WIELKOPOLSKIE GAZOWNIE

The titular gas-works are an example of technological monuments which have irreversibly become part of the past. The article discusses works which produced illuminating gas out of hard coal in the process of its degassing in a temperature of 900- 1300° C. The obtained gas, known also as town gas, was used for decades for lighting streets. In time, it was applied also in buildings and for household purposes - for heating water, ironing, heating interiors, etc, as well as in industry. The greatest development of this domain of gas engineering in Poland coincided with the second half of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century. The oldest gas-works, established in 1847, are located in Wroclaw. The first gas-works in Greater Poland were opened in Poznan in 1856. The beginning of the 1970s marked the onset of a thirty-years long liquidation of unprofitable coal gas-works which polluted the natural environment. The development of a network of natural gas transmission lines was accompanied by the closure of successive works. The largest old gas-works complex is located in Poznan. The architecture of the objects, maintained In the so-called Rundbogenstill style, continues to be admired up to this day. Part of the objects, such as the gas holders and the Koppers furnaces, is no longer extant, while other buildings have been adapted for offices and storehouses; still others, such as the boiler-room, the water gas building (now a ruin) or the filter hall await adaptation. A culture centre is foreseen in the old gas-works complex. Some of the old gas-works in Greater Poland are no longer used (Pniewy, Krobia, Miejska Gorka or Rakoniewice). The difficulty with their adaptation lies in the fact that the walls of the production objects are strongly contaminated with toxic substances. Part of the objects is used as construction material warehouses (Pobiedziska, Lobzenica, Srem, Jarocin). In Jutrosin, Wolsztyn, and Nowy Tomysl redesigned gas-works serve as natural gas switching stations. The gas-works in Kornik (today: a switching station) are an example of a well revitalised object with emphasis placed on the beauty and harmony of industrial architecture. Several gas-works have been totally forgotten and pulled down, such as those in Swarzedz, Rawicz, and Chodziez. The state of the preservation of the objects is illustrated by a table. Coal gas-works are an important element of industrial heritage and testimony to the existence of a technology which for economic reasons has been relegated to the past.