Borys Zinserling (1890–1961) i jego wizja wnętrz ministerstwa sprawiedliwości. Uwagi na marginesie mecenatu ministra Aleksandra Meysztowicza oraz ministra i senatora Czesława Michałowskiego
Borys Zinserling (1890–1961) and his vision of the interior of the Ministry of Justice. Comments on the patronage of Minister Aleksander Meysztowicz and Minister and Senator Czesław Michałowski

Summary/Abstract: In the years 1787–1789, the palace of the Raczyński family in Warsaw was rebuilt in the spirit of classicism (designed by Jan Christian Kamsetzer). In 1919, the palace became the seat of the Polish Ministry of Justice. During the term of office of two ministers, Aleksander Meysztowicz (1926–1928) and Czesław Michałowski (1930–1936), works were carried out in the building under the supervision of Marian Lalewicz. Meysztowicz started the renovation, but the final effect of the work was due to Michałowski. Although there is no evidence for it, it was and is in line with common practice that he probably accepted the concepts of conservation works and decorating designs presented to him. The space where the minister worked and rested was carefully created. The first consisted of a waiting room and a secretariat. The second is the minister’s working space: a large office and a library. A ballroom was used for larger meetings. The last zone was the minister’s apartment. Works of art and craft objects stylistically referring to the interior were purchased successively. During the works, the historicising style proposed by Lalewicz and implemented by his team was maintained. It is not known from when exactly Boris Zinserling, a Russian emigrant, architect, stage designer and painter, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, was associated with the works in the described facility. In 1935 he made a series of watercolors and charcoal drawings showing the interior. In 1936, the album ­Palace of the Ministry of Justice in Warsaw was released, decorated with colorful reproductions of Zinserling’s works. The still-captivating painting documentation brings closer the final effect of the work, which as a result of the war hostilities has not survived to our times.

• Details
• Contents