A History of Warsaw

Medieval Warsaw

The 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 including a 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 saw 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.

The Capital of Poland

In 1569 Warsaw became the seat of the Sejm or 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 residence of King Zygmunt III Waza 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.

The Partition of Poland

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

The Rebirth of Poland, World War, and Communist Domination

In 1918 Poland regained her independence and Warsaw became the capital of the Second Republic of Poland. When World War II broke out in 1939 the capital heroically defended itself until the 27th of September, 1939. During the five years of German occupation that followed the city's population lived in terror. The Jewish citizens were forced to live in a walled-in ghetto. From there they were sent to the gas chambers of Auschwitz and other 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 rather than to give up without a fight. In an unequal battle than ensued thousands of Jewish fighters and civilians were brutally wiped out.

On the 1st of August, 1944 the Warsaw Uprising broke out. From the beginning the fighters of the Home Army were doomed, because of lack of help from the outside. After 63 days of heroic resistance the Warsaw uprising was brutally suppressed. This was the largest act of rebellion in Nazi occupied Europe and contributed to a quicker end of the war. Over 200,000 Poles, soldiers and civilians alike perished. 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. In August, 1944 Warsaw was no more.

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, which made Poland a subject nation under Communism. 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. With the crumbling economy and the transformations going on in the Soviet Union, the communists finally had to allow free elections in 1989. These ended in a complete defeat for the Communist Party.

Warsaw Today

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.

Zamek Krolewski (Royal Castle)

Visiting the Royal Castle, one has to remind oneself that most of it was reconstructed between 1971 and 1984, although the darker elements of the decor were actually salvaged from the ruins. The original was destroyed, along with much else, by the Nazis during the Second World War. The castle is located on a plateau overlooking the Vistula River. It was built for the Dukes of Mazovia and expanded when King Zygmunt III Vasa moved the capital to Warsaw. From the early 17th until the late 18th century, it was the residence of the Kings of Poland. It subsequently housed the parliament and is now a museum displaying tapestries, period furniture, coffin portraits and collections of porcelain and other decorative arts. Work is currently underway to recreate the castle gardens, set on the slopes of the Vistula River, which were also badly scarred when the Nazis leveled the rest of the castle complex.

Lazienki Park

Besides several sumptuous palaces, Lazienki Park contains the Chopin Monument, where the annual Chopin Festival is held each summer and the Orangerie, set within extensive 18th-century gardens. The Palac Lazienkowski or Palace on the Water is best viewed from near the monument to Jan Sobiewski, on the bridge where ulica Agrykola crosses the water. Originally built in 1624, for King Zygmunt III Vasa,Zamek Ujazdowski or Ujazdowski Castle now houses the Center of Contemporary Art. The 1764 Palac Belweder or Belvedere Palace was the residence of King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski and later of Poland’s 20th-century presidents.

Wilanow Palace

In the mid-1600s, King Jan III Sobieski commissioned Augustyn Locci to build the Baroque palace and garden of Wilanow for his summer residence. Construction continued from 1677 until the king’s death in 1696. Wilanow Palace remained popular with subsequent monarchs. Visitors can tour the interior and the gallery, which features portraits of famous Poles. Also here is the Muzeum Plaktau w Wilanowie or Poster Museum at Wilanow.

Pawiak Prison

This dweery old prison symbolizes the oppression that has troubled the people of Warsaw over the last two centuries. Originally built in the 1830s, at the order of the ruling Czars, the prison incarcerated many victims of the Nazi reign of terror, when it served as the largest political prison in Poland. A third of the estimated 100,000 prisoners never made it out alive. The Nazis tried to destroy the evidence of their crimes along with the prison as they fled Warsaw, but Pawiak is now reborn as a museum and a testament to the city’s seemingly endless ability to suffer and survive.

Narodowe (National Museum)

The National Museum’s impressive art collection dates from ancient times to the present day. Highlights of the collection include Jan Matejko’s monumental Battle of Grunwalkd, which celebrates the Polish victory over the Teutonic Knights in 1410, and a collection of Egyptian art, which is unique in Europe. There are also galleries of Polish and European decorative arts. Frequent temporary exhibitions bring prized international works, from Andy Warhol to Caravaggio, to Warsaw.

Katedra sw. Jana (St John’s Cathedral)

St John’s claims to be the oldest church in Warsaw. A major church in the Mazovian Gothic style, it was completed in the 15th century. St John’s was upgraded from a parish church to a cathedral in 1798. Destroyed during World War II, it has been reconstructed in its original style. It features major Gothic art works by Wit Stwosz. The cathedral was used in 1764, for the coronation of the last Polish king, Stanislaw II and for the swearing in of the Sejm or Polish Parliament after the constitution of 1791. The covered footbridge connecting it to the Royal Palace was built after a failed assassination attempt on King Zygmunt III.

Getto Zydowskie (Jewish Ghetto)

Pre-World War Two Warsaw had a Jewish population second only to New York. After the Nazi invasion, some 400,000 Jews were rounded up and forced into the Jewish ghetto. A ten-foot wall encircled the area, from the Palace of Culture and Science to the Umschlagplatz Monument, at the corner of ulica Stawki and ulica Dzika. This stark monument, erected in the late 1980s, marks the place from where Jews were taken by train to the Treblinka concentration camp, following the Ghetto Uprising of 19 April 1943. The center of the ghetto is marked by the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, which was erected on a sea of ruins in 1948. Other memorials are the Monument of the Killed and Murdered in the East, and the 1944 Warsaw Uprising Monument. Only three sections of the actual ghetto wall remain.

Further information about the Jewish Ghetto is available at the Jewish Historical Institute Gallery, located on the site of the former Great Synagogue. The Institute has a permanent display of work by Jewish artists, as well as photographs and documents relating to the Jewish ghetto, a bookshop, with volumes in English, on the Jews of Eastern Europe and archives at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation. There are also plans for a brand new Jewish museum, which will be built on the site of the ghetto and funded by Jewish groups around the world.

Visiting Warsaw

There are direct flights to Warsaw from most places in Europe, as well as major US cities. Train service is available, though it can be as expensive as discounted air travel unless one has a discount rail pass. Poland’s road network is good and is getting better. There is a bus and tram network that connects most places in the city, and a single line metro which connects the southern suburbs to the city center.