Establishment and Development of the Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw Jubilee of the 90th Anniversary

The history of the Joseph Pilsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw has had its beginnings only ten years after the end of the First World War. Historically, it was a time of the establishing the Second Polish Republic, as a result of the Versailles Treaty (1918). It was not a period conducive to such ambitious investments, but after regaining independence, there was determination to resurrect in a free country – at all costs – the cultural life, education and sport, in aim to bring up the young generation in accordance with the latest European principles. The year 2019 was a special year, due to the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw. In the years 1929–2019, the walls of the university left more than 50,000 graduates, numerous doctors and habilitated doctors were promoted, and serious research and development potential was built. Currently, at the five faculties, study about 4,557 students. All graduates are highly qualified to meet the needs of the 21st century society: they are employed as teachers, trainers, instructors, physiotherapists, nurses, cosmetologists and occupational therapy specialists they are highly appreciated in Poland and other countries in Europe. On the occasion of the Jubilee, numerous scientific conferences, symposia, publications, exhibitions, sporting and cultural events were organized, for highlighting the tradition and summarizing the achievements of the Joseph Pilsudski University of Physical Education.


Introduction. The beginnings: 1927-1929
The history of the Joseph Pilsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw began only ten years after the end of the First World War. Historically, it was a time of the establishing the Second Polish Republic as a result of the Versailles Treaty (1918). It was not a period conducive to such ambitious investments, but after regaining independence, there was determination in a free country to resurrect -at any cost -the cultural life, education and sports in order to update the 13 young generation to the latest European principles. This feeling dominated among Polish people and was respected by the government. During the interwar period, in Poland, destroyed by subsequent hostilities, struggling with serious external problems (complicated international situation) and internal difficulties, it was very hard to unite the country after over the 120 years of partitions, due to the economic and cultural problems, civilization backwardness of Galicia and the East Borderlands. Another problem was the legacy of partition, which meant that three distinct economic areas and infrastructure had to be assimilated into one single and coherent country.
At that time, it was clear and well understood that expenditure on investments in education and sports facilities had to be strictly limited 1 . On the other hand, there was a strong conviction that vigorous investments in education were necessary, because the Polish society was in catastrophic situation, after over a hundred years of neglect and biological destruction of the Nation. We have to remember that the country suffered the destruction of about 90% of its area after two consecutive wars -the First World War and the Bolshevik War. In the comparison to the West European countries, in that period, Poland was a poor, mostly agricultural country, where industry was not well developed, because of lack of public funds. Regardless of these difficulties, after regaining independence, serious investments in education and sport infrastructure as well as the support and clear government policy in these fields were required as there was great patriotic enthusiasm, faith in the reconstruction of a free country and strong desire to achieve the level of the prosperous West European countries.
First of all, there was Joseph Piłsudski, whose prestige as a national hero has made him the symbol and the creator of the national integration. He had special merits and unquestionably made a great contribution to establishing the Central Institute of Physical Education (Centralny Instytut Wychowania Fizycznego, CIWF) in Warsaw.
Although the economic conditions of the young state theoretically excluded serious and systematic expenditure on education and sport, in 1927 the Scientific Council of Physical Education, headed by Marshal Józef Piłsudski, decided to establish a university in Warsaw, the aim of which was training sport instructors, competitive sport coaches and physical education teachers, both for education and for the army. Due to the importance of physical education for the state defence, adequate financial resources were invested by the State Treasury budget to build a modern campus of the Central Institute of Physical Education (CIWF), erected on a large, almost 80 ha, plot of land in the north district of Warsaw -Bielany 2 .
It should be emphasized that from the very beginning the project was coordinated at the government level. For example, the Minister of the Interior Affairs and Development, General Felicjan Sławoj-Składkowski, headed the Construction Committee. Thanks to the direct involvement and support of the Polish Army, the construction of the Central Institute of the Physical Education (CIWF) campus, the most serious investment of Warsaw at that time, was extremely efficient. The foundation stone was laid in June 1928. It was a ceremony attended by representatives of the government and the Mayor of Warsaw. The pace of construction was extraordinarily fast, considering that a hundred years ago availability of technologies, materials and building machines was rather difficult and limited. In 1929, on November the 5th, the CIWF in Warsaw opened its doors for students 3 .

The design and the implementation process of the CIWF university campus in Warsaw
The author of the architectural concept of the CIWF campus sports facilities and didactic complex was Polish famous architect Edgar Norwerth. At that time, he was a professor of the Warsaw University of Technology. It should be emphasized, that the architecture of the CIWF campus is featured by the standard of the construction, interiors and finishing works, while maintaining the elegance of solutions and rationality and above all dominating modesty and restraint. In 1927, Józef Piłsudski, transferring funds for the sports investments from the government budget surpluses, recommended saving as a necessity: "You must remember, that we are poor. Poland is only on its way to further development.
