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Guardians of Shelter: Architecture and the Feeling of Safety

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June 20, 2025
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The entrance and main façade of the Polish Pavilion, overlooking the Giardini of La Biennale di Venezia. Built in the 1930s, the Pavilion has hosted Poland’s national exhibitions since 1932 and now presents Lares and Penates: On Building a Sense of Security in Architecture at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition | A wiecha – wreath of branches with ribbons and tools – placed atop the building to mark its structural completion, a tradition in Poland since the 15th century

At the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Polish Pavilion’s Lares and Penates exhibition explores how architecture, both ancient and modern, reflects our primal need for protection – blending emotional traditions with regulatory realities to build a sense of security.

Entrance to the exhibition Lares and Penates: On Building a Sense of Security in Architecture, where visitors are invited into a space shaped by rituals, regulations, and everyday gestures of protection | The modern archetype of protection: a fire extinguisher displayed with reverence, echoing centuries of firefighting evolution and domestic vigilance

Since its origins, architecture has served a fundamental purpose: to shelter and protect. But how does it continue to do so in our rapidly changing and increasingly unstable world?

Presented as part of the building’s architecture, the fire extinguisher draws attention to the emotional dimension of functional safety elements|A fire extinguisher set into a niche decorated like a fresco, revealing its symbolic and reassuring presence within the domestic space.

At the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Polish Pavilion delves into this question with Lares and Penates: On Building a Sense of Security in Architecture – a compelling exploration of architectural anthropology and the emotional dimensions of space.

Existing emergency infrastructure – such as evacuation signs and fire alarms – is highlighted within the exhibition to reflect how safety regulations shape architectural space | Hermetically sealed armoured door, a standard element of underground shelters built to withstand shock waves and, in the case of nuclear shelters, to block radiation. Like all objects in the exhibition, it was selected by the curators as part of a dedicated research process – from real, existing pieces sourced and assembled specifically for this project

Led by a multidisciplinary team – historian Aleksandra Kędziorek, artists Krzysztof Maniak and Katarzyna Przezwańska, and architect Maciej Siuda – the exhibition shifts the lens from architects to inhabitants. Rather than evaluating architecture through design intent, it listens to the lived experience: the fears, hopes, and instincts that shape our relationship with the places we call home.

From fire rituals to radiesthetic rods, from holy corners to certified safety devices – this exhibition invites us to rethink how architecture has always mediated our need for protection | The holy corner (pokuc), a sacred space in traditional Slavic homes, located opposite the entrance and adorned with icons, linen fabrics, and flowers – a domestic altar of protection and reverence

“Lares and Penates were Roman deities entrusted with guarding the hearth,” explains Kędziorek. “They continue to symbolize guardianship and domestic safety across cultures. In the spirit of Carlo Ratti’s Biennale theme ‘Intelligens,’ we treat them as a universal code – deeply rooted in collective memory and human intelligence.”

11) A blessed beeswax candle (gromnica), traditionally lit during storms and placed in the window to protect the house from lightning – a ritual rooted in Candlemas traditions 12) The exhibition at the Polish Pavilion reflects on the continuity between ancient rituals and contemporary safety practices – where lighting a blessed beeswax candle and framing a fire extinguisher are gestures driven by the same human need for protection

Drawing from fieldwork across Poland, the exhibition uncovers enduring customs that reflect an instinctive need for security: a candle in the window to ward off storms; a “wiecha” garland on construction sites to prevent misfortune; a threshold stone salvaged from an ancestral home; or dowsing rods used to locate underground water before building.

Foundation offerings (zaktadziny), once buried beneath the home’s corners – eggshells, grain, money, blessed candles – to secure protection and abundance for the new dwelling | Instructional graphics by Maciej Siuda illustrating how to use a fire extinguisher – functional drawings integrated into the installation as part of a reflection on safety and everyday ritual

Alongside these traditions, modern safety infrastructure is reframed as part of our emotional landscape. Emergency exits, fire alarms, peepholes, padlocks – often unnoticed – are highlighted and elevated. A fire extinguisher, for example, is placed in a niche styled like a fresco or set into a mosaic, revealing the symbolic comfort behind the utilitarian.

Surveillance camera originally installed in the Pavilion, now deliberately revealed and framed as part of the exhibition – shifting its functional gaze into a curatorial presence

The exhibition avoids digital installations, opting instead for full-scale, tactile objects and scenography that celebrate physical presence. These found or assembled items – rooted in shared cultural memory = form a sensory narrative of protection.

 

Here, gestures old and new – placing a candle in the window, installing a fire alarm – are presented side by side, revealing the continuous thread between ancestral rituals and modern safety protocols

By weaving together regulatory measures and emotional responses, Lares and Penates proposes a more human-centered approach to architecture. It invites us to rediscover the primal need for safety not as a technical requirement, but as a profound emotional experience.

This timely contribution from the Polish Pavilion aligns with the 2025 Biennale’s central theme:

“Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.”

A real fuse from the Pavilion’s electrical system – usually concealed – deliberately exposed and framed within the exhibition, transforming a regulatory safety element into an integral part of the installation 18) The actual bolt used to lock the main entrance to the Polish Pavilion in the Giardini, here framed and displayed at the threshold of the exhibition – a gesture that turns a functional element into a symbol of security

TECHNICAL SHEET
Authors:
Aleksandra Kędziorek, Krzysztof Maniak, Katarzyna Przezwańska, Maciej Siuda
Commissioner of the Polish Pavilion:
Agnieszka Pindera, Director, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Organiser: Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Patron: ORLEN
Exhibition Partners: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Paradyż
Supported by: Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts
In cooperation with: Polish Institute in Rome
Media Partners: Architektura & Biznes, Autoportret, LABEL, PAP, Polskie Radio, Elle Decoration, TVP Kultura, Vogue Poland

A found horseshoe, hung in a ‘U’ shape to keep luck from spilling out – presented here as part of an open-ended dialogue, without judgment, between ritual gestures, living myths, safety regulations, and emotional needs 20) A bottle sealed into the wall, containing workers’ signatures and a newspaper – part of a long-standing tradition of leaving a trace inside the building for posterity, a practice still observed today

Location:
Polish Pavilion
Giardini della Biennale
Sestiere Castello, 30122 Venice, Italy

Dates:
10 May – 23 November 2025
19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

Photo Courtesy: Jacopo Salvi, Zachęta archive
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