Dr hab.inż. Danuta Sochacka

Programme guidelines on the pro-ecological policy of rural areas development

The principles of the European Union's programme for developing rural areas aim at: increasing the productivity of agriculture; providing agricultural people with a proper standard and level of living; stabilizing agricultural and food product markets. To achieve those targets and goals, special legal, marketing, supportive and financial tools are applied. The pro-ecological trend in the development of rural areas presses us into improving the conditions and state of our natural environment through the elimination of unfavourable phenomena. One of the measures is to support ecological (also known as organic) agriculture because its potential, as well as the continuously growing demand for organic food products are not sufficiently utilized so far; thus the promotion of ecological agriculture should absolutely be a priority. Poland's access to EU stimulated the realization of those basic principles of the UE programme, which refer to the development of agriculture. The principles in question assumed that measures and activities focused on some key objectives should be jointly financed. Those objectives are as follows: - improving natural environment through the elimination of unfavourable phenomena, protecting & preserving culture and nature-landscape values, as well as motivating & stimulating the development of retarded regions; - making the policy of economic ...

Dr hab.inż. Danuta Sochacka

Mgr Monika Kraszewska

Manor farm complexes within the rural structure and landscape

The genesis of establishing manor farm complexes dates back to the 14th century. Within the historical process, they have been functioning for several hundred years. They were a basis of the Polish agriculture and farming under varying political, social and economic systems. They were arable farms, and constituted uniform and planned layouts. Manor farm complexes consisted of a manor and home farm. The manor was the residence of the proprietor; it was situated within a zone of parks and gardens beautified by small architecture objects. The home farm, owing to its role, gravitated towards a manor complex and arable lands, as well as towards village and markets. The whole spatial system was connected by an internal and external network of roads and paths. After the WW II in 1944, a decree on agricultural reform put an end to the traditional Polish manor farm complexes. A new agricultural economy of the postwar Poland was founded and organized on large land estates, which were all nationalized, i.e. those estates, which covered something between several dozen to several hundred hectares of arable land. Farms that were taken away from landowners had to be newly developed. There were three main development directions. The first ...

Dr hab.inż. Danuta Sochacka

Lipnica Murowana – rural structure and landscape

Within Poland, there are many localities denoted as small towns. From the historical point of view, political, social and economic needs were always the prime power that impacted the foundation of towns. In order to receive the status of a town, it was necessary to initiate the procedures aiming at receiving a particular location and special municipal rights, and to get a right to perform particular administration functions. There were several factors considered to be prime power generating the creation of such units within a settlement network; those factors were: town’s defences, trade, agricultural development (private towns), industrial development, large-scale exploitation of raw materials, formation of large interchanges, spa and recreational qualities of the region where a particular town was situated. Depending on the political situation and economic climate, the position of those towns within the settlement network underwent various changes. Urbanization processes were decisive. They strongly stimulated the development, and when they ceased, the stagnation occurred and, in some case, it caused such towns to move back and to become demoted to the level of a village. Lipnica Murowana was located in the 14th century according to the German Magdeburg Law and possessed the municipal rights for more than ...

Dr hab.inż. Danuta Sochacka

Mgr Monika Kraszewska

Cultural landscapes of the eastern borderlands in Ignacy Rabczuk’s photo collection

The objective of this paper was to make a special set of photographs of the former Polish Eastern Borderlands available to the public. Those photographs belong to a private collection of Mr. Ignacy Rabczuk, As. Prof., M. Sc., Engineer; he took all the photographs in the interwar period. The author of this photo portfolio was a graduate of the Lviv Technical University. He studied from 1927 to 1934 and completed the Faculty of Civil and Water Engineering, Department of Surveying. As a licensed geodesist, he started his professional activity in the Institute of Applied Geophysics of the ”Pionier” Company in Lviv. Then, he was employed with the Treasury Chamber in Brześć on the Bug River, at the beginning as a county, and, then, as a provincial (voivodship) surveyor in the field of soil classification in the Polesie Province. As soon as he accomplished all the tasks appointed to him, the Treasury Chamber sent him to a town called Navahrudak (or Novgorodok or Novogrudok), to the Branch Office of the Chamber. Here, he had the same position. His duties involved supervising land surveying projects, collecting and updating maps, and developing photoplans. By the end of 1938, the Treasury Chamber moved him ...

Dr hab.inż. Danuta Sochacka

Mgr Monika Kraszewska

Cracow Józef Piłsudski Mound in spatial structure and landscape

The objective of his paper is to represent, based on the example of one of the Cracow mounds, those land objects within a spatial structure and Poland’s cultural landscape. Those large engineering earthen structures are artificially raised geometric bodies. The large and high moulds located on ground elevations constitute architectural dominants and are beauty spots, whereas the smaller ones are classified as small structural forms. For the purpose of this paper, the Józef Piłsudski Mound was chosen as an example. It is situated on the Sowiniec Hill in the ‘Wolski Wood’ Park (in Polish ‘Las Wolski’) in Cracow. This object was selected owing to the fact that, recently, Poland celebrated the 90th anniversary of regaining its independence and Mar-shall Józef Piłsudski rendered considerable service to the independence fight and had strong ties with Cracow. This Mound having three names: The Independence Mound, The Piłsudski Mound, and The Grave of Graves is one of the Cracow four largest earthen monuments. It is also the youngest mould since it was built during the inter-war period in the twentieth century. The Mound is an architectural object. Thus, prior to beginning with the building works, a detailed design was developed. One of ...