12 Ewa Netczuk-Pol
Lublin region during the period
of the Kingdom of Poland
The area of the entire Lublin region was within the bor-
ders of the Kingdom of Poland. It was divided between
two voivodships (governorates): Lubelskie and Siedlce
(in the years 1837–1844 as Podlasie). The outbreak of
the November Uprising in 1830 and the entry of Russian
troops into the Lublin region in 1831 caused signicant
damage to this region. Lubartów, Kazimierz and Puławy
were particularly aected. Szczebrzeszyn and Zamość also
suered signicant losses [6]. Not only was the economy
of the Kingdom aected, but also its autonomy. With the
fall of the November Uprising, Tsar Nicholas I abolished
the constitution in force from 1815 in favour of an organic
statute [7]. It was aimed at even greater dependence on the
Russian authorities, with little internal autonomy. It also
introduced a change of the name of the voivodship to the
governorate [8].
The January Uprising that broke out on January 22, 1863,
after its fall, brought about even greater repressions on the
part of the invader. The tsarist authorities decided to acce-
lerate the process of Russication. As part of the reforms,
a new division into governorates was made. Two poviats
were separated in the Lublin region: Lublin, which inc-
luded the following poviats: Lubelski, Garwolin, Janowski,
Krasnystaw, Lubartowski, Łuków, Puławy, Siedlecki,
So-
kołowski, and Chełm with the following poviats: Chełm,
Biłgoraj, Hrubieszowski, Konstantynów, Włodzimierz [9].
Not only the boundaries of voivodships have changed,
but also the borders of settlement units. In 1867, a Special
Committee for the Reorganization of City Council and City
Economy was established. Its purpose was to verify the
previously granted municipal rights to small towns.
Cities with fewer than three thousand inhabitants were
to be deprived of their rights (town privileges), with at
least 50% of the population living on agriculture. The ac-
tivities of the Reorganization Committee brought about
big changes. Over 75% of all cities in the Kingdom of
Poland have been degraded to the rank of a settlement.
As a result of these eorts, only 13 cities remained in the
Lublin governorate, of which Kraśnik lost its municipal
rights in 1878, and in 1906 they were restored to Puławy.
On the other hand, there were ten towns in the Siedlce
governorate. City boards were also transformed and mu-
nicipalities were deprived of their autonomy. In this way,
the possibilities for the development of many settlements
were eliminated. Additionally, in 1912, the former Chełm
governorate was created in the eastern part of the Lublin
and Siedlce governorates, which after the outbreak of
World War I was separated from the Kingdom of Poland
and incorporated into the Russian Empire [10].
Russification of society
The suppression of the January Uprising started a pe-
riod of increased repression on the part of the Russian au-
thorities on the grounds of nationality. A special body was
established in St. Petersburg to liquidate all the autonomo-
us institutions of the Kingdom.
The tsarist repressions also spread to the socio-cultural
sphere, ruining the foundations of Polish culture. The tsarist
authorities banned the creation of all types of scientic, cul-
tural and economic organizations. At the same time, total
censorship was introduced [11]. Architecture became one of
the elements of the Russication program, in which it was
common to rebuild the forcibly taken over Roman Catholic
churches, as well as former Greek Catholic churches into
Orthodox churches. They were given elements characteri-
stic of the national Russian style, developing in the 19
th
century rst on the basis of romanticism, and then eclecti-
cism with numerous elements of folk tradition. At that time,
over two hundred Orthodox churches were built, of which
only over twenty were built from scratch [12]. In addition,
military facilities were built, incl. military barracks, forts.
Professional education was abolished, which was to
signicantly aect the appearance of future architecture
[13]. In 1832, the Institute of Civil Engineers was esta -
blished at the Tsarist Academy of Fine Arts in St. Peters-
burg, educating young architects from the Russian partition
[1]. It was not until 1898 that the Polytechnic Institute in
Warsaw was established, in which, among others, engine-
ering and construction eld. The trends prevailing in Rus-
sia also signicantly inuenced the process and program
of education there [14].
Regulations
The binding legal regulations in the eld of construc-
tion had a signicant impact on the shape of buildings.
The oldest regulations regulating construction principles
dened location privileges and their subsequent approvals
granted to cities by their owners. Most of the towns were
founding centres, operating mainly under the Magdeburg
Law and later privileges until the beginning of the 19
th
century. Numerous res accompanying the wars of the
17
th
century and natural disasters in the 18
th
century de-
stroyed the wooden buildings of the Lublin region many
times. However, the reconstruction took place in a chaotic
manner. For this reason, as early as the mid-17
th
centu-
ry, legal regulations were introduced, modelled on regu-
lations from other cities, aimed at limiting the spread of
res. In addition to the municipal re and order service
(the so-called 2
nd
ordinance in the Magdeburg Law), laws
were introduced to protect houses against re
3
[15]. Ho-
uses were ordered to be covered at least with clay-covered
shingles. However, the thatch, made of straw dipped in
clay, was still more common, although compliance with
these provisions was not properly supervised.
The rst general regulations governing the construction
industry in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were
passed in 1764. They mainly concerned the buildings of
Warsaw, later they were extended to larger cities such as
Lviv and Vilnius.
In 1784, the Boni Ordinis Commission passed a ban
on building non-refractory houses within the city limits
3
For example, the instruction of Jan Daniłowicz issued in 1644 after
the re of his town Międzyrzec was checked in the Landwójtowska Book.