Warsaw/Talk

Warsaw is a MOST impressive re-building. Is it true that the historic center was restored not only on the basis of photographs but also using 18th century city-scape paintings? I was told that in Warsaw by tour guides (who of course are not to be trusted - we're all much too glib) and by one art historian. --MichaelTinkler

All the above is true. The re-building might be impressive, though it sometimes gives me the impression that historic center is _fake_. -- WojPob

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hmm. you mean what we professionally call 'inauthentic', an extremely problematic situation. Art historians are famous for dismissing reconstruction, but for not being able to recognize it without technical experts. I met the man who runs the workshop that handles all the marble on the exterior of the Duomo (cathedral) in Florence, Italy. He says that he hasn't run across a piece of stone older than the 18th century. It's skin is not 15th century (oh, and I don't mean the 19th century facade that's opposite the baptistery, I mean the flanks and apse, which are supposed to be earlier). I wonder if most people would get that impression if they didn't know the story? --MichaelTinkler