Art Déco architectural trail. Stalowa Wol, Lvov
Stalowa Wola was established in 1937-1939 as one of the main hubs of the nascent Central Industrial District. At the time, the South Plant and the Stalowa Wola Power Station, both erected shortly before the war, were among the most technologically advanced plants in Poland. The Art Deco style in the architecture of the original town buildings testifies to the ambitious plans of the investors and great enthusiasm of the builders. The style combined modernity and functionality with aesthetics. Most of the Art Deco details on the outer walls of the buildings have survived despite the post-war architectural changes which substantially reduced the historic character of the buildings. The same situation was once observed in Lviv where this architectural style had never been particularly emphasised. No wonder then that Art Deco elements were only noticed by art experts and connoisseurs. For the average city dweller or tourist, this issue was completely unknown.
After many years of co-operation between Lucyna Mizera, the director of the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola and museologists from Lviv the idea was born to make an inventory of all the Art Deco buildings in both cities and on this basis to create tourist trails, as well as to prepare artistic and educational programmes. This led to the creation of a unique tourist product, in both Poland and the Ukraine, which could be implemented thanks to a subsidy from the INTERREG IIIA programme.
The Art Deco architectural trail together with publications, web sites, and a novel educational and promotional programme has become a great tourist attraction. About 30,000 people visited the exhibitions along the trail in the period between November 2007 and December 2008. The highlight of the programme was the exhibition entitled “The Central Industrial District for the Future; People, Industry, Architecture”, which showed the fascinating but little known history of the Industrial District in a very attractive and evocative way. After seeing the exhibition, the visitors are taken on a guided tour of the old town centre of Stalowa Wola following the Art Deco Architectural Trail. Apart from the characteristic villas and blocks of flats, the visitors see two museum exhibitions devoted to the 1930s.
The first thing a tourist visiting Stalowa Wola should do is call at the Regional Museum with its newly created Art Deco Tourist Information Centre where they can obtain any necessary materials about the trail or sip coffee in the beautifully designed Art Café.
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