[…] I am going to punish for extravagances, I don't allow building palaces" 4 . In such a harsh, but as it turned out timeless and elegant architectural style, perfect example of modernist spirit -a complex of the sports and didactic facilities was erected in Bielany, under supervision of Edgar Norwerth 5 .
Edgar Norwerth began designing the campus of the future university by exploring functional programs and architectural solutions, known for other facilities of this type in Europe. At that time, there were only a few sports schools offering courses at the university level. Most European countries were satisfied with having a small, often private sports schools. According to the Polish government plans, the future Central Institute of Physical Education (CIWF) should be erected on various, completely modern syllabus foundations. Eventually, the inspiration for the CIWF campus in Bielany was not the oldest sports school in Europe -the Institute of Sports Education in Stockholm, which was founded in the mid-nineteenth century, as the solutions and structures of which were mostly out-dated, in relations to the new requirements. Nor was it a copy of the Firenze School of Sport, located near Rome, built at the same time as the Stockholm school, drawn off as heavily ornamented and non-functional -according to Edgar Norwerth. The inspiration was Hochschule für Leibesübungen near Berlin, which was recognized by Norwerth as the design, function and program most similar to what he wanted to achieve in Warsaw. The CIWF campus syllabus was also modelled on the assumptions for a sports university prepared by Eugeniusz Piasecki from Poznań 6 .
However, the most important inspiration for Norwerth in terms of urban composition and the choice of his architectural style was the aforementioned University of Physical Education in Grunewald near Berlin (Hochschule für Leibesübungen). Edgar Norwerth prepared urban and architectural plans based on the experience of the German university and the Polish teaching program. The function and the layout details of the future CIWF campus were coordinated with expectations of the government investor, often with the Marshal Joseph Pilsudski, personally and enthusiastically involved into implementation of the project.
The university campus, occupied the area of almost 80 ha and was located in the northern district of Warsaw, next to the picturesque Vistula River Valley (close to the Vistula Embankment), in the close vicinity of the Bielański Forest. Marymoncka Street). The East-West axis of the planned campus was the extension of Aleja Zjednoczenia, the street, which would begin at the Main Gate on the campus (located at Marymoncka Street). The end in the Eastern part of the university campus would have a dominant edifice -the monumental National Stadium, planned this time on the Vistula River embankment border.
The transverse axis in the North-South direction was to be the CIWF Main Building (Gmach Główny) with an indoor swimming pool (roof structure supported by reinforced concrete frames with a span of 24 meters), the Lecture Hall (Aula) having the capacity for 250 seats, a monumental Sports Hall (of the size rarely encountered at that time: 130 m × 22 m, having construction with 24 reinforced concrete frames). Parallel to the buildings on the North-South axis, in the Northern part of the CIWF campus, a series of open-air sports fields (for football and rugby, track-and-field events and gymnastics), ice rink, training rooms, wrestling and judo, tennis courts and an outdoor swimming pool were planned.
The Male Dormitory (together with the infirmary with a separate entrance) was planned in the Southern part of the establishment, along the North-South axis, as an extension of the Main Building body, while the Female Dormitory was planned in the northern part, as detached from the Main Building body. Residential houses for lecturers were planned in the parallel line to the buildings on the outhern axis of the University campus. The dominant feature of the complex was (and still is until these days), a 36-meter high tower, standing by the swimming pool (placed on a separate reinforcing plate), hiding in its body a 'non-aesthetic, but necessary' chimney (comment, according to the Edgar Norwerth's personal notes).
The designer's team of the CIWF campus (as Edgar Norwerth invited his students from the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology to cooperate) were very keen on preserving the lush greenery of the Bielany Forest. Hence, among other things, the idea of 'Propylaea' monumental pillars, through which the trees could be seen, which unfortunately was not successful, at least to the planned extent. Edgar Norwerth was very worried about the fate of a lonely black willow growing in the centre of the foundation, because he not only valued its beauty, but also believed that it was an important compositional accent of the main courtyard. It should be emphasized that currently this historical tree is surrounded by legal, individual conservation protection, as a valuable "Monument of Nature" 7 . The authors of the CIWF interior designs (the works included the furniture designs made to individual order, for the casino, the dining room, student boarding rooms) -were mostly the students from the Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology, who were invited to cooperate. They tried, despite the modest resources and fund limits designated for this investment by the State Treasury, to achieve outstanding comfort and elegance.
