Amid the grandeur of Venice and the intellectual spirit of the Biennale, the Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Architecture Exhibition delivers a poetic, tactile experience that hits home, literally!
Titled “Lares and Penates: On Building a Sense of Security in Architecture,” the exhibition invites us to look at our surroundings not as abstract blueprints or glossy renders, but as the sum of human habits, fears, and inherited rituals. It’s architecture not through the eyes of the architect, but through the everyday moments of those who dwell within.
Curated by a multidisciplinary dream team, historian Aleksandra Kędziorek, artists Krzysztof Maniak and Katarzyna Przezwańska, and architect Maciej Siuda, this pavilion weaves together contemporary design with centuries-old folklore.
The name itself, Lares and Penates, draws from Roman mythology, referring to domestic guardians believed to protect the hearth and home. Even today, their names linger in languages as symbols of safety and belonging. The exhibition takes that ancient sensibility and reimagines it for a generation navigating global instability, climate change, and digital oversaturation.
Forget sterile tech displays or overwhelming diagrams. This exhibition invites physical presence. Objects are not viewed, they are experienced. A salvaged village threshold marks the shift from exterior chaos to interior calm. A hand-woven garland, or wiecha, hangs as a talisman above a site to prevent accidents. Found objects, sometimes mystical, sometimes mundane, like a fire extinguisher framed in Venetian mosaic, challenge our ideas of utility and ornament.
It’s a design language spoken in gesture, memory, and story. Every element—be it a padlock, a peephole, or even an emergency exit—is reframed as part of our emotional architecture. These pieces communicate a deep truth: security isn’t just something we install; it’s something we inherit and build together.
For young creators scrolling through architectural accounts on Instagram or curious about life in distant places, Lares and Penates is a reminder that aesthetics and emotion are inseparable. It makes the case that good design isn’t just smart or stylish—it’s intimate, rooted, even sacred. And by spotlighting traditions still alive in Polish culture, it reminds us that old ideas often hold the key to future resilience.
In a world where buildings are getting taller and smarter, the Polish Pavilion dares to ask a simpler, more human question: how do we make people feel safe? It’s not just a conversation starter—it’s a prompt for a generation hungry to create with meaning.
