warsaw
a city that tried to stop two empires
To day Warsaw is known to be the city that first tried to stop Hitler Germany and the was run over by the Red Army. This shows not only the tragic storry of the city (during World War 2 it was made flat s a pancake) - but as well the storry of the country with its situation between Germany and Russia. After World War 2 maybe the Jewish ghetto of the city was the most known. Today the city again is rebuild with its old glory as well with a modern core. This mix is unique on the planet. It shows that a once great city again is ready for tomorrow
All Saints Church
It is the largest church in Warsaw. The basic layout is a cross. It has three aisles, a dome mounted at the intersection of the cross vault, the choir and main altar, the side chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa, a porch and two tall bell towers, all built in the neoclassical style.
The first plans to found a church in the village of Grzybów near Warsaw emerged in the 17th century, under the rule of King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki. It was only in the 19th century that serious work started with the growth of the local population. The design was by the architect Enrico Marconi, construction work commenced in 1861. The design was modelled on an existing Renaissance style Abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua. The church was dedicated on October 31 1883, by Archbishop Wincenty Popiel. The church was finally completed in 1892 with the completion of the two bell towers. During the defensive war in 1939, the roof was slightly damaged. During the occupation, it was one of three Christian churches in the ghetto. All Saints Church served Jewish Christians who were detained in the ghetto. After the deportation action in 1942, the church was outside the ghetto. It was extensively damaged during the Warsaw Uprising. Aerial bombing and German-led artillery caused part of the roof to collapse and the eastern tower of the temple was also destroyed. Many valuable epitaphs and paintings were also destroyed. The ruins were stabilised in autumn 1945. Under the stewardship of Mgr. Zygmunt Kaczynski, the reconstruction of the church began soon after. |
Carmelite Church
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The present church is the second building to have arisen here, erected over the site of a wooden church originally constructed for the Discalced Carmelite Order in 1643 and burned down by the Swedes and Brandenburg Germans in the 1650s.
The new building was founded in 1661 by Polish Primate Michał Stefan Radziejowski, who also established Warsaw's Holy Cross Church. It was built in 1692-1701 to the plan of Józef Szymon Bellotti. The church's basic structure had been largely completed by the end of the 17th century, but the present façade was not begun till 1761. It was erected by Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł, who commissioned the Hungarian architect Efraim Szreger to draw up a plan for a comprehensive new façade. This impressive façade was built in a style typical for the reign of King Stanisław August Poniatowski, with dominant columns supporting the cornice. The distinguished 18th-century artist Szymon Czechowicz embellished the church with his paintings. Another leading Polish painter, Franciszek Smuglewicz, created altar paintings. The interior is opulent, with magnificent rococo main altar, gilding and stucco ceiling decorations. The Carmelite Church was the site of Frédéric Chopin's first employment. He was invited to give a recital on the church's organ. |
Church of the Holy Spirit
The church was originally built in Gothic style from wood alongside a hospital in the 14th century. It was probably the first hospital of the type in Mazovia and was located just outside the walls of the Warsaw Old Town. It was founded by Janusz the Elder, Duke of Warsaw, and handed over to the city in 1388. From 1425 it was a hostel for the poor and in 1473 a chapel, temporary accommodation for guests or pilgrims, and a monastery were added.
In 1699 the foundation stone was laid for the new church, which was built from 1707 to 1717 in Baroque style by Józef Piola and Józef Szymon Bellotti. Construction continued all the way until 1746, when the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Częstochowa was built. In 1944 the church was almost totally destroyed by the Germans. The interior of the church and the roofs were burnt completely with only the altar surviving. In 1947, the Polish Primate Cardinal Hlond, returned the church to the administration of the Pauline order and the church was rebuilt in 1956 in the same form as it was before the war. |
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Field Cathedral of the Polish Army
The Field Cathedral of the Polish Army (Polish: Katedra Polowa Wojska Polskiego, also known as the Church of Our Lady Queen of the Polish Crown) is the main garrison church of Warsaw and the representative cathedral of the entire Polish Army. In the past the church served a variety of communities and roles: it used to be the church of the Collegium Nobilium and in the 19th century was also turned into a Russian Orthodox church. Currently all major military religious feasts in Warsaw are held there.
