Szanowni Państwo!

We heartily recommend the latest issue of “Ochrona Zabytków”. If it has reached our regular readers then we wish to express our utmost satisfaction that we have been able to gain steadfast recipients interested in the problems discussed by us. If, however, this is your first contact with our quarterly then we sincerely hope that our publication will meet with your interest , enhance your knowledge, or inspire you to present your own professional experiences on its pages. The current issue is to a great extent devoted to questions associated with town planning and architecture. The article about the town-planning development of Białogard connects this topic with principles for the protection of cultural heritage. Material about the former Teutonic Order castle in Rogóźno-Zamek considers ways of suitably protecting ruins while referring to an article about assorted methods of conserving historical ruins, published in the previous issue of our quarterly. We also propose texts dealing with small urban architecture – more precisely, with the historical street surfaces in Szczecin and their protection. This prominent question constitutes an extremely important supplement of conservation undertakings aimed at salvaging, protecting, and displaying municipal historical space as a whole and not merely its particular fragments and individual objects. We propose also other articles, such as the one about the church of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Golub; here, an examination of the painted elevations closely connects architecture with painting. The text about the revalorisation of the Branicki Garden in Białystok and the article about the provenance of the Strzelno sculptures and columns (in the collection of the National Museum in Poznań) are especially relevant. Our review section contains two particularly noteworthy publications. Hoping that you appreciate this offer we invite you to enjoy the contents of successive issues of “Ochrona Zabytków”. Respectfully yours, Jacek Rulewicz Director of the National Centre for Historical Monument Studies and Documentation