Riga Technical University – History

The Riga Polytechnic played an extremely important role in shaping the Polish technical intelligentsia in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. At no other foreign academic centre were Poles so numerous amongst the student body, nor did Polish students play such a significant role in academic life anywhere else.

It was in Riga, at the Technical University, that the only legal Polish student organisations in the entire Russian Empire – the ‘Arkonia’ and ‘Welecja’ fraternities – had been active since the 1880s. They made a significant contribution to preserving Polish identity amongst Polish students, and many of their members left a lasting mark on Polish and European history, science, culture and social life.

Among the Polish graduates of the Riga Polytechnic, mention should be made of Professor Ignacy Mościcki – an eminent chemist and President of the Republic of Poland; General Władysław Anders – the victor at Monte Cassino; Marian Zyndram-Kościałkowski – Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland – as well as numerous professors and vice-chancellors of Polish universities: the Warsaw University of Technology, the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, and the Jagiellonian University; inventors, writers, social activists and many, many others.

The Riga University of Technology’s Punishment Cell

Preserved within the University of Latvia building, the former detention cell is a rare and valuable reminder of the vibrant student life at the Riga Polytechnic, in which Poles played an active part, albeit not always in accordance with the university’s regulations. It is one of the few rooms of this kind to have survived to the present day.

The former detention room is situated on the top floor of the oldest wing of the present University of Latvia in Riga. The building was erected between 1866 and 1869. Subsequently, further wings were added to it, which today form the university’s oldest buildings. The structure consists of a single room with two small windows and a single door. A narrow corridor currently leads to the former detention cell, which is built on an elongated rectangular plan measuring 6.6 × 3 metres and approximately 4 metres high; this corridor provides access to other rooms.

The purpose of this room between 1869 and 1875 is unknown. Judging by the rather sparse, yet extant, painted decoration, it can be surmised that this room was originally intended to serve a purpose not necessarily limited to that of a utility room; this is also evidenced by the fact that the room is lit by two small windows.

Between 1875 and 1903, the room served the university as a detention cell for students. Almost all the wall decorations were created during this period. One can observe decorations that differ in style, such as inscriptions carved in Cyrillic. On this basis, it can be surmised that the detention room has undergone various changes throughout its history and that, in times much closer to our own, it was ‘visited by various guests’. It was not until the second half of the 20th century that the former detention room came under the care of the University Museum.

On the initiative of the Academic Tradition Society in 2007, with the consent of the Rector of the University of Latvia, the Polish conservator Paweł Baranowski (Museum of King John III’s Palace at Wilanów), commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, compiled documentation illustrating the state of preservation of the paintings and drawings on the walls of the former punishment cell.

By decision of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, using funds from the ‘Protection of Cultural Heritage Abroad’ Programme, the Academic Tradition Society was awarded funding to finance the conservation and restoration work on the punishment cell. A team of Polish specialists comprising Dr Joanna Czernichowska (project leader), Paweł Baranowski, Sylwia Pawełkowicz, Agnieszka Kalbarczyk and Agnieszka Pawlak completed the work in 2011.

On 23 November 2012, during a visit to Riga by the President of the Republic of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, the detention cell was officially reopened following the conservation work. The event was accompanied by the launch of the book *Polentechnikum* and the Latvian premiere of the film *The Detention Cell in Riga: Living Heritage*.

The former student detention cell is open to visitors and forms part of the University of Latvia History Museum

The book “Polentechnikum”

Although several important books have been published in Poland in recent years concerning both the Riga Polytechnic and its Polish students, the role of this institution is not currently widely known or properly appreciated. The 150th anniversary of the university’s founding, which fell in 2012, provided an opportunity to change this situation. With the publication of “Polentechnikum”, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage joined in the celebrations of this important date. Another significant element of the celebrations was the conservation of the murals in the building that once housed the Riga Polytechnic, preserved on the walls of the former student detention cell, carried out with funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland between 2008–2011. Excerpts from the restored inscriptions and drawings enrich the visual design of the publication. The publication’s motto is a statement made by Gustaw von Kieseritzky, director of the Riga Polytechnic from 1875 to 1885: The Baltic University of Technology should properly be called ‘Polentechnikum’, for Poles dominate it not only in terms of numbers, but also in terms of scientific progress.

The starting point for the story of the ‘detention block’ – a place of seclusion for hot-headed students – established in 1869, are the memoirs of distinguished Poles, graduates of the Riga alma mater. Our guides through the detention centre are, in turn, the social activist and diplomat Mieczysław Jałowiecki, the publisher Ferdynand Hoesick, and the President of the Republic of Poland, Ignacy Mościcki. All three studied at Riga Technical University, and all were members of the university’s academic fraternities – Jałowiecki belonged to ‘Arkonia’, whilst Hoesick and Mościcki were members of ‘Welecja’.

The protagonists’ student memories are illustrated with animations based on the drawings adorning the walls of the detention cell. The film is a tribute to the Polish intelligentsia hailing from the Riga academic centre and to those responsible for the restoration work undertaken on the initiative of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, which resulted in the restoration of the detention cell and its reopening to the general public.