Pałac Krasińskich w Warszawie - stan zachowania i problemy ratowania dekoracji rzeźbiarskiej

The articles discusses historical buildings or their fragments salvaged or recreated in the course of postwar reconstruction. Conservation frequently entails the necessity of decisive intervention in matter more than fifty years old. The concealed phase of the corrosion of steel connectors entails numerous threats. It is necessary to study the technology of fixtures applied in historical monuments; this holds true also for postwar reconstruction. Despite constant surrusion the non-symptom period is brief and has an uncontrolled course. Its consequences include the dramatic effects of the disintegration of the stone. In such situations the best option is the disassembly of the strained compositions, the elimination of threats, and a structural impregnation of the strained stone by means of petrification compounds. The assembly of the Krasiński Palace attic revealed the durability of water-repellent protection and its impact upon stratification and the methods of its removal. The most essential conclusion drawn from scanning and studies of porosity was the ascertainment of the cumulation of amorphous layers of siliceous-organic resin in the capillary systems under the stone surface in consecutive cycles of conservation. Individual research confirmed the reduction of the general diameter of effective pores after consolidation and impregnation. The last phase drew attention to the iconographie aspect of the depiction of a duel between Corvinus and a Gaul in the bas-relief decoration of the tympanum. An analysis of source material collected in the course of conservation demonstrated irrefutably th a t the postwar reconstruction of the elements of the sculpted decoration of this p a rt of the composition was not conducted to the very end or that the interpre tation was mistaken. A minute analysis of enlarged prewar photographs made it possible to make a new proposal of a reconstruction of the nonextant elements, thus restoring meaning to this part of the likeness. The article also brings the reader closer to the southern elevation of the palace (the bas-relief motif of the triumphant entry of Marcus Valerius Corvinus to Rome); here threats remain unresolved, the destruction of block makes headway, and details of the bas relief continue to be shed.