Warsaw Travel guide

Sightseeing in the centre of the city will enable you to discover the modern architecture which is rapidly giving the town the face of a city stretched towards the future: the business development and the main multinationals have created a sound demand of buildings for offices and commercial enterprises; new modern buildings arose together with steel and glass towers, daring skyscrapers, glowing business and shopping centres.

But you will find the best face of Warsaw only if you are able to explore it carefully and discover by yourself that extraordinary loving act that is the reconstruction of the old city besides the old restored buildings and villas here and there, the pre-war architecture miraculously survived, the charm of its parks and gardens, the wide course of the Vistula river, the rich cultural life of this city which is both cosmopolite and provincial at the same time.

In order to better understand Warsaw and Poland, one might ought to go back and take look at its history. It is rich, fascinating, and often a very tragic history.

Warsaw - The beginnings

Although almost 700 years old, Warsaw is considered to be a young city by Polish standards. Warsaw was only starting to emerge as a city from the Mazovian forest, when citys such as: Krakow, Gdansk, Wroclaw or Kalisz were celebrating their quince centenaries.
First traces of settlement in the Warsaw area date from the 10th century. The first notable structure does not come in until the beginning of the 14th century, when the dukes of Mazovia built a stronghold on the site where the Royal Palace stands today, thus starting a township. The city's outlay closely followed that of many other medieval Polish towns: central square with a nearby church and the whole town surrounded by fortified walls for protection.
In 1413 Warsaw became the seat of the Mazovian dukes, and the city experiences a wave of development. At about this period we see the emergence of the New Town along the northern walls of the Old Town.
In 1526 the last duke of Mazovia died without an heir, thus putting Warsaw along with the whole of Mazovia under the direct rule of the Polish king in Krakow.

Warsaw - The capital of Poland

In 1569 Warsaw became the seat of the Sejm (Polish parliament), due to its central location in the new union between Poland and Lithuania. Four years later the city became the seat of the royal elections, however the King still resided in Krakow.
In 1596 Warsaw became the capital after a fire in the King Zygmunt III Waza's residence in Krakow. During the 1655-1660 Swedish invasion of Poland, Warsaw suffered heavy damage this included physical and cultural losses.
The 18th century saw some of the most splendid growth of the city. It was during this period that many of the palaces, churches and monasteries were erected and the cultural life flourished, especially during the reign of the last Polish king Stanislaw August Poniatowski.

Warsaw - Partition of Poland

By 1795 Poland had been totally partitioned by three countries: Prussia, Russia and the Austro-Hungarians. Warsaw found itself under the Prussian rule and its role was diminished to that of a small provincial town. Once more in 1807 Warsaw became the capital, when Napoleon created the Duchy of Warsaw. With the collapse of Napoleonic France, in 1830 Warsaw fell to the Russian rule. Despite during the Russian occupation Warsaw continued in its steady development along with a steady population increase, by 1900 Warsaw had 700,000 inhabitants.

Warsaw - Polish Independence and WWII

In 1918 Poland regained her independence and Warsaw became the capital of the Second Republic of Poland. Between the wars a deliberate development of the city was undertaken, and in 1939 the population of Warsaw had risen to over 1.3 million. When World War II broke out in 1939, the capital heroically defended itself until the 27th of September. During the five years of German occupation, the city's population lived in terror. The Jewish citizens were forced to live a walled-in ghetto, from where they were sent to the gas chambers of death camps. When the Germans decided to clear the Warsaw ghetto in the spring of 1943, the Jews resisted the Germans in an armed battle rater than to give up without a fight. In an unequal battle than ensued thousands of Jewish fighters and civilians were brutally wiped out. Intellectuals were also persecuted, and virtually everyone was in constant danger of getting arrested in a round up and getting sent to work or to a concentration camp.
On the 1st of August, 1944, the Warsaw Uprising broke out. It lasted 63 days and cost the lives of over 200 thousand people. After the suppression of the uprising, all inhabitants were expelled from the city and the Nazis systematically burned and blew up the remaining buildings of the capital. Warsaw practically ceased to exist.

Warsaw from 1945 to May 1st 2004

Warsaw was finally liberated on the 17th of January, 1945, altogether 800,000 of its inhabitants had perished during the war. The survivors came back to their city almost immediately and started to rebuild it. Warsaw again became the capital of Poland. But once more its fate was really determined by Moscow, a fact symbolized by the Palace of Culture( originally named in honor of Joseph Stalin) towering over the city center since 1955. In 1981 the communist rulers had to rely on the army to defend their power against the Solidarity movement of Lech Walesa, announcing martial law on 13th of December. But the crumbling economy and the transformations going on in the Soviet Union, the communists finally had to allow free elections in 1989, which ended in a complete defeat for the Communist Party. The new government right away began extensive democratic and economic reforms, and for Warsaw a great economic boom began. Today, with 1.6 million inhabitants, Warsaw is trying to catch up with the western capitals. Despite many problems, the city is growing. Every year the face of the city changes in a dramatic and surprising way. The city has also opened up to tourists whom it hopes to attract in large numbers. Most importantly, however, the city is again free after decades of foreign rule and influence.

Warsaw - After May 1st 2004

This day marks the beginning of a new era in Warsaw's and Poland's history. Poland is officially accepted in the European Union. The majority of the Polish people believe that the sacrifices they have so far made, and the ones that will follow, will pay off, in the long run, in terms of deepening of the democratic achievements and raising their living standard.