of development o f the Old Town district are still feasible. The wealthy historical tradition o f the town o f Chojna, its historical monuments and lay-out and, first and foremost, the concern to ensure the best possible conditions o f life to the town’s inhabitants today and the generations to come — the conditions based on a symbiosis o f the past and the future — should all make an incentive to a quick action for the sake of implementation of the postulates and the concept herewith discussed.