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Freta street |
The street name for the first time was mentioned in 1427. The building were wooden cottages. In 1510 the first residential buildings came. In 1603 the Dominicans build a monastery and church. In 1656 the buildings burned down. The first brick houses built during the reconstruction in the second half of the seventeenth century. The street became primarily a commercial with different shops.
During the Russian occupation Freta street and its immediate surroundings (including street Mostowa) became the center of prostitution in Warsaw. At the beginning of the twentieth century among the residents of the street were mostly Jews. Pauperisation took as well place. Wealthier residents moved to new neighborhoods and fashion magazines were closed. In November 1940, some of the buildings on the odd side of the street were in the Warsaw Ghetto. In December 1941, the entire area of the New Town was excluded from the closed area, and the ghetto boundary was moved to the middle of the Bonifraterska street. . The current building dates from 1950-1955. The houses are reconstructions of the eighteenth century, which were destroyed in 1944. After the Second World War only some walls of a few buildings survived. Today its a pedestrian street |
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Grand Theatre
The Theatre was built on Theatre Square between 1825 and 1833, replacing the former building of Marywil, from Polish classicist designs by the Italian architect Antonio Corazzi of Livorno, to provide a new performance venue for existing opera, ballet and drama companies active in Warsaw. The building was remodeled several times and, in the period of Poland's political eclipse from 1795 to 1918, it performed an important cultural and political role in producing many works by Polish composers and choreographers
During the 1939 battle of Warsaw, the Grand Theatre was bombed and almost completely destroyed, with only the classical façade surviving. During the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 the Germans shot civilians in the burnt-out ruins. The plaque to the right of the main entrance commemorates the suffering and heroism of the victims of fascism. Between 1945 and 1965, the company performed on other stages while the theatre building was being restored and expanded to the designs of Bohdan Pniewski, under the supervision of Arnold Szyfman. When the restored theatre was opened to the public on November 19, 1965, it was one of the most imposing and best-equipped state-of-the-art theatres in Europe. The Polish National Opera was the largest theatre in the world. According to Antonio Corazzi's 1825 plans, the Grand Theatre's front façade was meant to feature a triumphal sculpture of Apollo, patron of the arts, driving a chariot drawn by four horses. First in 2002 the sculpture came to adorn the façade. The new, contemporary quadriga was designed by Adam Myjak and Antoni Janusz Pastwa. |
Holy Cross Church
As early as the 15th century, a small wooden chapel of the Holy Cross had been erected here.
The present main building was constructed between 1679 and 1696. Its main designer was Józef Szymon Bellotti. The façade was relatively modest and reminded of Renaissance facades of the nearby churches. The two towers surrounding the façade were initially square-cut. Between 1725 and 1737 two late Baroque headpieces by Józef Fontana. The façade itself was refurbished by Fontana's son, Jakub (in 1756) and ornamented with sculptures by Jan Jerzy Plersch. During the Warsaw Uprising of 1794, the stairs leading to the main entrance were destroyed and had to be replaced with new ones designed by Chrystian Piotr Aigner. In the late 19th century the church interior was slightly refurbished, and in 1882 an urn containing the heart of Frédéric Chopin was immured in a pillar. Since several urns have been added. In 1889 the external staircase leading to the main entrance was reconstructed, and a sculpture of Christ Bearing His Cross by Pius Weloński was added. The sculpture bears the inscription, Sursum Corda ("Lift Up Your Hearts"), signifying the Poles' endurance under the Russian partition. On 6 September 1944, when the Germans detonated two large Goliath tracked mines in the church the facade was destroyed, together with many Baroque furnishings, the vaulting, the high altar, and side altars. Afterward the church was blown up by the Germans in January 1945. Between 1945 and 1953, the church was rebuilt in a simplified form by B. Zborowski. The interior was reconstructed without the Baroque polychromes and frescos. The main altar was reconstructed between 1960 and 1972. |
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Jewish ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto (German: Warschauer Ghetto, called by the German authorities: „Jüdischer Wohnbezirk in Warschau“ (Jewish residential district in Warsaw); Polish: getto warszawskie) was the largest of all the Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 16, 1940, in the territory of the General Government of German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity residing in an area of 3.4 km2 (1.3 sq mi). From there, at least 254,000 Ghetto residents were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp over the course of two months in the summer of 1942.
