Ideowe uwarunkowania translokacji górnośląskich kościołów drewnianych w Prusach w początkach XX wieku

The cult of monuments of the past, which intensified at the end of the 19th century, resulted in the creation of a system of monument protection in the Prussian state, as well as their inventory in individual provinces. The progressive process of expanding the term “monument” was conducive to the inclusion of objects that were assigned regional and local significance. This group included wooden log churches, especially numerous in Upper Silesia. The dynamic modernization of Upper Silesian villages brought particular threats to this group of objects which did not meet the expectations of the growing parish communities. Giving a positive value to such buildings was mainly due to the popularization among the bourgeois elite of Alois Riegl’s value of the ancient past, as well as the Heimat category, crucial for German nationalism, with both ethical and aesthetic dimensions, closely related to the nationalistic cult of authenticity. The protection of wooden churches proved to be a challenge beyond the capacity of conservators. Negotiations with parish communities that wanted to replace old temples with new brick ones often failed. In the case of buildings whose functioning in accordance with their original purpose could not be prolonged by small extensions, and whose parishes did not agree to take care of them apart from new churches, the only solution to the final devastation was their relocation. Several such transfers were carried out in the German Empire, with particularly spectacular transfers of monuments from Mikulczyce to Bytom and from Kędzierzyn to Szczytnicki Park in Wrocław. In both cases, liturgical functions were lost. The relocations proved the flexible attitude of the provincial conservators Hans Lutsch and Ludwig Burgemeistra, who, while declaring their views closer to the opponents of the renovation, in the face of the threat of complete loss of the monuments, were ready to support and promote procedures that meant the exchange of a significant part of the original substance and tearing the object out of its natural surroundings. Even more far-reaching changes were accepted by the architect Arthur Willnow, who supervised the reconstruction of the church in Krowiarki and referred to the views of one of the leading supporters of the restoration - Lorraine conservator Paul Tornow