Gdański Ośrodek Ochrony Dóbr Kultury - geneza koncepcji, założenia programowe

A guideline for activities in the field of the protection and schaping of cultural life in Gdańsk voivodship was provided by the resolution o f the plenary session o f the Voivodship Committee of the P.Z.P.R. (the Polish United Workers’ Party). The session was held in 1972 and it concerned the main trends for the development of culture in Gdańsk voivodship until the year o f 1980. When executing a work program adopted at the session there arose a conception to set up the Gdańsk Centre for the Protection of Cultural Values as a conservation body o f scientific and research nature. The idea was brought into life in June 1975 on the foundations of the Office for the Research and Documentation o f Historic Monuments in Gdańsk voivodship, in existence since 1970. The newly-opened Centre found its seat in a historic Turret of Anchorers’ (Baszta Kotwiczników). In future the seat will be moved to the granary of „Mały and Duży Groddeck” at Chmielna street. As the guidelines for its work the Gdańsk Centre for the Protection o f Cultural Values has adopted two programs. The program minimum assumes a full recording of monuments in Gdańsk voivodship. A starting point for this program was a very long experience and output o f the people and organizations involved in the problem. The program maximum envisaged the expansion of the earlier program with research and experimental studies aimed at an overall elaboration of historic monuments conceived, in the broad sense, as „cultural values”. According to the definition adopted temporarily by the research team o f the Centre, a cultural value is a set of objects that have a definite value, function, date o f the origin, style and that are the product o f human wilful activities in a creative process. The cultural value is an integral part of both universal culture and of the culture of a specific community and proves its development at a given historical stage. The „value” conceived in that sense is a testimony to the history o f the nation and has a great cognitive value for present generations. Being a genuine reflection o f the social existence, its civilisation and ideology, the cultural value is a factor affecting, i.a., the awareness o f a contemporary man, for whom the knowledge of manifestations o f culture in the past helps to get to know and to comprehend the present age. The notion of „cultural value” is inseparably linked with two other concepts, namely „cultural heritage” (i.e. cultural legacy of the bygone society) and „cultural environment”. The latter concept denotes groups o f people producing cultural values and also places in which the value is created and with which it is inseparably connected. And it is that second aspect o f the problem, conceived in the broadest sense, that makes the focus o f interests and research works carried out by the Gdańsk Centre for the Protection of Cultural Values. Hence, the term „cultural environment” covered landscape including all natural and man-made elements. The following sections have already been set up for the full execution of the adopted programs: the Team of the Monuments Research and Documentation Workshop, the Team o f the Conservation Workshop for Works o f Art, Documentation Department, Servicing Workshops, Independent Post for Building and Investment, Independent Post for Defence and Protection of Historic Monuments as well as Finance and Administration and Economic Department. The departments group experts in different fields, to mention only architects, art and architecture historians, engineers. They also maintain a close contact with research workers and cultural organizations in the Baltic Coast and in the country.