The death toll among the Jewish inhabitants of the Ghetto, between deportations to extermination camps, Großaktion Warschau, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the subsequent razing of the ghetto, is estimated to be at least 300,000. |
Krakowskie Przedmiescie Street
Krakowskie Przedmieście was established in the 15th century as a trade route. It is one of the oldest avenues in Warsaw and the first part of the Royal Route that connects the Royal Castle with King John III Sobieski's 17th century Wilanów Palace at the southern periphery. In the 17th century, palaces and manor houses began springing up along what had by then become the major artery of the new Polish capital.
During the 18th century, the Italian painter Bernardo Bellotto (better known in Central Europe as "Canaletto"), a court painter to Poland's last king, Stanisław August Poniatowski, rendered in meticulous detail the streets and architecture of Poland's capital, with its burgeoning population, strong economy, and seats of learning and the arts. It was partly thanks to his paintings that Warsaw's historic district was accurately rebuilt by the Polish people from its deliberate destruction by Germany in World War II, especially following the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. By the 19th century, Krakowskie Przedmieście had many Baroque and Classical-style churches, palaces and dwellings. The street's development continued into the 20th century with the erection of commercial buildings and hotels such as the Hotel Bristol. More recently, the architect Krzysztof Domaradzki of the Dawos studio has given the street a new redesign. He was inspired by historical sources and Bernardo Bellotto's hyper-realistic paintings of the 18th century street to give the area a look that is both old and modern. |
Krasiński Palace
The palace was built in 1677–83 for the Voivode of Płock, Jan Dobrogost Krasiński, according to design by Tylman Gamerski. It was decorated with pediment reliefs showing the triumph of the legendary "ancestor" of the Ślepowron and Korwin Polish clans, the Roman commander Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla (263 BC) and sculptural work, all by Andreas Schlüter. The first floor porte-fenêtre (vertical French door/window) was crowned with a cartouche supported by two angels bearing the founder's monogram JK. It had many baroque decorations inside. The frescoes were made by Jan III Sobieski's court painter Michelangelo Palloni. Among his notable works in the palace, most worth mentioning are the plafond and frescoes in the supraportes (the space between the portal and ceiling, usually richly decorated) of the palace's vestibule. Moulding which remain in vestibule and partly in the stairwell, also the heads of pilasters or festoons on external elevations made of stucco as well as the armorial cartouche of the façade from the garden side were made by unknown artists under the watchful eye of said architect as well as under supervision of the stuccoer Joseph Belloti. The paintings in the vestibule not existing anymore, mainly the plafond and some fragments of murals in supra porta that remained after the last war were painted by Michael Palloni. The interiors were partially finished in 1699.
The elevation of the building has nineteen axis with the avant-corps in the middle having five axis and the avant-corps in the corners having three axis. The avant-corpses in the middle of both elevations are dominant and they are characterized by giant triangle abutments filled with bas-reliefs. On the avant-corps in the corners of the main elevation there were balustrade attics covering the separate roofs of these avant-corps. They counterbalance the middle abutment. The façade portal of the courtyard was decorated by freestanding columns in Tuscan order and the armorial cartouches placed as their continuation as well as wide-stretching fruit vases. After a fire in 1783 it was partly rebuilt inside according to Domenico Merlini's design. During the interwar period, the palace housed the Supreme Court of Poland. The palace was burned down and demolished by the Germans during the World War II. It was later rebuilt. Today it is a part of the Polish National Library's Special Collections Section (Manuscripts and Old Prints) from the Załuski Library. |
marsz Piłsudski Square
The Square has been the scene of many historic events over the centuries. Important guests of Warsaw and Poland have been officially welcomed there. The Military parades were held at the Square since the 19th century partitions. In 1928 the square was renamed after Józef Piłsudski.