Most often historians refer to the architectural style, in which CIWF was designed, as 'monumental modernism', but we can also find traces of expressionism in it, especially inspired by the designs of the German architect Erich Mendelsohn (for example, the characteristic "highlighting" of window openings that can found on the tower facade). It should be mentioned, that Edgar Norwerth planned fine plasters and elegant finishing details on the building facades, but neither at that time, nor now it has been possible to implement these ideas, due to lack of resources 8 .
Unfortunately not only these ideas, but also some others of the author's primary intentions, were not successfully realized, due to the limits of financial possibilities. Edgar Norwerth wrote a bit bitterly about these restrictions imposed on him by the investor (Polish Government), writing in his paper published in the journal "Architektura i Budownictwo" ["Architecture and Construction"]: With the system of extreme savings, striving for the widest possible execution of the program […], there could be no question of rising above strict utility. The only decorative luxury that remained in our ordinance -was the beautiful and rich forestation of the area, […]. We struggled to preserve every single tree, convinced to treat it with extreme care, trying to emphasize every suitable decorative moment. Not all went well. Some prematurely died of natural causes, others fell victim to utility and construction needs. One remained, although we do not know for how long, a broad single black willow in the middle of the yard, wonderfully enlivening the modest outline of the walls 9 .
Despite the necessary constant savings, which the author of the project bitterly mentioned, despite the failure to implement all the elements of the planned campus (representative football stadium, outdoor swimming pool, ice hockey hall, amphitheatre or rowing tracks on the Vistula River), undoubtedly the CIWF campus should be boldly recognized as an outstanding work of urban composition, an example of unsurpassed harmony and elegance, a functional and timeless composition of a sports college campus. The complex of the university facilities still serves well to successive generations of students and lecturers -under the changed name, as the Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw 10 .

The period of the Second Polish Republic: 1929-1945
The ceremonial inauguration of the first academic year 1929/1930 took place on November the 29th, in 1929, less than three weeks from the inauguration classes for students at the beginning of November in the same year. To commemorate this extremely momentous historic event, the "University Day" is celebrated annually on this very day. In 1930, the Warsaw CIWF was merged with the Central Military School of Gymnastics and Sports (CWSGiS) in Poznań. As a result, there were two vocational military universities with a 2-year study program and a 1-year officers' course. It should be emphasized that these universities were also open to women -which was not a common policy in Europe in those days. From 1936, studies at CIWF in Warsaw lasted 3 years; graduates received the same qualifications as the university graduate 11 . In 1938, the Central Institute of Physical Education (CIWF) was transformed into the Military University of Warsaw under the name of the Marshal Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw. Nowadays the university has the same historic name, which underlines its tradition and will to suspend the continuance.
Until the outbreak of the Second World War, in the years 1928-1939, apart from the didactic program, scientific researches were conducted in the field of physical culture and sport. Moreover the CIWF was a place of fitness training, competitions and important sport events. At that time a great attraction in the offer of sports facilities in Warsaw, was the indoor swimming pool at the CIWF, opened on the selected days of the week to the public. It should be remembered that it was one of the few indoor swimming pools in the pre-war Warsaw, apart from the facilities in YMCA, the Student House at the Narutowicz Square and the Officers' Yacht Club in the Vistula River Valley 12 .
In September 1939, the Second World War broke out with the invasion of Poland by German and Soviet Union armies, in consequence of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. During the Second World War, all the Polish universities were closed. German military camps and the Luftwaffe units were stationed on the CIWF campus facilities. Many university employees and students were killed during the war: during the German occupation, the Ghetto Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising. Among them, the most famous Polish Olympians and medallistssuch as Janusz Kusociński, Bronisław Czech, and Eugeniusz Lokajski.
As a result of military operations in 1939-1945, the valuable facilities of the CIWF University were destroyed. The didactic facilities, the sport infrastructure, the library collections and the scientific laboratories were heavily devastated and ruined.

After the Second World War: 1945-1990
Post-war Poland was a different country. Several times the machinery of war had rolled across the country, bringing disaster to towns and rural areas. Warsaw was destroyed, and the Joseph Pilsudski University of Physical Education, like many other buildings in the town, was ruined, robbed and devastated. As historians often say: the toll of the Second World War in Poland was greater than in any other country in Europe. In 1947 the Polish People's Republic was established, as a satellite state of the Soviet Union.
