A fascinating discovery at a renovated railway station in Rzeszów

The Subcarpathian voivodeship preservation office in Przemyśl said at its website that the interesting wall decoration has been discovered inside the hall of the former restaurant at the currently renovated railway station. The preserved mosaic is an abstract and organic composition with elements of Art Informel, which was an art movement developed in France and other European countries during WWII. As the name suggests, the movement encompassed all informal, abstract, and gestural tendencies in art.

"Stones were used in it (in the mosaic - edit.), a widely available resource considered random and of little value. The entirety forms a relief in which wall painting intertwines with fragments of stone-embedded mortar," said Elżbieta Wiącek-Lach, a historic preservation officer supervising the investment.

The decoration is made of multicolored pebblestones soaked in oils so that they keep their natural shine and the "wet stone" effect.

Wiącek-Lach added that the polychrome fragments were created with the use of an oil technique and natural earth pigments, such as ochre and umber. "The surface was secured with a layer of dammar varnish, which has drastically faded throughout the years and changed the original coloring," the preservation officer explained.

She also stressed, however, that the mosaic is one of a very few such projects - made and preserved until this day in Rzeszów. "The form and the execution technique of the composition reflect the character and ideas of modernist art."

Wiącek-Lach also assured that a technical and aesthetical conservation of the building was being planned - all in order to halt the process of decay and restore the structure's original aesthetic values.

"Putting the mosaic once again at display corresponds with the key assumptions behind the PKP station reconstruction, which is aimed at restoring the building's modernist character. The mosaic is the most precious, fully-preserved, decorative element of the station's interior from that period," she said.

The preservation officer also said that neither the designer nor the author of the decoration were known, but due to its characteristic features, such as the materials used and the blending of mosaic with wall painting, it is likely that Hanna and Gabriel Rechowicz created the composition.

"They worked in the modernist period, and their monumental mosaics and polychromes would decorate representative public venues of that period, such as Dom Chłopa and Supersam in Warsaw," Wiącek-Lach added.

She also mentioned that mosaics and polychromes inside the concert hall and on the outside elevation of the City Cultural Centre in Łańcut were other examples the Rechowiczs work.

The renovation of the railway station is one of the elements of a larger investment - the construction of Rzeszów Communication Centre (RCK). The investment is worth nearly 74 million zlotys.

The RCK construction consists of three tasks: reconstruction of the railway station, reconstruction of Dworcowy Square - including construction of an underground parking lot for more than 100 vehicles as well as taxi ranks and bicycle stands - and also restructuring of the road grid around the PKP station. The investment is to be completed in the second half of 2023.