Stefan Cybichowski (1881 âÂÂ1940) was a Polish architect and a social activist. He was one of the most versatile artists in the architecture of Greater Poland in the interwar period, both in terms of style and functional diversity of his buildings.
Stefan Cybichowski was born on 2 August 1881 in Poznaà  (then Posen) to Maria Marta Bischoff and Bronisà Âaw Bernard Cybichowski (1844âÂÂ1903), a philosopher and a philologist. Following the Kulturkampf strict policies, the family had to transfer to Inowrocà Âaw in April 1882 and later to Münster, Westphalia on 1 November 1887. They only returned to Inowrocà Âaw in 1892.
In 1901, Cybichowski graduated from the German Royal Gymnasium in Inowrocà Âaw, today's Secondary School - Jan Kasprowicz ().
As most of the architects from Greater Poland at that time, he studied architecture at a German university. In his case, he went to the Berlin Royal Technische Hochschule of Charlottenburg, graduating in 1905.
With his diploma, Cybichowski started to work on different projects in Berlin (1906-1909):
In parallel, between 1907 and 1909, he became a lecturer at the Industrial Academy in Berlin, where he gave a lecture entitled "Building Design". In 1910, he received the qualifications of Notary builder.
Under his supervision, Cybichowski designed in the German capital many edifices, from churches, theatres, gymnasiums to primary schools and infirmaries.
During this period, he won awards in competitions for the chapel at Morskie Oko and the town hall of Spandau.
In 1909âÂÂ1910, he co-designed the project for the construction of the Fasanenstrasse Synagogue in Charlottenburg.
At the end of 1910, Cybichowski moved to Poznaà Â: there, he opened his own architectural office. In 1912, he became a member of the newly created (1911) Technical Department of the Poznaà  Society for the Advancement of Arts and Sciences ().
In 1911, he gave a lecture On the use of gypsum in construction and, on 20 January 1914, a lecture about quadrangles. From 1920 to 1926, he lectured on rural architecture at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznaà Â.
At the end of 1918, Cybichowski became the first president of the Architects' Circle of the Poznaà  Association of Technicians, the local branch of the national Association of Polish Architects. He stayed its president until 6 July 1925, replaced in the position by urbanist . He joined the circle at national level () three years later.
In 1924, Cybichowski won the competition organized in the perspective of the 1929 Polish General Exhibition in Poznaà  (). As such, he designed the entire building ensemble of the plot.
Between 1919 and 1922, Cybichowski was at the head of the construction department at the Voivodeship Office. There, he carried out the polonization of the administration. As such, he was one of the organizers of the first Poznaà  Trade Fair () from 28 May to 5 June 1921.
He was a member of the Poznaà  City Council (1919âÂÂ1925), but resigned from the seat in 1922. Later (1927âÂÂ1931), Cybichowski was an honorary councilor of the "Magistrat of the city of Poznaà Â".
Furthermore, he belonged to the Association of Artists in Poznaà  from 1911. He was also a member of the Society of Friends of the City of Poznaà  ().
On 28 October 1939, the Poznaà  Gestapo arrested Cybichowski, together with a group of professors, as part of the Intelligenzaktion. They were imprisoned in the Fort VII camp. Cybichowski was shot there on 6 January 1940.
His family was not informed about his execution until after the end of the conflict. A symbolic grave is located at the Parish Cemetery of Saint John Vianney in Poznaà Â.
For many years, Cybichowski's private archive was believed to be lost. In 1998, though, thanks to an employee of the Office of the Municipal Conservator of Monuments in Poznaà Â, the architect's daughter, Helena Cybichowska, donated building designs and documentation about her father's projects in Poznaà Â, Wielkopolska and Kujavia-Pomerania to the collections of the Municipal Conservator of Monuments.
On 25 June 1912, Cybichowski married Barbara Aniela Mieczkowska h. Boà Âcza. They had five children:
Cybichowski's favorite style often referred to neo-classicist forms, as it was the trend in the first decade of the Second Polish Republic. He sometimes used Neo-Baroque style.
Cybichowski can undoubtedly be called the most versatile architect in Greater Poland between 1909 and the start of World War II. He played an important role in the process of rehabilitating village churches to social demographic conditions, by and large redefining the image of provincial sacral architecture. Stylistically, he was an architect bridging two periods, historicizing forms and modernism, which was first introduced by him into the sacral architectural of large city churches in the region (Poznaà Â, Bydgoszcz, Inowrocà Âaw).
The identified legacy of Cybichowski includes completed works and designs, in particular approximately 100 religious edifices. For this endeavour, he was given the title of papal chamberlain. His work is characterized by stylistic diversity, from Neo-Baroque to Neo-Renaissance, from Neoclassicism to Eclecticism and Modern Architecture.