Ludwik Bohdan Grzeniewski (1930–2008) was Polish essayist, poet, critic and novelist. He was born and died in Warsaw, where he spent all his life. Well known as varsavianist, he was also master of literary miniature. It is not a literary genre in the strict sense. “Literary miniature”, coherent artistic statement, as short as possible, combines elements of poem, essay, short narrative and others. Grzeniewski always highly valued precision, he preferred condensed form of expression. I therefore think, that the books of this writer (Igły w stogu siana, “Drobiazgów duch, wspaniały i powietrzny…”, Taniec z mufką and others) deserve attention.

Runoff estimation is a key component in various hydrological considerations. Estimation of storm runoff is especially important for the effective design of hydraulic and road structures, for the flood flow management, as well as for the analysis of land use changes, i.e. urbanization or low impact development of urban areas. The curve number (CN) method, developed by Soil Conservation Service (SCS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for predicting the flood runoff depth from ungauged catchments, has been in continuous use for ca. 60 years. This method has not been extensively tested in Poland, especially in small urban catchments, because of lack of data. In this study, 39 rainfall-runoff events, collected during four years (2009–2012) in a small (A=28.7 km2), urban catchment of Służew Creek in southwest part of Warsaw were used, with the aim of determining the CNs and to check its applicability to ungauged urban areas. The parameters CN, estimated empirically, vary from 65.1 to 95.0, decreasing with rainfall size and, when sorted rainfall and runoff separately, reaching the value from 67 to 74 for large rainfall events.

The article discusses selected issues related to the process of creating a document, Strategy Warsaw 2030, adopted in May 2018. The construction of the strategy lasted almost two years and was characterized by high social involvement. The experience that Warsaw can share with other cities and municipalities clearly shows that creating documents in a participatory manner is the most possible and gives many opportunities to create synergies. At the same time, the scope of changes that the document specifi es in the context of its implementation, orders careful observation of the actions of the city authorities in the future. The article focuses primarily on the following issues: the period in which the strategy should be updated, the city’s relations with its surroundings, the strategic team, socialization and fi nally the implementation of the strategy.

Paul Valéry (1871-1945) was considered in the 1930s one of the greatest French poet and essayist. He was the author of the famous poems: La Jeune Parque (The Young Fate) and Le Cimetiere marin (The Graveyard by the Sea). Many times in different situations he spoke very highly of Poland and Poles. Wednesday, October 28th 1936, Valéry arrived in Warsaw. He delivered two lectures during his brief stay. They met with great interest, they were in the papers, they have been mentioned by Polish writers: Wacław Grubiński, Zofia Nałkowska, Tadeusz Breza. Also, Czesław Miłosz and Ludwik Hieronim Morstin have written about meetings with Paul Valéry. Poet`s visit, although very short, was a significant event in Polish cultural life.

The restored Royal Castle in Warsaw includes original decorative pieces that link it back to its illustrious past from before WWII

Neighbouring as a type of social interchange and multi-dimensional social phenomenon is of funda-mental importance in the social sciences and problems associated with intercultural and interethnic neighbouring are currently on the increase. Contemporary migration processes and ethnic diversity in Poland are relatively new issues that are reflected in the experiences of both migrants and representa-tives of the host society. The aim of this article is to analyse intercultural neighbourly contacts be-tween Poles and migrants in Warsaw in the context of Erving Goffman’s sociology of interaction. These contacts and the social processes they involve are of great importance when it comes to mi-grants’ integration in their new place of residence. The article considers how glances, gestures and behaviours are interpreted, leading to the formation of specific opinions and attitudes between mi-grants and Poles. Both ‘unfocused’ and ‘focused’ interactions are analysed, with an emphasis on ex-pectations and definitions of tactful behaviour in intercultural neighbourly encounters and the concept of ‘polite indifference.’ Conclusions are based on semi-structured interviews conducted with Poles and migrants from Vietnam, Turkey and African countries living in Warsaw, Poland.

Artykuł jest polemiką z książką R. Kuliniaka, M. Pandury i Ł. Ratajczaka Filozofia po ciemnej stronie mocy (cz. I–III, Wydawnictwo Marek Derewiecki 2018–2021), przedstawiającej atak marksistów na Lwowską Szkołę Filozoficzną założoną przez Kazimierza Twardowskiego. Nie kwestionuję tego, że taki atak miał miejsce, ani tego, że był motywowany względami politycznymi. Moje wątpliwości budzi to, jak pojmowana jest Lwowska Szkoła Filozoficzna, a w szczególności zaliczenie do niej Romana Ingardena. Sporny jest też obraz filozofii polskiej w ostatnich trzydziestu latach, tj. po 1989 roku, sugerujący, że miałaby to być jakaś kontynuacja przełomu lat 1940/1950.

