Time to move on
The clock is ticking toward the start of 2001 and it's not just any clock, but the world's largest and highest. And what's more, it's adorning the four sides of this city's most infamous building the Palace of Culture and Science, Joseph Stalin's 1955 gift to Poland.
Called the Millennium Clock, its installation was finished on Nov. 25. For the moment, its four faces remain hidden behind gigantic ads for Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA), the sponsors of this extravagant project. But come New Year's Eve this electric timepiece, which runs like clockwork via a satellite-operated mechanism, will be unveiled just before midnight by Warsaw's mayor, Pawel Piskorski.
Like a proud father, the 34-year-old cherub-faced Piskorski refers to the Millennium Clock as his "child."
"Yes, it was absolutely, completely my initiative," he said from his spacious office at Plac Bankowy.
"I wanted to change the symbolism connected with the Palace of Culture...It was a gift (from Stalin) showing that Poland is forever connected with the Soviet Union and Stalinism," he said. "But we are living in a free country now and we have to choose if we want to demolish those things connected with the communist past, or if we should somehow put them in the new structure of the city the new, dynamic structure of the living city."
Like the town hall clocks that appeared across Europe during the late Middle Ages, Piskorski (a historian by profession) thinks the Millennium Clock will become a focal point, helping to transform the palace and the surrounding Plac Defilad into a true central square for Warsaw.
Bodet, the French company behind the exclusive watch brands Longines and Tissot, won the tender for the project. The clock's design, inspired by Piskorski's own wristwatch, has black Roman numerals on a white face, with a small golden siren the symbol of Warsaw at the bottom. With circumferences of 6.3 meters, the faces will be readable from up to 5 kilometers away.
Market research conducted by TPSA indicated that 80% of the people interviewed "expressed a positive attitude to the idea" of the clock, but the project has not escaped criticism. Piskorski is the first to admit that a lot of people think the palace should be knocked down, "but that's completely stupid," he added.
Then there are other critics, such as parliamentarian and architect Czeslaw Bielecki, who thinks the Millennium Clock is nothing more than a "gadget."
"And I don't think putting a 'gadget' on the Palace of Culture will change the culture of the city," he said. "What we need in Warsaw are squares and real streets. We need public space and I don't think this public space will be animated by some gadget ... Warsaw has become a pseudo-American city with gadgets thrown here and there with no serious urban order."
And besides, Bielecki prefers his own design idea, launched a year ago, for a huge obelisk-shaped building to be constructed right next to the palace. At 340 meters, Bielecki's "Freedom Tower" would dwarf Stalin's 231 meter gift.
Bielecki also thinks the time and effort spent on the clock would have been better utilized working on more practical issues, like repairing Warsaw's roads. But Piskorski, in a moment of political inspiration, was quick to realize this, deciding from the outset that a sponsor should finance the Millennium Clock enter TPSA.
TPSA is responsible for the cost of commissioning the clock and its installation. The final figure is a secret part of TPSA's contractual agreement, which took three months to negotiate but TPSA does get a few benefits in return. For one, they have had their TP logo on the palace while the clock was being installed. They will have another logo placed on the bottom of the tower until March, plus they have the option of putting small logo "ears" at the very top of the palace for six months.
Finally, there is now a TPSA-named concert room in the palace.
"We just wanted to present the inhabitants of the capital with something new, interesting as a possible landmark, and useful," was the response from TPSA's deputy director of public affairs, Michal Potocki.
"If, as a side effect, TPSA will gain some liking from the public, all parties will be satisfied."
The Millennium Clock is just the start of Piskorski's grand plans for the palace and the whole of Warsaw as he seeks to address the long-lasting damage of World War II. In a week's time, an outdoor ice-skating rink will open at the palace, and there are also free outdoor movies planned for the summer, as well as a marketplace.
"My aim is to create a living city, not a fragmented one but a city structure with streets comfortable for cars and also walking and different activities people would like to go to," Piskorski said. "And the neighborhood of the Palace of Culture is one such symbolic place."
It sounds like Stalin must be turning in his grave.
"I hope so," Piskorski said. "I hope so."
Compiled from staff reports
