Water Dams of the Krakow Fortress: Potential of a Vanishing Heritage

Wojciech Korbel, Filip Suchoń and Marta Łapuszek
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Wojciech Korbel: Faculty of Architecture, Cracow University of Technology, 31-155 Kraków, Poland
Filip Suchoń: Faculty of Architecture, Cracow University of Technology, 31-155 Kraków, Poland
Marta Łapuszek: Faculty of Environmental and Power Engineering, Cracow University of Technology, 31-155 Kraków, Poland

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-20

Abstract: Cultural heritage conservation is a constant process of preserving the valuable historical legacy and transferring it to future generations. The ability to adapt the matter under conservation to changing needs and environmental conditions is an essential element of this process. In this context, climate change and its consequences are a growing challenge, requiring innovative and often simultaneous efforts. This study was conducted in response to the discovery of previously unknown documents on nineteenth-century impoundment structures of the Krakow Fortress’s defensive system. At present, the facilities are almost entirely ruined, yet the need to restore and preserve the memory of their culturally valuable legacy merits investigation. The conditions and requirements of the management of Krakow’s changing hydrological environment became a vital component of this study. The uncovered archival documents were subjected to historical-interpretative analysis. Virtual modeling contributed to identifying the original scope of the dams’ impact. Analysis of the city’s spatial planning documents pointed to their contemporary potential. The entirety of the material collected aided in determining the framework in which protective measures targeting this dying heritage are currently possible. This study features a proposal for a new form of recreating the structures under investigation by assigning them a range of possible simultaneous uses. Thus, the presented research proposal is a form of concern for preserving this historical legacy and an attempt at rising to contemporary challenges posed by an intensively changing environment.

Keywords: water dams; Krakow fortress; climate change; environmental management; cultural heritage conservation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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