Karol Podczaszyński was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

-Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

, a representative of the neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 and a professor of the Imperial University of Vilna

Vilnius University

Vilnius University is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania....

, as well as one of the pioneers of industrial design

Industrial design

Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...

.

He was born November 7, 1790, in the village of Żyrmuny

Zhirmuny, Belarus

Zhirmuny of Belarus, 16 kilometres from the Lithuania–Belarus border.The place is first mentioned in chronicles of the 15th century when it was the property of the Butrim family. In 1437 a church was established by the merchant Wojciech Kuciuk. In 1513 it became the property of Field Hetman Jerzy...

 near Lida

Lida

Lida is a city in western Belarus in Hrodna Voblast, situated 160 km west of Minsk. It is the fourteenth largest city in Belarus.- Etymology :...

, in what is now the Hrodna Voblast

Hrodna Voblast

Hrodna Voblast or Grodno Oblast is a voblast in northwestern Belarus.The capital - Grodno is the biggest city of the province. It lies on the Neman River. Grodno's existence is attested to from 1127. Two castles dating from the 14th - 18th centuries are located here on the steep right bank of...

 of Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

. He graduated from the prestigious Polish Liceum Krzemienieckie

Liceum Krzemienieckie

Liceum Krzemienieckie was a renowned Polish high school, which existed from 1805 to 1831, and then in the interbellum period, from 1922 to 1939.-Beginnings:...

 and the Imperial University of Vilna

Vilnius University

Vilnius University is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania....

. Between 1814 and 1816 he continued his studies on architecture in St. Petersburg, where he became the first Pole on the Imperial Academy of Arts

Imperial Academy of Arts

The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, was founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov under the name Academy of the Three Noblest Arts. Catherine the Great renamed it the Imperial Academy of Arts and commissioned a new building, completed 25 years later in 1789...

. Between 1817 and 1819 he also travelled to Western European countries, visiting Königsberg

Königsberg

Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...

, Danzig

Gdansk

Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...

, Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 and Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 before returning to Cracow

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

. Upon his return to Vilnius he was offered a chair of architecture, which he accepted.

Among his most notable architectural works are the refurbishment of the interior of the Vilna University (1802-1804), including the Aula's interior, Evangelical Reformers' Church (1829-1835) and the neoclassical Jan Śniadecki

Jan Sniadecki

Jan Śniadecki was a Polish mathematician, philosopher and astronomer at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.-Life:Born in Żnin, Śniadecki studied at Kraków University and in Paris...

's manor in Jašiūnai

Jašiunai Manor

Jašiūnai Manor is the neoclassical manor in Jašiūnai, Šalčininkai district of Lithuania, near River Merkys.The manor palace, designed by a famous architect Karol Podczaszyński, commissioned by the rector of the Imperial University of Vilna, Jan Śniadecki was built in 1824-1828, alongside with...

 (reconstructed between 1824 and 1828). Yet another of his major works was the neo-Palladian

Palladian architecture

Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...

Tusculanum manor

Tuskulenai Manor

Tuskulėnai Manor is a neoclassical manor in Žirmūnai elderate of Vilnius, Lithuania.-Structures:The Tuskulėnai Manor is the oldest architectural monument in Žirmūnai. The present manor was built in 1825, following a design by Karol Podczaszyński in the neoclassical style, by the order of the...

(in modern Žirmūnai

Žirmunai

Žirmūnai , is the most populous administrative division in Vilnius. It is also a neighbourhood in the Lithuanian capital city Vilnius, encompassing the city district of the same name, built in the 1960s....

, Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

), completed in 1825. The entire Žirmūnai microdistrict in Vilnius was named after his native village, a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

 at the time of his birth.

As a noted architect, Podczaszyński also supervised a number of other projects, among them the reconstruction of the Palace of Governors

Presidential Palace, Vilnius

The Presidential Palace , located in Vilnius Old Town, is the official office and eventual official residence of the President of Lithuania. The palace dates back to the 14th century and during its history it has undergone various reconstructions, supervised by prominent architects, including...

 in Vilnius, carried out by Vasily Stasov

Vasily Stasov

Vasily Petrovich Stasov was a Russian architect.-Biography:Stasov was born in Moscow....

. In modern times the palace serves as the seat of the President of Lithuania. Podczaszyński has also reconstructed the Orthodox Cathedral of the Theotokos

Cathedral of the Theotokos, Vilnius

The Cathedral of the Theotokos in Vilnius is the main Orthodox Christian church of Lithuania.The cathedral was built during the reign of the Grand Duke Algirdas in 1346...

 into the Anatomicum

Anatomical theatre

An anatomical theatre was an institution used in teaching anatomy at early modern universities.The theatre was usually a room of roughly amphitheatrical shape, in the centre of which would stand the table on which the dissections of human or animal bodies took place...

 of his alma mater

Alma mater

Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...

(1822). Finally, between 1836 and 1838 he designed the interior design of three chapels of the St. Władysław and Stanisław Cathedral of Vilna

Vilnius Cathedral

The Cathedral of Vilnius is the main Roman Catholic Cathedral of Lithuania.It is situated in Vilnius Old Town, just off of Cathedral Square. It is the heart of Lithuania's Catholic spiritual life....

. In 1839, Karol Podczaszyński took the first known daguerreotype

Daguerreotype

The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....

 in present-day Lithuania.

As a theoretician, Podczaszyński authored works on architecture and industrial design

Industrial design

Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...

. Karol Podczaszyński died on April 19 in Vilnius and was interred in Rossa Cemetery.

Karol's son, Bolesław Podczaszyński also became a noted architect.

Publications

Among the best-known of his publications are monographs on industrial design:

• On the beauty of works of industry
• Application of general principles of excellence of industrial designs in paintings, sculptures and garden design

He also prepared dictionary of Polish carpentry

Carpentry

A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....

 terms ( 1843). Karol Podczaszyński was also the author of two handbooks of architecture for universities: one for professors (1822) and one for the students (published in three volumes between 1828 and 1856).

Karol's son, Bolesław Podczaszyński also became a noted architect.