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.