Over the centuries, the square has been named successively as the Saxon Square (Plac Saski) after Poland's Saxon kings with the Saxon Palace standing adjacent to the square, but destroyed in World War II; then the Piłsudski Square (after Józef Piłsudski) during Second Polish Republic; then briefly, the Adolf Hitler Platz during Germany's World War II occupation of Warsaw; and, after 1946, the Victory Square (Polish: plac Zwycięstwa) in honor of Poland's and her allies' victory in World War II. At present, it is again called the Piłsudski Square. Piłsudski Square is the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, erected on top of the underground foundations of the Saxon Palace, destroyed by the Nazis in World War II. |
Old Town Market Place
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The Old Town Market Place is the true heart of the Old Town, and until the end of the 18th century it was the heart of all of Warsaw. It originated in the late 13th century, at the same time that the city was founded. Here the representatives of guilds and merchants met in the town hall (built before 1429, pulled down in 1817), and fairs and the occasional execution were held. The houses around it represented the Gothic style until the great fire of 1607, after which they were rebuilt in late-Renaissance style and eventually in late-Baroque style by Tylman Gamerski in 1701.
The main feature at that time was the immense town hall, reconstructed in 1580 in the style of Polish mannerism by Antoneo de Ralia and again between 1620-1621. The architecture of the building was similar to many other structures of that type in Poland. It was adorned with attics and four side towers. A clock tower, embellished with an arcade loggia, was covered with a bulbous spire typical for Warsaw mannerist architecture. The district was damaged by the bombs of the German Luftwaffe during the Invasion of Poland (1939). The ancient Market Place was rebuilt in the 1950s, after having been destroyed by the German Army after the suppression of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Today it is a major tourist attraction. |
Palace of Culture and Science
The building was originally known as the Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science (Pałac Kultury i Nauki imienia Józefa Stalina).
Construction started in 1952 and lasted until 1955. A gift from the Soviet Union to the people of Poland, the tower was constructed, using Soviet plans, almost entirely by 3500 workers from the Soviet Union. The architecture of the building is closely related to several similar skyscrapers built in the Soviet Union. However, the main architect Lev Rudnev incorporated some Polish architectural details into the project by traveling around Poland and seeing the architecture. Four 6.3-metre clock faces were added to the top of the building ahead of the millennium celebrations in 2000. As the city's most visible landmark, the building was controversial from its inception. Many Poles initially hated the building because they considered it to be a symbol of Soviet domination, and at least some of that negative feeling persists today. Varsovians still commonly use nicknames to refer to the palace, notably Pekin ("Beijing", because of its abbreviated name PKiN), Patyk ("stick") and Pajac ("clown", a word that sounds close to Pałac). Other less common names include Stalin's syringe, the Elephant in Lacy Underwear, or even the Russian Wedding Cake. The building currently serves as an exhibition center and office complex. The Palace contains a multiplex cinema with eight screens, four theaters, two museums, offices, bookshops, a large swimming pool, an auditorium hall for 3000 people called Congress Hall, and an accredited university, Collegium Civitas, on the 11th and 12th floors of the building. The terrace on the 30th floor, at 114 metres, is a well-known tourist attraction with a panoramic view of the city. |
Palace of the Bishops of Krakow
The construction of the palace started in 1622 for the Bishop of Cracow James Zadzik. It was the official residence of the bishops of Krakow, who as senators had to take part in the work of the Senate of the Republic.
After the destruction during the Swedish wars it was rebuilt in 1668 for Bishop Andrzej Trzebicki. In the years 1760-1762 it did undergo extensive remodeling by the initiative of Bishop Cajetan Soltyka most likely designed by Jakub Fontana. Its facade became late Baroque. After rebuilding the palace was a two-storey building. The high first floor housed the state rooms. Since the end of the eighteenth century, the building housed several offices. After the third partition of Poland in 1795 it became the seat of the President of South Prussia. The palace was burnt down in 1939 and demolished in the Warsaw Uprising. It was rebuilt after the war in the years 1948-1950, designed by Louis Borawski and Wenceslas Podlewski. It became the headquarters of the Union of Aviation Industry and the engine. |
Potocki Palace
The original building that stood where the palace now stands was burned down by Swedish and Brandenburgian forces in the 1650s. The new one was commissioned by Ernest Denhoff and construction started in 1693 under the architect Giovanni Pioli. From 1731 it belonged to August Aleksander Czartoryski.
