Never Tired of Visiting Warsaw

My wife and I had been to Warsaw before and have seen several great places there. However, you can never get tired of visiting Warsaw, I believe. As members of the Polish language group run by the IOM (the International Organization for Migration) at our hostel, we were invited to pay a visit to Warsaw and we decided not to neglect that opportunity of visiting the Polish capital again. The bus was ordered by the IOM and we, a group of 30 Ukrainians, set out to the capital by bus. The distance is 100 km. It took us about an hour and a half to get to downtown Warsaw.

We enjoyed the idyllic countryside on the way to Warsaw

We passed the National Stadium, Warsaw

We passed the Old Town Bridge, Warsaw

Towards the Central Point office tower and plaza, downtown Warsaw

Q22 office tower in the center of Wola District, Warsaw/The Central Point office tower and plaza at Marszalkowska and Swietokrzyska Street, downtown Warsaw

Our Russian-speaking guide Barbara was waiting for us downtown in Warsaw. Our route included visiting the Saxon Gardens, Piłsudski Square, Krakowskie Przedmieście Street and the Royal Castle.

We found out that the Evangelical-Augsburg Church of the Holy Trinity at Małachowski Square was one of the most magnificent monuments of sacred architecture not only in Warsaw, but in the whole of Poland. On Sunday, December 26, the 240th anniversary of its consecration will be celebrated. The classicist Evangelical-Augsburg Church of the Holy Trinity at Małachowski Square was erected in the years 1777-81. It is the work of an excellent architect from Saxony, Szymon Bogumił Zug. His design, inspired by the Roman Pantheon, was personally selected for implementation by King Stanisław August Poniatowski. The impressive 58-metre-high church was once the tallest building in Warsaw.
Zachęta State Gallery of Art at 3 Plac Małachowskiego became the place where we met our IOM Polish language leader Lidia and our city guide Barbara. The building has an impressive entrance colonnade and an amazing bas relief on its façade. The bas relief contains big Latin letters ARTIBUS meaning "To the arts" .

The Zachęta – the National Gallery of Art – used to house the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, established 160 years ago by art lovers and artists. Devotion to art is manifested in the form of the inscription "Artibus" (“To the arts”) on the façade of the building. This is where performances, theatre and dance shows, as well as installations and activities take place from June to September. As our city guide told us, this is where the first Polish President Gabriel Narutowicz, who had been sworn in on December 11, 1922, was shot on December 16,1922.

The pedestal contains the dates 1914-1921 and the inscription that reads,
Służba i śmierć bezimienna dla wzniosłej spawy ojczyzny. / Service and nameless death for the noble cause of the homeland.

The monument to Peowiak (POWer) is located on Małachowski Square, opposite the Zachęta in Warsaw. The monument depicts a dying soldier of the Polish Military Organization (“P.O.W.” in Polish). It’s a sculpture of Edward Wittig unveiled on September 29, 1933. It is dedicated to members of the Polish Military Organization. The organization was founded in 1914 by Józef Piłsudsk and was later incorporated into the Polish Army. The original monument was lost during the war. What we can see currently in front of the Zachęta is a replica made by Marek Moderau and Zbigniew Mikilewicz. The monument was unveiled on November 10, 1999.

Visiting the Saxon Park, Warsaw

Our group entering the Saxon Park, Warsaw

We proceeded to the famous Saxon Garden («Ogród Saski» in Polish), one of the oldest parks in Warsaw, that is next to Piłsudski Square. It was our next point of visit. The park was opened in May 1727 and became the first public park in the capital. The park went through many changes in the 19th century and was turned into a landscape park ("the English park") in contrast to the geometrically planned, regular park (the "French park) that was popular in the previous centuries. The Saxon Park was originally built as French park for King Augustus II in 1724-1748. About 150 different trees and shrubs grow on the 15 hectares of the park. The main alley is decorated with sculptures on mythological themes and is adorned with old chestnut trees. The park used to have 37 statues before WWII, but only 20 statues have survived to this day.

