ABSTRACT
The ‘long nineteenth century’ began earlier and more harshly in Poland than in many countries. It started with a series of partitions in 1772-1795 and lasted until 1918, when a Polish state was re-established. To all practical purposes, there was no ‘Poland’ during that time. Nonetheless, various smaller Polish polities – albeit to varying degrees circumscribed by the partitioning powers of Prussia, Russia, and Austria – did spring up for brief intervals during that century before the establishment of the Second Polish Republic after World War I. Both the relatively few free years as well as the decades of foreign rule witnessed significant developments in the realm of architecture and urban planning in two of Poland’s historic capital cities, tiny medieval Cracow and the larger Warsaw. They convey some of the highs and lows of the Polish nation as well as suggesting ways Poles were able to maintain a sense of national identity despite the partitions.