Under the Czartoryski family, the palace underwent several renovations. In 1760 the building façade was refashioned and new alcove outbuildings and two wings facing the street were added, finished with storeyed pavilions with mansard roofs based on plans by Jakub Fontana. Between them a guard-house was erected (1763) with sculptures by Sebastian Zeisl and two gates on each side. The layout is shaped like a horseshoe, with a central part and two side wings. The building was set back from the street by a courtyard, protected by a wrought-iron fence with a gate. The fence was designed in the neorococo style by Leandro Marconi. Pałac Potockich was torn down in 1944 by the Germans after the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising. It was rebuilt after the war in 1948-1950 according to a design by Jan Zachwatowicz. |
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Presidential Palace
The Presidential Palace (in Polish, Pałac Prezydencki; also known as Pałac Koniecpolskich, Lubomirskich, Radziwiłłów, and Pałac Namiestnikowski) in Warsaw, Poland, is the elegant classicist latest version of a building that has stood on the Krakowskie Przedmieście site since 1643. Over the years, it has been rebuilt and remodeled many times. For its first 175 years, the palace was the private property of several aristocratic families. In 1791 it hosted the authors and advocates of the Constitution of May 3, 1791.
It was in 1818 that the palace began its ongoing career as a governmental structure, when it became the seat of the Viceroy of the Polish (Congress) Kingdom under Russian occupation (Namiestnik of the Kingdom of Poland). Following Poland's resurrection after World War I, in 1918, the building was taken over by the newly reconstituted Polish authorities and became the seat of the Council of Ministers. During World War II, it served the country's German occupiers as a Deutsches Haus and survived intact the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. After the war, it resumed its function as seat of the Polish Council of Ministers. |
Primate's Palace
The construction of the palace began in 1593, from the initiative of the Bishop of Płock Wojciech Baranowski. After he became the Primate of Poland, he transformed the palace into the headquarters of the Primate. It was demolished during the years of the Swedish Deluge in 1655-1657. Architect Józef Fontana was hired for the reconstruction. It was however plundered again in 1704 by Saxons, Vlachs and Cossacks.
Until 1795 the rooms in the palace served as the home of the Primates of Poland. The building was gradually expanded. At the end of the 17th century it was expanded by architect Tylman van Gameren. In the first half of the 18th century it was rebuilt in rococo style to serve as a residence of Primate Adam Ignacy Komorowski. From 1777-1786 the palace was thoroughly reconstructed in the Classicist style. The main body of the building was expanded with the side wings with pavilions. Architects of the interior were Jan Chrystian Kamsetzer and Szymon Bogumił Zug. Since the 18th century it served various purposes and housed numerous institutions. In the interwar period it housed the Ministry of Agriculture. The palace was destroyed during the Nazi Invasion of Poland, after the war it was gradually restored. It then served the city administration and, among other things, civil weddings occurred there. Today, it houses offices of various companies and its historical halls are used for conference and exhibition purposes. |
Raczyński Palace
In 1717, Kujawa Bishop Konstanty Szaniawski transformed the building standing there at the time into a Baroque style palace. In subsequent years, its owners were Jan Szembek, Stanisław Mycielski, Filip Raczyński and Kazimierz Raczyński. In 1786, the palace was reshaped in the classical style and designed by Jan Chrystian Kamsetzer. From 1794, it housed the Supreme National Council, and accommodations for French officers were arranged there. In 1827 it became the seat of the Government Commission of Justice, in 1876 the Commercial Court, as well as the Judicial Chambers, and in the interwar period, the building housed the Ministry of Justice. During WWII, the palace was the seat of the German Court for Confiscated Polish Lands, and during the Warsaw Uprising it was used as a hospital. After the heroic capitulation of the Old Town on September 1, 1944 the Germans burst into the hospital and shot about 430 of the injured, for which a commemorative plaque hangs on the palace's outer wall. Rebuilt in 1948-1950, it currently houses the Main Archive of Old Files.
