The origins of technical drawing in Poland
Table of contents
The development of technical drawing as an independent field of teaching and professional practice in Poland is part of the broader technological and social changes that took place in Europe in the late 18th century. Rapidly developing industry caused the establishment of technical schools of various profiles and levels. The first institutions of technical education appeared on Polish soil in the first half of the 19th century.
The beginning of the development of technical drawing
It is generally accepted that the initial moment in the development of technical drawing was the development of principles by Gaspard Monge in 1795-1799 of the principles of drafting geometry. Technical drawing as a subject of education was not introduced immediately for various reasons.
The needs of society at that time in various aspects of life related to technology were met mainly by handicrafts, and apprenticeships were taught in individual workshops. In them, the student had the opportunity to gain practical experience related to the specialty, acquiring new skills from the master.
Theory, if it occurred, was an add-on that was a generalization of years of experience, not systematized knowledge. Drawings were used in a different way than we are familiar with today, for they were artistic in nature. They were used to present the finished object to the ordering client.
The principles formulated by Gaspard Monge, which formed the basis of technical drawing, coincided with changes in modes of production. The Industrial Revolution, which began in England between 1760 and 1830, brought new production methods that required precise planning and standardization. Artisanal production was slowly supplanted by mass production of identical, standardized products.
In the Polish territories, divided by partition, the development of technical drawing as a subject of study proceeded at different rates due to the various traditions and educational structures in each partition. The result of utilitarianism in science was the consideration of the practical usefulness of the study of drawing in terms of its connection with the various needs of, for example, geometry, cartography, architecture and some crafts.
Technical drawing in education before the 19th century
Drawing understood as an element of teaching architecture, appeared in Polish schools as early as the 18th century. In Piarist and Jesuit schools, military and civilian architecture was taught, which involved the study of drawings of plans and maps. This teaching was elitist in nature, and its main purpose was to prepare young people for military service or work at magnate’s courts.
It is also worth mentioning the School of Knights, which had a high school curriculum, expanded to include specialized subjects , which included the principles of fortification, land surveying, and civil and military architecture. One can get an idea of the level of drawing skills achieved by students from maps preserved in the collections of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The activities of the Commission on National Education (KEN), established on October 14, 1773, were preceded by a series of preparatory works on educational reform. Among other things, it was proposed that schools be established to teach drawing and practical mechanics in trading towns to promote the development of crafts. Unfortunately, at the time of the KEN, there was no vocational education system that could include the study of technical drawing.
In addition to the programs designed for children of state schools, the National Education Commission developed regulations for private boarding schools, which were issued in 1775. They included the study of technical drawing. They proposed teaching 14-—to 18-year-old boys and girls the basics of geometry and practical architecture, focusing on the construction of houses and outbuildings, taking into account materials and costs, instead of drawing exquisite palaces.
Unfortunately, you are not able to determine exactly what the teaching of drawing looked like in practice. All the surviving information from that time is too general; it says nothing about the content and scope of the exercises. Moreover, it is very difficult to determine whether the work done by students was created in lessons or extracurricular.
Technical education in the 19th century
It was in the 19th century that technical drawing began to be treated as an independent subject linked to the developing industry. In the Duchy of Warsaw, regulations were introduced for urban and rural schools, including drawing study. On October 16, 1808, the “Regulament of Urban and Rural Elementary Schools” was issued, which contained general rules for their organization. In the chapter entitled “Sciences,” we find a passage that reads: “In the city, a short message will be given about things for crafts and trade serving, craft drawings.”
The study of drawing was limited to the basics, such as drawing simple lines and geometric figures and mapping everyday objects. Unfortunately, in the document “Principles of the device of the seminary or school of teachers in Lowicz,” dated June 14, 1808, there is no mention of teaching drawing in any form.
It was only in later years that drawing was included in the plan for sub-departmental schools, which had three classes each, at a rate of two hours per week in two classes. In departmental schools, the teaching of drawing also took place in three of the four, for two hours a week.
Teaching began with practice in drawing various types of lines and then proceeded to drawing various objects from the environment (tools, equipment, household furnishings, etc.). It should be noted that this subject was taught by teachers of calligraphy or mathematics, not by specialists; this was a common phenomenon in those days.
It is worth noting that in the Polish lands, the teaching of technical drawing was related to the educational reforms introduced by the partitioning authorities during this period. For example, in the Congress Kingdom, regulations from 1816-1821 promoted the teaching of drawing in Sunday schools, where craftsmen youth could acquire basic technical skills.
In 1812, the first attempt was made on Polish soil to popularize drafting geometry as a new scientific discipline. Franciszek Sapalski, an artillery captain in the Duchy of Warsaw, prepared a study on the subject, which he handed over to the Warsaw Society of Friends of Science.
The economic conditions of the Duchy of Warsaw were not conducive to the development and popularization of drafting geometry. It was not until after the Napoleonic wars, when Franciszek Sapalski moved to Cracow and took a position as a professor at Jagiellonian University, that he presented his detailed “Treatise on the Theory of Stereometry, or Diagrammatic Geometry ” at a meeting of the local Scientific Society on November 16, 1817. It was published in print the following year.