After the end of the Second World War, the CIWF began its activity on December the 2 nd 1946, admitting a group of more than a hundred young women and men. It was a heroic decision, regardless of the poor condition of sports and teaching facilities, severe deficiencies in the material base and shortages of academic teachers. As a consequence, until the 1950s, most of the didactic and sports facilities damaged and destroyed during the war were under construction works. The campus of the university was also supplemented with new facilities -for example, a separate, detached canteen pavilion with monumental and pompous 'parade' stairs, which was built in the characteristic socialist realism style, then universally applicable style in arts and architecture 13 .
By the virtue of the Decree of the Council of Ministers in 1949, the University was transformed into a civilian academic centre, receiving a new name and patron -the Academy of Physical Education named after General Karol Świerczewski. Within its framework was the Faculty of Physical Education, and the head of the university was the Rector.
In the mid-1950s, uniform, 4-year Master Courses of Study were introduced, and the specializations in coaching and physical rehabilitation were launched as part of the Faculty of Physical Education. In 1959, AWF Warsaw became the first sports academy in the country, granted the right to conduct a doctoral degree in the physical culture sciences, and in 1966 the university obtained the right to conduct the postdoctoral dissertations (habilitatia) in the same field. A branch of the University, located in Biała Podlaska has taught students since 1970. In 1984 the Faculty of Rehabilitation was established at the university 14 .
In the 1960s and '70s, the modernization and the expansion of the university was continued: further teaching and sports facilities were built, new student dormitories, four training pavilions (boxing, judo, weightlifting and fencing), a New Sports Hall, Sports Medicine Centre -were added to the campus. The author of most of these objects was prof. Wojciech Zabłocki, an outstanding Olympian, a fencing master and an excellent architect, distinguished in the field of searching for the innovative and elegant solutions for the sports facilities 15 . Among his most famous projects, there were designs for the University of Physical Education in Warsaw: New Sports Hall, the Olympic Training Centre (martial arts pavilions) 16 . The Olympic Training Centre was planned in 1962 and implemented in 1964. It consists of two pavilions, each with two 15m × 30m halls. The fencing, judo, boxing and weightlifting halls have small stands for spectators. They were perfectly integrated into the existing chestnut trees. They have a very interesting, light and elegant roof structure of triangular reinforced concrete prefabricated elements, pressurised in the form of a concave cylindrical mesh, resting on steel columns around the perimeter. The author describes the concept of the project in the following way: "Above 2.70 m training rooms are glazed on all sides, which gives the illusion of hanging light concave roofs between trees and creates an attractive interior climate" 17 . In 1970 the New Sports Hall was planned, for basketball and handball games. It was designed also by prof. Wojciech Zabłocki, in cooperation with Stanisław Kuś and Roman Wilczyński (project 1970, implementation 1974). This edifice was added to the already existing the Old Sports Hall, designed by Edgar Norwerth's in 1930. The roof construction of the 32.5m × 45m hall was designed as a structure hanging on ropes. These ropes are anchored in the reinforced concrete beams every 2.5 meters. Two characteristic sloping columns of the 'V' shape have the task of stabilizing the structure and constitute an interesting sculptural distinguishing feature for the building. The New Sports Hall has a capacity of 800 places for spectators.

The period from 1989 -until nowadays
In 1989, as a result of the Solidarity movement, Poland re-established itself as a democratic republic. In 1990, the Parliament of the Republic of Poland restored the historical name of the university from 1938 -the Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw.
Currently, there are three faculties in the structure of the university (together with the branch in Biała Podlaska): the Faculty of Rehabilitation and the Faculty of Physical Education in Warsaw and the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport in Biała Podlaska, which educate over 4557 students. The didactic classes offered to the students include: physical education, sport, tourism and recreation, physiotherapy, nursing, occupational therapy, cosmetology, personal trainer and phys-ical education in uniformed services. The University offers three stages of education: first-cycle (bachelor's), second-cycle (master's) and third-cycle (doctoral) studies. The offer, flexible and depending on interest and needs on the education market, is supplemented with extramural courses. In addition, the university offers post-graduate courses of study, specialized courses, training sessions and workshops. Today there are 369 academic teachers employed at the University and almost 5 000 students attending different courses 18 .
The year 2019 was a special time for the Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, due to the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the university. In the years 1929-2019, over 50,000 graduates left the university walls, numerous doctors and habilitated doctors were promoted, and serious research and development potential was built. Graduates have high qualifications that meet the needs of the 21st century society. Ty are employed as teachers, trainers, instructors, physiotherapists, nurses, cosmetologists and occupational therapy specialists -they are appreciated in Poland and Europe. The university cooperates with several dozen centres in European and non-European countries.
On the occasion of the 90-years Jubilee of the university, numerous scientific conferences, symposia, publications, exhibitions, sporting and cultural events were organized in 2019, for highlighting the tradition and summarizing the achievements of this academic centre.