Herbst Palace - Interior of the Year

The competition has been organised regularly since 1990 by the Piotrkowska Street Foundation (Fundacja Ulicy Piotrkowskiej). This time, the contestants for the Interior of the Year title were premises put back into operation in 2013 and 2014. Out of more than 30 interiors which applied to be included in the competition, the Board selected 15 to compete in three categories. Jury composed of architects, interior designers, scenographers, conservation officers, art historians and journalists selected the best projects in each of the three categories and nominated the Interiors of the Year from among the top runners. According to the organisers, the competition focuses first of all on assessing the creativity, with which local merits of the facility, its surroundings, and material heritage of the city have been adapted to new functions. The jury paid a lot of attention to the quality and transparency of the idea, functional aspects, individual characteristics, novelty solutions, atmosphere, quality of work and materials.

Herbst Palace ranked first in the historic reconstruction category. The following people received individual distinctions:  UrszulaTracz, Deputy Director for Development of the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź - manager of the revitalisation project; Dorota Berbelska, Head of the Herbst Palace Museum - author of the design of interiors and the layout of the exhibition, and Małgorzata Musiela, CEO of the Restauro company, which performed all conservation works.

The jury was the most impressed with „reliable and careful approach to the restoration of primary functions of the interiors in the residence, details, materials and colours, which reduced the need for creation to the minimum, something that contrasted with the present function as a museum surely was not obvious”. In the opinion of the jury „the search and analysis of source materials, depth and comprehensiveness of historic studies combined with the quality of conservation supervision reflected in the selection of the top class workforce to perform conservation works have largely contributed to the final success of the project”.

The jury also appreciated the „importance of conservation works that were carried out to return a faithfully reconstructed monument to the city of Lodz, drawing attention to the wounds on the material heritage of the city dating back to the years of its most intense growth” and decided to award the Herbst Palace  Museum with the main prize of the Interior of the Year title.