On the spirit of places of worship – practical ecumenism of the polish cultural borderland

This paper presents selected examples of interaction between architecture, iconography and theology in contemporary Orthodox, Greek- and Roman-Catholic religious architecture built after the World War II period in Poland. It also shows the process of the evolution of traditional spatial and functional structures and applications of new iconography conventions in Christian temples. It covers problems in art as well as new essential ideological aspects of a symbological and liturgical nature. Examples of modern churches seem to prove that the separatist tendencies of Christian Churches and cultures are now being reversed; this is not only an outcome of mutual dialogue, exchange of ideas, values and different forms of worship, but it also confirms the authentic will of ecumenical unity in art. These examples are representative of the architecture of the cultural borderland, which attempts to synthesise both Western and Eastern Christian art.