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Royal Castle
The Royal Castle in Warsaw (Polish: Zamek Królewski w Warszawie) is a castle residency that formerly served throughout the centuries as the official residence of the Polish monarchs. The personal offices of the king and the administrative offices of the Royal Court of Poland were located there from the sixteenth century until the Partitions of Poland.
Initially the complex served as the residence of the Dukes of Masovia, and since the sixteenth century, the seat of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: the King and Parliament (Chamber of Deputies and Senate). The Constitution of 3 May 1791, the first of its type in Europe and the world's second-oldest codified national constitution after the 1789 U.S. Constitution, was drafted here by the Four-Year Sejm. In the 19th century, after the collapse of the November Uprising, it was used as an administrative centre by the Tsar and was re-designed for the needs of the Imperial Russian administration. During the course of World War I it was the residence of the German Governor-General. In the years 1920-1922 the Royal Castle was the seat of the Polish Head of State and between 1926 and World War II the building was the residence of the Polish president, Ignacy Mościcki. Burned and looted by the Nazi Germans following the Invasion of Poland in 1939 and almost completely destroyed in 1944 after the failed Warsaw Uprising, the Castle was completely rebuilt and reconstructed. Reconstruction of the castle carried out in the years 1971-1984 was led by the Civic Committee responsible for the reconstruction of Warsaw. In 1980, the Royal Castle, together with the Old Town was registered as a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today it is a historical and national monument, and is listed as a national museum visited by over 500,000 people every year. |
Sapieha palace
The palace, commissioned by Jan Fryderyk Sapieha, Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was built in Rococo style in 1731-1746 by Johann Sigmund Deybel. It was constructed as a French-style city palace, so-called Hôtel particulier. At that time it consisted of five-axial main buildings (corps de logis) and two outbuildings between the palace and a street. Between 1741-1742 the existing one-story outbuilding was connected with the main outbuilding of the palace complex, and between 1771-1790 another wing was erected to connect the inhabited corps de logis with the second outbuilding.
In 1818–1820 the palace was converted into the Sapieha Barracks (Koszary sapieżyńskie) for the use of the army. The Neo-Classical remodelling in the early 19th century was the work of Wilhelm Henryk Minter. During the November Uprising of 1830–1831 it served as the barracks for the famous Polish 4th Infantry Regiment (Czwartacy). Destroyed in 1944 by German occupying forces, it was rebuilt in the 1950s by Maria Zachwatowiczowa |
Saxon Palace
The Saxon Palace had been preceded by a manor house belonging to Tobiasz Morsztyn. After 1661 his brother and heir Jan Andrzej Morsztyn had replaced the manor house with a baroque palace (Pałac Morsztynów, "the Morsztyn Palace") with four towers. In 1713 the Morsztyn Palace was purchased by the first of Poland's two Saxon kings, Augustus II (reigned in Poland 1697–1706 and 1709–33), who began enlarging it. In 1748 the palace's rebuilding was completed by his son, King Augustus III. The Palace was remodeled in 1842.
After World War I, the Saxon Palace was the seat of the Polish General Staff. In 1925, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was established within the colonnade-topped arcade that joined the Palace's two symmetric wings. During World War II, the Saxon Palace was blown up by the Germans as part of the planned destruction of Warsaw after the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. Only parts of the central arcade remained, housing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which somehow managed to survive. There are plans to reconstruct the Saxon Palace. The palace cellars were excavated in 2006, uncovering some 20,000 objects. The reconstruction of the palace was formerly scheduled for completion by 2010. The reconstructed building was planned to house Warsaw's city hall, but due to budget problems of Warsaw, caused by the recent global financial crisis, and subsequent cuts, the reconstruction is now on hold indefinitely. |
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St. Anne's Church
In 1454 Duchess of Masovia Anna Fiodorowna founded this church with a cloister for the Franciscan friars (Order of Friars Minor).