The paper is a part of the war diary of Aurelia Wyleżyńska (1881-1944), in which she described the political and social life in Warsaw (and not only there) from September 1939 until June 1944. Aurelia Wyleżyńska, a scion of Polish gentry, was a writer and journalist, the author of over a dozen of novels and hundreds of articles in Polish and French-language press, concerning mainly literature, feminism, pacifism (and civilizational progress, which she identified with the latter). She investigates the mood of the civilians and the views of Polish soldiers she met. She analyses social conditions, including her Jewish friends. She shows the dreadful German invasion and the accompanying changes to life and death. She also comments on the Soviet invasion. In her diary she shows how quickly the bustling Polish capital turns into a ruined cage for individuals struggling for survival.

The paper is devoted to the description of the methodology and research by design carried out to identify solutions enhancing the functional flexibility of a high-rise building located in Warsaw at. Grzybowska Street. The work presents the theoretical background as well as the conducted research and methodology. The scope of solutions related to functional flexibility concerned the interchangeability of service functions in the podium part of the building, changes in the use of the parking lot, and the provision of the means of changes in the arrangement of types and variants of types of apartments on the apartments levels. The investigation was carried out in the pre-design and design phases. Objectives and criteria of solutions were defined, and research works were carried out through iterations and checking in terms of the cost-effectiveness . The adopted solutions consist in designing the optimal hard portion of the building – the core, the structural system, the arrangement of zones and installation rooms, and the use of structural and spatial over-designed systems. An optimal facade module has been developed. The research aims to introduce the design practice to the issue of flexibility, which is nowadays important for economic and environmental reasons.

Artykuł przedstawia badania dotyczące roli i rozwoju jednego z ważniejszych obszarów wypoczynku i rekreacji w Warszawie — Pola Mokotowskiego, położonego blisko centrum miasta, na terenie trzech dzielnic: Ochoty, Śródmieścia i Mokotowa (część obszaru to Park im. Józefa Piłsudskiego). Badania koncentrują się na określeniu wpływu współczesnych przekształceń przestrzennych obszaru parku na kompozycję przestrzenną założenia.

Artykuł przedstawia badania dotyczące roli budowli sakralnych we współczesnym krajobrazie Warszawy. Obiekty sakralne powinny być częścią elementów i systemów tworzących tożsamość każdego miasta. Badania koncentrują się na określeniu roli budowli sakralnych w kompozycji krajobrazu miasta, w tym wpływu przekształceń przestrzennych terenów położonych w najbliższym sąsiedztwie budowli sakralnych na kompozycję przestrzenną badanych założeń.

Praca prezentuje autorską koncepcję zagospodarowania placu Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego w Warszawie. Miejsca, którego znaczenie historyczne, urbanistyczne, tożsamościowe jest nie do przecenienia. Losy tego miejskiego wnętrza przez ostatnie dwa stulecia naznaczone są ciągłymi przemianami, a jego obecna forma stanowi przedmiot dyskusji. Koncepcja ma charakter osobistej refleksji architekta, mieszkańca Warszawy oraz twórcy wrażliwego na potrzeby humanistyczne.

19 stycznia 2024 r. zmarł prof. Piotr Węgleński, wybitny genetyk, członek Polskiej Akademii Nauk, były rektor i prorektor Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. Był odpowiedzialny za początki inżynierii genetycznej w Polsce. Wybitny nauczyciel akademicki, wspaniały popularyzator, i świetny Szef – tak go zresztą nazywaliśmy. Od początku swojej kariery naukowej związany z Uniwersytetem Warszawskim, gdzie pracował do końca na Wydziale Biologii, a w ostatnich latach także w Centrum Nowych Technologii.

The article discusses the architectural expression of houses built on water, based on the design process of the floating house in the Czerniakowski Port in Warsaw, designed by Mai Bui Ngoc and Rafał Mazur. The question of the form of the floating house was the starting point of the work on this project. Usually buildings are designed in a specific location, which gives architects an inspiration for the design of the new form. In the case of the floating houses the goal was to make a universal artefact as a car or a phone. This artefact should be more connected to the owner than to the landscape. This artefact should be also neutral to the landscape and it should not be destructive for the surroundings. The answer lays between two archetypes; a typical house and a boat. Analysis of the existing floating houses gave the conclusion that authors of these houses were usually very close to one of these two archetypes. It is a need to put a lot of effort to design an object which does not remind a real house and a yacht design.