Drawing in craft and Sunday schools
A new type of school that appeared in the period under review – craft and Sunday schools – deserves separate discussion. Their establishment was associated with the ideas of the Enlightenment, which emphasized combining science with the practice of crafts and industry. The first school of this type opened in June 1815 and functioned under “Sunday and Holiday School for Terminators and Liberators.” The curriculum included, among other things, writing, arithmetic, geometry, chemistry, and “architectural drawings directly from nature using tools transferred to paper, then inked or colored.”
Everyday objects, such as windows, doors, or cabinets, were chosen as models, which students could later use in professional practice. The dynamic development of such schools took place in 1817 due to the implementation of the governor’s order of 1816, which required that students with deficiencies in primary education attend such schools for at least six hours a week.
In 1817, the Bell-Lancastra method of teaching, known as the method of mutual learning, began to be introduced in the Kingdom. The first school using this method opened in Warsaw on September 1 of the same year. More than a dozen subjects were taught there, including technical drawing, as the magazine “White Eagle” noted in early 1819. Under the Vienna Treaty of May 3, 1815, Krakow was declared a Free City. In October of the same year, the commissioners of the three partitioning states established an Organizational Commission, which appointed a Governing Senate in early November.
The developmental directions of early education in the Republic of Cracow were determined by three successive statutes: those of 1817, 1834, and 1840. The first showed a strong influence of Austrian school laws, which manifested in a significant reduction of the curriculum. The range of subjects was differentiated for urban and rural schools, but drawing was not included in any of these programs. It was not until the 1834 statute, maintaining this differentiation, that the study of technical drawing was introduced in city schools in Kraków at the rate of one hour per week in grade III.
Technical Institute in Krakow
In 1834, the Technical Institute was established in Krakow, becoming one of Poland’s most important technical education centers. The “Draft to the New Statute for Initial Schools” of 1839, published in 1840, provided for the teaching of technical drawing in city schools and suburbs. According to the regulations, the director of the Technical Institute was to appoint a student who excelled in drawing to teach at each school according to the instructions of the Technical School. There was also a requirement that candidates for city teachers be skilled in drawing, evidenced by an appropriate certificate.
Although ten items were included in the list of books intended for the libraries of elementary schools, none related to the study of drawing. However, Piwarski’s work was introduced in seven copies for each city elementary school in later years. The Superintendent of Scientific Institutes recommended that students assigned to teach drawing at the Technical School adhere strictly to the contents of this publication. It is worth noting, however, that Piwarski’s work was not a technical drawing textbook, and its use for this purpose confirmed the similarity between the methods of teaching technical and freehand drawing at the time.
During the Republic of Cracow’s existence, freehand drawing was not taught in elementary schools. The appearance of technical drawing was due to economic changes and the growing demand for craftsmen. The basis for introducing this subject was utilitarianism, which characterized the entire elementary education program. Drawing was hand-drawn and artistic in secondary schools, such as lyceums (including St. Anne’s and St. Barbara’s Lyceum in Cracow). However, as confirmed by archival materials, teachers had considerable freedom in implementing this subject.
The Technical Institute played a significant role in popularizing technical drawing as a school subject. By introducing systematic curricula modeled on European models, the development of key technical skills required in the construction, engineering, and craft industries was made possible.
The textbook for teaching technical drawing in departmental schools was “Beginnings of Linear Drawing Arranged for Parish Schools” by H. Rumbowicz. In 1842, teacher J. Debski was still using this book, teaching drawing according to it at the faculty school, which was established in the 1834/35 school year with the reopening of the Technical Institute. The drawing curriculum included freehand exercises, drawing with a ruler and compass, and mapping simpler objects, such as household tools and machinery. Although the program was relatively narrow, it laid the foundation for further technical education.
The departmental school was intended for boys after graduating from elementary school. In addition to the faculty school in Cracow, a similar institution was established in Chrzanów in 1835/36, although this one had only two classes. To continue their education, students from Chrzanów had to complete the third grade at the Kraków faculty school.
The introduction of technical drawing to the curricula in Poland played an important role in the development of the economy. It became a tool for design and a foundation for standardization and improvement of work organization. Thanks to this subject, it was possible to train qualified specialists who could respond to the needs of the growing industry.
The origins of technical drawing in Poland – summary
The introduction of technical drawing in the Polish lands was an evolutionary process preceded by the study of architectural and craft drawing. The study of architecture in the 18th century resulted from the demand for construction as the most developed field of technology. The level of teaching depended on the available materials, the qualifications of the teachers, and the program, which was often limited to learning about architectural styles.
Artisanal drawing, introduced later, served the practical needs of craftsmen, both makers and designers of the artistic form of products. In the modern sense, technical drawing appeared only in technical schools in the 19th century, when the development of industry forced the emergence of systematic technical education. The principles of this discipline developed in France at the end of the 18th century reached Poland when the needs of industry created conditions for establishing technical schools.
This article is based on Wojciech Kubiczek’s 1983 book The Beginnings of Technical Drawing Education in Poland. It is worth reading this work, as it offers a much more detailed and in-depth look at the subject and reveals important aspects related to the evolution of technical education and its impact on the development of industry.