The St. Anne's Church was reconstructed several times in 1603, 1634, 1636 and in 1667 (it was heavily damaged during the siege of Warsaw and plundered by Swedish and German troops in the 1650s). The walls and semicircular vault ceilings of the church, divided into bays, were decorated at that time with profuse paintings in perspective, using illusionary techniques and depicting scenes in the life of Saint Anne. A chapel of Saint Ładysław was also decorated in this fashion. All paintings were by Friar Walenty Żebrowski. The church was reconstructed for the last time between 1786 and 1788 by order of King Stanisław August Poniatowski. The church was slightly damaged in a German air raid on Warsaw in 1939 (the roof and turrets were destroyed by fire and reconstructed by the architect Beata Trylińska). The roof was later seriously damaged by Wehrmacht soldiers after the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising. The present façade was built in 1788 in a Neoclassical style typical of the reign of King Stanisław August Poniatowski, by Chrystian Piotr Aigner. Sculptors of that time were Jakub Monaldi and Franciszek Pinck, who carved statues of the Four Evangelists which decorate the façade. The interior of the church is now in high-baroque style with several chapels. The church makes an overwhelming impression on the visitor with its surprisingly rich interior filled with frescoes. |
St. Francis church
In comparison with other Polish cities, the Franciscans arrived relatively late in Warsaw, in 1646. Then a small wooden church was built with two chapels dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. Anthony, and the first superior of the monastery was Father Vincent Skapita. The General Order Catallani established the monastery in 1648, with higher education for the young religious students. After the reconstruction from 1662 to 1663 the church took its current form.
According to the first draft by Giovanni Battista Ceroni from 1679 to 1691 only the chancel and the adjacent room were built - opposite the sacristy and chapel of Our Lady of Consolation. In 1700 they managed to lay the foundation for main aisle, but the death Ceroni in 1708 resulted in the interruption of work. The construction resumed in 1713. Ceroni's project was slightly modified by Karol Bay, including the introduction of diagonal columns in the corners spanning the aisles. Construction management was entrusted to Józef Fontana and his son, Jakub. In 1737 the church was consecrated by the bishop Stanislaus Hosius. From 1746 to 1749, the west chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity was built (designed by Antonio Solari), and in 1788 Giuseppe Boretti reconstructed the facade. After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising the church was bombed, and 40 people sheltering in its cellars were killed. The side walls and the altar of St. Anthony survived. The partially destroyed pulpit was reconstructed from the remains recovered from the rubble. In addition, many elements of Baroque architecture, epitaphs, organs, side altars, confessionals and paintings from the 17th and 19th centuries survived. By 21 January 1945 was mass was already being celebrated again. |
Staszic palace
The history of the Staszic Palace dates to 1620, when King Zygmunt III Vasa ordered the construction of a small Eastern Orthodox chapel, as a proper place of burial for the former Tsar Vasili IV of Russia and his brother, Dmitry Shuisky, who had died in Polish custody after having been captured several years earlier during the Polish-Muscovite War of 1605-18.
In 1668 another Polish king, Jan Kazimierz Waza, transferred the chapel to the Dominican Order, who would be caretakers of the building until 1808. In 1818 the building was purchased by Stanisław Staszic, a leader of the Polish Enlightenment, who ordered its renovation. The architect in charge was Antonio Corazzi, who designed the palace in a neoclassical style. After the renovation (1820–23). In 1857–62 the palace was home to a Medical-Surgical Academy, the first institution of higher learning re-established in the Russian partition (all institutions of higher learning having been banned following the 1830 Uprising); but the Academy was soon closed after yet another failed insurrection, the January 1863 Uprising. Until the end of World War I, the building housed a gymnasium. From 1890 it was also home to an Orthodox church. In 1892–93 the palace was renovated by the Russian authorities; in line with the ongoing Russification of Warsaw, architect Mikhail Pokrovsky transformed the palace into a Russo-Byzantine style building. After Poland regained independence in 1918, in 1924–26 the palace was restored to its previous neoclassical style by architect Marian Lalewicz. The palace was damaged during the 1939 siege of Warsaw and nearly razed during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. In 1946–50 it was rebuilt in its original neoclassical form. Today it is the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences. |
Supreme Court Building
The courthouse project, designed by Badowski Budzyński Architects studio, was selected in an architectural competition held in 1991. The L-shaped building was constructed in 1997-1999. The building creates a gate above the road, and harkens back to the original shape of the Krasiński Palace. The building façade is made of reflective green glass, and from the site of Krasiński Square, the building is surrounded by a series of columns upon which are written legal maxims in Latin and Polish. At the back of the court are three bronze caryatids by Jerzy Juczkowicz; they have been placed in the water and actually hold up part of the building. They are personifications of the three theological virtues: faith, hope and love. In addition to the Supreme Court, the building also houses the Warsaw Court of Appeal and a branch of the Institute of National Remembrance.