Jeśli przyjąć charakterystykę awangardy pochodzącą od Henri Saint-Simona, a podtrzymywaną zarówno przez Daniela Bella, jak i Lidię Burską (w książce Awangarda i inne złudzenia, 2002), to warszawską szkołę historii idei – czyli filozoficzny rewizjonizm wewnątrz polskiego marksizmu – można uznać za zjawisko analogiczne do awangardy artystycznej, która doszła w Polsce do głosu w drugiej połowie lat 50. XX wieku. W rozumieniu Burskiej istotnym rysem awangardy jest efektywne oddziaływanie na stan świadomości, postawy i wybory publiczności. Ten właśnie czynnik zadecydował o powiązaniu awangardy i rewizjonizmu, bowiem w powszechnej opinii, warszawska szkoła w znaczący sposób kształtowała oblicze polskiej humanistyki powojennej. Celem artykułu jest próba zrozumienia, na czym polegało oddziaływanie warszawskiej szkoły historii idei. Odwołuję się w związku z tym do świadectw ludzi, którzy tworzyli to środowisko, a także do pewnych wątków z hermeneutyki H.-G. Gadamera (koncepcja dziejów efektywnych, pojęcie aplikacji) oraz H.R. Jaussa (koncepcja horyzontu oczekiwań).

W obszernym dorobku i spuściźnie archiwalnej wybitnego polskiego fenomenologa Romana Ingardena jest bardzo niewiele materiału pozwalającego ustalić jego stosunek do filozofii analitycznej i jej dokonań. Najpełniejsza ocena tej filozofii jest zawarta w liście do Henryka Skolimowskiego i stanowi reakcję Ingardena na kilkustronicową prezentację jego filozofii w książce Skolimowskiego Polish Analytical Philosophy (1967). Ingarden podkreśla, że z gruntu fałszywe jest opisywanie jego dorobku jako połączenia niemieckiej fenomenologii i tzw. polskiej filozofii analitycznej. Niczego bowiem od filozofii analitycznej w polskim wydaniu, czyli od szkoły lwowsko-warszawskiej, się nie nauczył. Zdaniem Ingardena filozofia analityczna ma na ogół tendencję do przesuwania wszystkich zagadnień rzeczowych na płaszczyznę językową, co doprowadziło do „straszliwego wyjałowienia filozofii”.

Głównym celem artykułu jest rekonstrukcja ujęcia wieloznaczności przedstawionego w pracy Tadeusza Pawłowskiego Tworzenie pojęć w naukach humanistycznych (1986) oraz systematyzacja i analiza tej propozycji. Ze względu na to, że Pawłowski był uczniem Tadeusza i Janiny Kotarbińskich oraz zajmował się kwestiami metodologicz-nymi dotyczącymi języka nauki (i naukowo rozumianej filozofii), tłem rozważań jest tradycja Szkoły Lwowsko-Warszawskiej. W artykule zostają sformułowane pewne uwagi dotyczące koncepcji Pawłowskiego, jak również kilka innych obserwacji na temat zjawiska wieloznaczności.

Pozytywizm jest rodziną kierunków filozoficznych wysoko ceniących naukę i poznanie naukowe. Charakterystyczne dla pozytywizmu są tezy, że jedynie nauka dostarcza poznania wartościowego oraz że filozofia nie ma metody innej niż naukowa. Zamiarem pozytywistów było usunięcie metafizyki z obszaru filozofii. Profesor Bogusław Wolniewicz, jeden z bardziej oryginalnych polskich filozofów analitycznych drugiej połowy XX wieku, był stanowczym przeciwnikiem antymetafizycznych tendencji w filozofii. Autor omawia i poddaje dyskusji problem relacji nauki i filozofii oraz stanowisko Wolniewicza i jego argumenty skierowane przeciwko pozytywizmowi i scjentyzmowi.

Formation of cities was always dependent on water. Location over the water areas gave the opportunity for develop-ment and increase of prosperity. And although water was also a threat and cause of damage, the benefits of its neighbour-hood prevailed. Today, the challenge for developing cities is a climate change observed in recent decades, which results in violent natural phenomena, e.g. floods and hurricanes. One of the main problems faced by residents of housing estates lo-cated on the water is the increasing risk of flooding. Actions are taken to adapt the functioning of the urban structure and buildings to new water conditions. Currently, the process of floodplain development is progressing on a larger scale. This phenomenon is intensifying and as a result many housing estates are created in areas exposed to flooding. The approach to flood issues in the context of architecture and spatial planning has evolved in recent decades. The new water paradigm is expressed in striving to keep it in place.

