Trasa WZ (Warsaw)
The Trasa WZ ( Trasa Wschód-Zachód , German: East-West-Trasse ) was Warsaw's first major infrastructure investment after the Second World War . The main thoroughfare was built between 1947 and 1949 and, after it was put into operation, played an important role in transit traffic in the east-west direction. Even if it is no longer the most important east-west expressway in the city, it is still very busy. Its main components are the Śląsko-Dąbrowski Bridge and the tunneling under the Warsaw Palace Square .
history
On July 4, 1947, the Polish President Bolesław Bierut decided to build a new thoroughfare through Warsaw's city center in an east-west direction. This decision was preceded by a two-year dispute between the Biuro Odbudowy Stolicy (BOS) and the Polish Ministry of Transport. Even before the war and later during the occupation of Poland by German troops, the idea of such a new thoroughfare had been worked on. Through the construction of the new traffic route in connection with the tunneling under the Schlossplatz, the through traffic should be separated from the local traffic. Until the Trasa WZ was built , the traffic coming from the east over the Kierbedź Bridge ran directly over the Schlossplatz and poured into the adjoining, narrow streets with old buildings. The tunneling under and the construction of a new traffic route from the Palace Square promised a considerable relief at the beginning of Krakowskie Przedmieście and a liquidation of the increasing east-west traffic flows.
Biuro Odbudowy Stolicy
Leading architects and urban planners at the BOS who were involved in the project were Józef Sigalin , Jan Knothe , Stanisław Jankowski and Zygmunt Stępiński . They employed up to 163 people in the planning, although the Ministry of Transport had already rejected the proposal in advance because it did not agree to the necessary destruction of the still intact residential buildings in the heavily destroyed Warsaw. However, after Bierut was convinced by the BOS leaders, the implementation of the ambitious project began in the summer of 1947.
First of all, the old driveway to overcome the Vistula embankment from the Kierbedź Bridge to Castle Square, the “Pancer” viaduct (street name Nowy Zjazd ) and other buildings in the apron and behind the Castle Square had to be demolished. The tunnel that now runs under the Palace Square, Ulica Senatorska and Ulica Miodowa , was built open. Only after its completion, the overlying historic rows of houses was ( Krakowskie Przedmieście No. 79-89. And Ulica Senatorska 1-11 (especially of the Castle Square and parts of historic objects) Branicki Palace ) - whose ruins were first removed - at the Miodowa rebuilt .
The tunnel was completely equipped with glazed ceramic tiles and clinker bricks .
Warsaw's first escalator
A stop for public transport (buses and trams ) was set up shortly before the newly built road viaduct entered the tunnel . At this stop an escalator shaft was built to the castle square 12 meters higher. The three escalators installed here were the first in Warsaw, were supplied from Moscow ( Metrostroj , Russian: Метрострой ) and assembled by Soviet specialists. They were only replaced by a system from ThyssenKrupp in 2005 after they had stopped working for a number of years. The old Soviet drive machine removed during the total renovation of the elevator shaft carried out by Porr was brought to the Warsaw Museum of Technology . The pompous, sometimes already socially realistic design of the stairwell with wooden panels and sculptures by Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz was based on the furnishings of the Moscow Metro ; the exit on Schlossplatz is in the John House .
From 1947 to 1949 the Śląsko-Dąbrowski Bridge was built in place of the old Kierbedź Bridge . Some of the pillars of the old building could be reused.
The pre-war buildings that still existed there fell victim to the completely new course of the road from Schlossplatz to Plac Bankowy . In particular, apartment buildings - some of which could still be rebuilt - had to be demolished. In order to preserve the Przebendowski Palace , the traditionalists in the BOS successfully campaigned for the construction of a bypass of the Trasa WZ, which is divided into two parts . As far as the palace, an excavation was carried out to guide the route along the complex of the Capuchin Monastery and the Church of the Transfiguration of Christ (Polish: Kościół Przemienienia Pańskiego ), the south-western tip of the Pac Palace and the building of the district court's mortgage department .
From 1949 to 1950 the "Kino WZ" was built at the western end of the Trasa WZ based on a design by the cinema architect Mieczysław Piprek. The cinema was operated until 1991, later the club "Fugazi Music Pub" and the grocery retailer "Grosz" were located here. The building is now a listed building.
In 2009, the walls of St. Anne's Church , located south above the tunnel directly on the steeply sloping slope of the Vistula River, cracked because part of this slope had slipped during repair work on the Trasa WZ .
meaning
The Trasa WZ was after its completion in honor of the controversial today Polish general Karol Świerczewski as Ulica Świerczewskiego referred. As a result of the political change in Poland , she has been called Aleja Solidarności since 1991 .
At the same time as the Trasa WZ , the Mariensztat settlement was built south of the new viaduct . The Trasa WZ with its tunnel, viaduct and new bridge as well as the Mariensztat settlement were the first major reconstruction projects in the destroyed Warsaw. Its completion after a record construction time of only two years and the inauguration on July 22, 1949 (on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the proclamation of the July Manifesto of the PKWN ) had a major political and urban planning impact on the subsequent reconstruction of Warsaw.
course
The Trasa WZ is a 6.7 kilometer long section of road that today bears the name Aleja Solidarności . It begins in the Warsaw district of Praga-Północ at the level crossing at the end of Ulica Radzymińska coming from the east and ends in the district of Wola at the intersection with Ulica Młynarska , where it turns into Ulica Wolska, which leads to the west, or a few hundred meters earlier The historical ulica Leszno that splits off here passes over. A large part of the Trasa WZ runs in the Warsaw inner city district .
Views
The earlier “Pancer” viaduct around 1900. In the foreground, market activity on the site on which the “Mariensztat” was built after the war
View of the Trasa WZ from Schlossplatz towards the Praga district
Memorial plaque for the inauguration of the Trasa WZ on July 22, 1949
Damage to St. Anna's Church due to a landslide during route construction work in 2009
Escalator shaft after renovation (2010)
Trivia
“Wuzetka” is a special chocolate and cream cake from Warsaw, the name of which originated in the late 1940s and was probably derived from the then much-known Trasa WZ .
Individual evidence
- ↑ according to Article Kościół św. Anny pęka przez wody gruntowe ( Memento of the original dated December 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at TvnWarszaw.pl from February 22, 2011 (in Polish)
literature
- Julius A. Chroscicki, Andrzej Rottermund: Architectural Atlas of Warsaw. 1st edition. Arkady, Warsaw 1978, p. 208 u. a.
- Werner Huber: Warsaw - Phoenix from the ashes. An architectural city guide. Verlag Böhlau, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-412-14105-4 , p. 80 ff.
- Jerzy S. Majewski: Spacerownik. Warszawa Sladami PRL-u, Books of Walks. Landmarks of People's Poland in Warsaw. from the series: Biblioteka Gazety Wyborczej. Agora SA, Warsaw 2010, ISBN 978-83-932220-0-1 , p. 32 ff.
Web links
- Trasa WZ in the Warsaw Wiki (in Polish)
- Article by Rafał Jabłoński, Trasa WZ: chyba jej nie znamy at ZycieWarszawy.pl from September 10, 2009 (in Polish, with historical photos)
Coordinates: 52 ° 14 ′ 48.2 ″ N , 21 ° 0 ′ 53.2 ″ E