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Świętojańska street
Swietojanska Street has been drawn already at the location of the city after the year 1408 from its very beginning was the main route of the Old Warsaw, running from Cracow Gate and the Castle Square to Old Town Square. On a broader scale Midsummer was a section of the old route from Czersk to Zakroczym. The street name comes from the parish church of St. John, brought here in the fourteenth century .
The earliest buildings were wooden houses; the first brick house on the street was built in the mid-fifteenth century at no. 5, more houses were created from the sixteenth century. At the end of the eighteenth century St. John's was the most populous streets of the Old Town; It had about 1,100 inhabitants. The next century brought impoverishment of the street; living here so far clerics, the goldsmiths and the merchants they were replaced by craftsmen, shoemakers and low-level officials. Place a sophisticated shops occupied the modest shops, tailored to the financial possibilities of the residents of the street. During the Warsaw Uprising street was the scene of heavy fighting; at its outlet at the Castle Square erected a barricade. Demolished buildings were rebuilt in the years 1953-1959, introducing small changes compared to the prior destruction, they restored a nameless streets leading to the street. |
Tyszkiewiczow palace
The palace was built by Field Hetman of Lithuania, Ludwik Tyszkiewicz. Construction began in 1785, initially to plans by Stanisław Zawadzki, and was finished in 1792 in Neoclassical style to a design by Jan Chrystian Kamsetzer.
In 1840 the palace was bought by the Potocki family. In the interwar period, it was home to Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego and later to the Polish Academy of Literature. Burned in 1944, after World War II the palace was rebuilt and is now a property of Warsaw University. The palace's relatively modest west façade, on Krakowskie Przedmieście, is embellished with some fine stuccowork, and the central balcony is supported by four elegant stone Atlantes carved in 1787 by André Le Brun. |
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Visitationist Church
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The first wooden church was established in 1651 by Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga de Nevers for the French Order of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This church was burned down by the Swedes during the Deluge in 1656.
In 1664 the Visitationists started to build a new oblong church. The first stone was laid by primate Wacław Leszczyński. This unfinished church burned in 1695. After the fire, the church was restored again. The new foundation was made in 1728 by a stateswoman Elżbieta Sieniawska following the plan of her private architect Karol Antoni Bay. The structural work was finished in 1761. The finishing touch was finally given in 1765. The church's main claim to fame, in Polish eyes, is that Fryderyk Chopin used to play the church organ here, mainly during services for schoolchildren. |
Wessel Palace
This Baroque palace was built in the mid-18th century for General Franciszek Jan Załuski. In 1761 it was bought by Teodor Wessel, who was the Royal Treasurer, and then in 1764 by Antoni Ostrowski, the Bishop of Kujawa; in its extensive history, the palace changed hands many times. In 1780, the palace was bought by Pomeranian voivod Franciszek Ignacy Przebendowski, who made it into a post office; it served this function until 1874. In 1882, during the full revamping of Trębacka Street, the corner building next to the palace was torn down, and it was at this time that a third floor was added to the palace. Destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, it was completely rebuilt after the war. To this day, it is still referred to by locals as Pałac Ostrowskich or Starej Poczty (the 'Old Post Office').
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