Wiktor Zin

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Wiktor Zin (14 September 1925 – 17 May 2007 in Rzeszów) was a Polish architect, graphic artist, professor, architectural preservationist, cultural activist, and promoter of Polish history and culture.

Biography

Zin was born on 14 September 1925 in

, with further advancement in his professorial degrees in 1959, 1967, and 1979.

He first worked as a teacher's assistant and

of the Faculty of Architecture there. From 1962 he headed The Institute of Architectural History and Landmark Conservation.

Alongside his academic work, Zin was involved in events benefitting the city as well as architecture and landmark conservation all over Poland. He was the general architect of Kraków between (1958–1964), the director of Studies on the Old City Complex (1960–1975), the head of the Cracovian Conservation Commission (1970–1978), as well as the president and vice-president of the Admirers of the History and Landmarks of Kraków.

In the years 1977–1981, Zin was the General Landmark Conservator as a part of the Ministry of Culture and Art in the rank of vice-minister. Between 1978 and 1983 he was the head of the interministerial Commission on the Conservation of Landmark Municipal Complexes. During the 1980s he was a lecturer at the University of

. On 28 January 1998 the Kraków University of Technology awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Zin is most well known in Poland as the host of the Polish

"Piórkiem i węglem" (With Pen and Charcoal). He was also featured in "Klub pod Smokiem" (Club Under the Dragon), "Szperacze" (The Seekers), "Spotkanie z zabytkami" (A Meeting with Landmarks), "Dźwięk i linia" (The Sound and Line), "Być tutaj" (To Be Here), "Nad Niemnem, Piną i Prypecią" (On the Niemen, Piną and Prypeć Rivers) "Spotkanie z prof. Zinem" (Meetings with Professor Zin), "Sztuka patrzenia"(The Art of Looking), "Nasze korzenie" (Our Roots), as well as "Opowieści domu rodzinnego" (Tales of the Family Home). He also hosted radio programs among them "Półgłosem i ciszą" (Half-silent and Quiet) in Radio Bis.

He also designed a number of sets for a number of plays and operas, as well as the author of a number of paintings. Zin also wrote articles for numerous publications both scholarly as well as for the general public.

Towards the end of his life he occupied the position of the Protector of the

in Kraków as well as the chancellor of the awards council for the medal "Polonia Mater Nostra est".

Zin was active until the end of his life – he died suddenly on 17 May 2007 as he was preparing for class with students at the University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów.

Wiktor Zin left behind his wife Aleksandra, with whom he had a son Szymon as well as a daughter, Monika.

Funeral

Wiktor Zin's funeral took place on 23 May 2007 at the

. The gravestone was covered by literally hundreds of wreaths and wildflowers which Professor Zin was so well known for adoring.

More significant achievements

Academic works

Author of around 50 scholarly studies and books, among the more important of which are:

• „Geneza, rozwój i typy attyki polskiej" (doctoral thesis 1952)
• „Kościoły Lubelszczyzny na przykładzie badań kościoła w Uchaniach" 1956
• „Słownik krajobrazu polskiego"
• redaktor III-tomowego dzieła „Konserwacja zabytków w Polsce",
• „Artykuły i rozprawy dotyczące wczesnośredniowiecznego Krakowa" (1965)
• monografia Nowego Targu i Willi Decjusza na Woli Justowskiej w Krakowie

Architectural projects

Around 50 designs for churches as well as their interiors, both in his native Poland and abroad as well as:

• the project of excavating and restoring the medieval cellars discovered beneath Kraków's historic town hall tower
• Design for the conservation of the Myszkowski chapel and Boner's attics in Kraków
• Design and oversight of the renovation of the main square in Kraków
• Design and oversight of conservation work on the Arsenal and the Armenian quarter in Zamość
• Design and oversight over reconstruction work on the cities of Opatów and Chełm
• Design and oversight over the gate of
  Jasna Góra in Częstochowa
• Design for the architectural restoration of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków
• Design of the
  Wyspiański
  Museum in Kraków (the so-called "blue studio")
• Design and oversight over the rebuilding of Matejko Plaza in conjunction with the placement of the Grunwald monument
• Design for the chapel of
  St. Maximilian Kolbe in Sterling Heights, Michigan
• Reconstruction work on the cathedral of Quito in Ecuador
• Architectural plans of the church of St. Barbara in Staszów
• Design for the renovation of St. Casimir's chapel in
  Jesuit
  church
• Stained glass designs in the-
  St. Vincent DePaul in Bydgoszcz
• Author of the Sculpture of Our Lady, Queen of Emigrants at
  Holy Trinity Polish Mission in Chicago
  , Illinois

Set design

Stage design for

), Rigoletto (in Kraków) as well as others.

Books

• Piękno nie dostrzegane, Wydawnictwo Arkady 1970 r. (cykl Piórkiem i węglem)
• Piękno potężne, Wydawnictwo Arkady 1972 r. (cykl Piórkiem i węglem)
• Piękno utracone, Wydawnictwo Arkady 1974 r. (cykl Piórkiem i węglem)
• Półgłosem i ciszą, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1998,
  ISBN 83-06-02650-0
• Opowiadania najkrótsze o ludziach nader różnych, WZ-Film, 2004,
  ISBN 83-920951-0-3
• Opowieści o polskich kapliczkach. Piórkiem i węglem, Fundacja dla UJ, 2004,
  ISBN 83-920951-1-1
• Krajobrazy Podkarpacia, WSIiZ, 2004,
  ISBN 83-87658-45-6
• Narodziny krajobrazu kulturowego, WSIiZ, 2005,
  ISBN 83-87658-77-4

Awards and medals

• Bronze, Silver, and Gold
  Polish Cross of Merit
  (from 1950)
• Cavalier Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland (
  Polonia Restituta
  )
• Officer's Cross of the Order
  Polonia Restituta
• Commander's Cross of the Order
  Polonia Restituta
• Commander's Cross with a star (Grand Officer of
  Polonia Restituta
  , (1998)
• Medal of the National Education Commission
• The "Golden Screen" for television personality (1975, 1980)
• Medal of the Mexican Academy of Sciences for his life's work in conservation.
• The European
  Von Herder Award
  for conservation and architectural studies (1979)
• Gold Medal
  Gloria Artis
  (2006)
• Honorary Doctorate of the
  Kraków Polytechnic
  (1998)
• Honorary Doctorate of the Technical University in Budapest (1998)

During the early 1980s as a vice-minister of Culture and Art he signed an agreement to return by April 1982 all of the exhibits brought to the

National Museum in Warsaw after World War II from Gdańsk. The timetable was interrupted by the institution of Martial Law in December 1981, and the first exhibits were not returned until 1985 although many of them remain in Warsaw.^[1]

Wikinews has related news:

• Zmarł Wiktor Zin

References

1. ^ Rewindykacja Zabytków Sztuki Gdańskiej