The Empire Fountain dating back to 1855, the Saxon Park, Warsaw

We saw the Empire Fountain at the beginning of the main alley.

According to the plan of our trip, on the way to Piłsudski Square, our group visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (“Grób Nieznanego Żołnierza” in Polish), which is an important place to honor the memory of fallen soldiers. In 1946, Piłsudski Square was renamed into Victory Square, and in 1990 its former name was returned. Our guide told us that Piłsudski Square was an outstanding cultural and historical center of Warsaw, where locals and tourists could experience the atmosphere of the Polish capital. All right, we had been to other great places in the capital, so visiting one more would be superb, we thought.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw

We read the information board about the reconstruction of the former royal palace. Plans for the reconstruction of the Saxon Palace and its adjacent buildings began to germinate immediately after the war. The Warsaw Reconstruction Office («Biuro Odbudowy Stolicy» in Polish) - urged the communist authorities to reconstruct the historic architectural fabric of this part of Warsaw.

At that time, conservators and art historians asked for the ruins of buildings destroyed by the Germans to remain at the square, until a thorough examination of the rubble could be completed. They believed that it was still possible to find many artifacts among the ruins, which could then be used to rebuild the complex. Unfortunately, the political decisions were different.

Out of the complex on the western side of the square, only a fragment of the colonnade of the Saxon Palace which housed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier remained and can be seen here to this day. The monument in the form of a permanent ruin quickly became a symbol of the destruction of Warsaw.

However, the idea of reconstruction remained alive - it was promoted by NGOs and fostered by many Warsaw residents and enthusiasts.
After several decades of efforts, on November 11, 2018 - on the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence - President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda signed the Declaration on the Restoration of the Saski Palace in Warsaw to Celebrate the Hundredth Anniversary of the Restoration of the Independence of the Republic of Poland. Thus, he initiated the legal preparations for the reconstruction of the Saski Palace, Brühl Palace and houses on Królewska Street. The resulting bill was then passed by the Polish Parliament - the Sejm and the Senate - in 2021.

The Saxon Park adjoins the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – the only thing left here of the old palace and park complex. Only a small arcade now reminds of the former splendor of the royal palace. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was built under that arcade and solemnly dedicated on November 2, 1925 to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the First World War. Under the three central arches of the palace, a slab was installed on a pedestal made of black granite with the inscription: "Here lies a Polish soldier who died for the Motherland." The remains of the soldier who died near Lviv were placed in the crypt to the sounds of a trumpet and artillery salute.

The 22 memorial plaques list the names of those places where the Poles have ever fought. After the war, the memorial was restored, preserving the symbolism of the ruins. Urns with soil brought from the battlefields of World War II appeared, and new names were added to granite slabs. In April 1989, soil was brought here from Katyn, where thousands of Polish officers - the POWs taken by the Red Army - were ruthlessly executed by the orders of the Soviet communist authorities.

Piłsudski Square located in the heart of Warsaw lies to the southeast of the Old Town, close to the main tourist routes and popular sites of the city. Somehow my wife and I have not visited it before. Piłsudski Square is limited by three streets: Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz Street Street, Wierzbowa Street and Krakowskie Przedmieście Street (“Krakow Foretown”).
Originally, the square was part of the Saxon Gardens, laid out in the 17th century by the order of King Augustus II the Strong. The Saxon palace and the garden were part of the royal residence and an important cultural center. After the dismantling of the Saxon Palace in 1808, the square became an open space. It began to gain more importance as a public space in Warsaw. During this period, the square was known as Saxon Square («Plac Saski» in Polish).
After Poland gained independence in 1918, the square was named after Józef Piłsudski, one of the key leaders of the revived Polish state.
During the German occupation of Warsaw in World War II, the square suffered significant damage. The Saxon Palace was completely destroyed. The square was named after Adolf Hitler during the Nazi occupation.