How did the settlement in the floodplains look once and today in Warsaw? The research study was preceded by a his-torical feature and then the article drew attention to the ways of shaping new housing estates in flood areas in Warsaw. Us-ing the case study method, new housing estates developed in the flood plains have been analysed, with a listing of their strengths and weaknesses and the assessment of solutions. Issues were discussed on how to protect the buildings from the harmful effects of water. On the basis of the conclusions from the Warsaw case study, project guidelines for floodplains in Warsaw were developed, the aim of which was to identify the most important priorities in the development of floodplains and increase the security of investment arising in these areas.

In 1875 a steel railway bridge was built in northern Warsaw. It had seven spans of 66.22 m and two spans of 15.24 m. In 1908 the second railway bridge was built downstream of the older one. The spacing of supports and spans were the same as in the older bridge. During World War I, both bridges were blown up and then rebuilt, first temporarily and then permanently. Again both were blown up in 1944. In 1945, a temporary crossing was built. In 1947 a permanent bridge was rebuilt, partially replacing rivets with welding. On the pillars of the older bridge, the Gdański Bridge was built (not in this study). In 1963 welded connections were strengthened, in 1980 the structure of the northern track was replaced. In 2016, the northern track was renovated. The replacement of the structure of the southern track is ongoing since 2018.

The text is devoted to the description of the methodology and research by design conducted to determine the functional and spatial solutions of a high-rise building complex located inWarsawfavoring connections with the public space of the city. The research work was carried out in the following phases: pre-design, including analyses and studies, context analysis, data collection, and design phase including defining initial conceptual variants, developed conceptual variants, selection, and determination of the final variant of the concept of functional and spatial structure for further investment and design steps. The final solutions adopted in the described process in the realization of the complex and detailed execution designs were also indicated. Design research was done through iteration of solutions, critical analysis, and functional optimization. The final solution was the division of the stylobate part of the complex, following the pedestrian traffic analysis, into three investment parts and the introduction of a rich program of supplementary functions for the dominant office function. A complex program of supplementary functions: trade, entertainment and event space, medical functions, gastronomic parts.

The organization of graduate and postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Theology of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw reveals the specificity of the theology in Warsaw. In the future, the Faculty of Theology should pay a special attention to the high level of the specialisations within the scope of the classical theology, but on the other hand should care about new specialisations, which should be more attractive.

Biblical studies, fundamental theology, dogmatic theology, moral theology are at the very heart of theology. It is necessary to foster doctoral and habilitation thesis in the field of these specialisations and to care for their high, world-class level. Considering the needs of the Church, the development of the liturgical studies and catechetical studies needs to be supported.

As far as future career opportunities for graduates of the Faculty of Theology are concerned, new specializations should be promoted, such as media education and journalism, theology of culture, tourism in biblical countries. A scientific reflection on the role of mass media and on the relations between theology and culture is also very important. Th ere should be place for vetera et nova at university, for the theology conceived in the traditional way and for attempts at practising theology in a new way.

Andrzej Białynicki-Birula, Professor at the University of Warsaw died on April 19, 2021 at the age of 85. He was an outstanding mathematician, who made important contributions to algebra and algebraic geometry. He published many important articles in most prestigious journals such that Annals of Mathematics, Inventiones mathematicae, Topology, American Journal of Mathematics. Professor Białynicki graduated from the University of Warsaw and obtained Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1960. After his return to Poland he initiated and played a major role in modernization of research and university curricula in a broad spectrum of mathematical disciplines related to algebra. He has published several textbooks on linear algebra, algebra, algebraic geometry and cryptography, which are currently used at the University of Warsaw and many other Polish universities. Professor Białynicki-Birula served as the dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics (1977–1981) and as the vice-rector of the University of Warsaw (1985–1987). He was an ordinary member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Academia Europea. In recognition of his achievements Professor Białynicki-Birula received several prizes and distinctions, among them the Officers Cross of the Order Polonia Restituta. Professor Białynicki-Birula was also an art collector, particularly interested in a gothic sculpture, on which he was an expert. In his summerhouse near Belorussian border he was renovating and collecting ethnographic objects related to everyday life and work of peasants. He left a wife, Magdalena Borsuk-Białynicka, a professor of palaeontology, two daughters, a son and 11 grandchildren.