Piłsudski Square in Warsaw, the most remarkable corners of the old city, is a venue for various cultural events, official ceremonies and public events such as:

• annual celebrations of Independence Day on November 11 with military parades and wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier;
• open-air concerts, music festivals and other cultural events in the summer;
• Temporary art exhibitions and installations that can be both modern art projects and historical exhibitions.

Once upon a time, trade routes crossed here, and the first buildings appeared only at the end of the 16th century. Then this convenient place was bought by King Augustus II and here the work began to boil. The best architects designed a magnificent palace, and from it a wide alley stretched through a well-groomed park to the military barracks.
In 1815, Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov, the de facto viceroy of the Russian Empire in Poland, put things in order here to his liking. He called the square Saxon Square and adapted it for army training. On this parade ground, the viceroy drilled soldiers and slapped generals. He was viewed as a tyrant in Poland, hated by the military and the civilian population alike. In the Polish literature, Grand Duke Konstantin is portrayed as a cruel despot, which he was in real life, as the historians confirm.
The famous Antonio Carazzi (1792-1877), who worked in Poland from 1819 until 1847, decorated the capital with many monumental buildings and rebuilt the Saxon Palace. This is how a majestic classical colonnade appeared there in honor of the Polish generals who died in the uprising of 1830 on the side, as the inscription said, of "His Imperial Majesty".
Another architectural talent, Leonty Benois (1856-1928), who is known for his houses and palaces in an eclectic style built in St. Petersburg and Moscow, designed and built an Orthodox church on what is now Józef Piłsudski Square in honor of St.Alexander Nevsky. Due to the colonizing efforts of the Russian Empire authorities, Warsaw increasingly resembled a Russian city. St.Alexander Nevsky Church was under construction for 16 years (1894-1912) and with its height of 70 meters it became the highest building in the city and reminded everybody of the Russian rule over Poland. In the summer of 1913, when the whole empire solemnly celebrated the tricentenary of the Romanov house, a huge bell rang for the first time on the bell tower. The sound, according to contemporaries, was surprisingly good. However, the bell did not ring for long.

The First World War was only a year away, and in 1915 Russian troops were already preparing to surrender Warsaw. However, they were not going to leave the bell: after all, the enemy could melt it into balls... But it was not so easy to evacuate the multi-pound colossus. The bell was broken into pieces and taken away in parts.
The Germans, having occupied the capital, remodeled the church in their own way, and it named it after St.Henry. But the invaders did not stay there for long.
When Poland became independent, the Polish Parliament adopted a resolution to demolish the temple, which had been a symbol of foreign domination for years. It cost a lot of work, because it was built for centuries. Silesian miners had to be invited to turn the church into a square. The work was done in 1924-1926. Heaps of broken stone went into action again: in the twenties, they were laid out with a half-kilometer section of the boulevard over the Vistula in the area of the Poniatowski Bridge. Icons and paintings were transferred to the Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene, where they still delight the parishioners.

We crossed Piłsudski Square and saw John Paul II cross on our way to Piłsudski monument.

The monument to Józef Piłsudski, Warsaw

You can see three memorial plaques on tree sides of the pedestal.

They read,

• The Democratic Polish State wants and must respect the cultural rights of all its Citizens.
• He who does not respect and does not value his past is not worthy of respect or the right to a future.
• To be defeated and not to surrender is a victory, to win and rest on one's laurels is a defeat.

Then we walked past Europe Hotel, a gem of the 19th century designed by Enrico Marconi and reached Bristol Hotel, an architectural masterpiece of the 20th century. The  Bristol Hotel is a great example of the splendor of old Warsaw. It was built in 1900 by a company whose partners included Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a Polish pianist and, later, the prime minister.
In this area, you are sure to notice a special memorial plaque dedicated to the Saxon Gardens. It represents a bird's eye view of the axis of the park and its alleys. The memorial plaque lies on the sidewalk.

The Saxon Palace memorial plaque, Warsaw