Warszawa 2007

The capital of Poland, which shows some of the most visible evidence of the post WWII rebuild.

Warszawa (Varshava - aka Warsaw) is the current capital of Poland (although those in Kraków may argue), having replaced Kraków (Krakoof - aka Krakow or Cracow) in 1596. Like Kraków, it has an old city just outside its centre, with the "new" city which is actually quite old - well, everything is new when it is just built - just outside that. Beside them is the current city centre, then around all of them is the current residential area of the city.

At the end of World War II (WWII), the retreating Germans bombed Warszawa, blowing most of it to pieces. 85% of the buildings were destroyed, including all of those in the old city. The Poles then began a ten year project to rebuild the city, and they clearly have done an amazingly good job. The old and new-old cities were lovingly recreated with most of their old architecture, taken from photographs and memories. The only give-aways are the building materials, which do not always match the originals.

Being under communist dictatorship, residential areas did not receive the same loving care. The residential districts were built as quickly as possible, tower block after tower block, identical rabbit hutches, all are equal. The current city centre, however, was given several new buildings, in the communist style. Grand public buildings to dominate the views, blocking out the older Polish architecture. Public office above all. Remember who you serve. The Polish population hate them; an eyesore and reminder of their oppressors, that they have not been able to block out yet.

• Outside the city centre, the forest begins. Not trees, but tower blocks. They stretch as far as you can see, mile after mile after mile, towerblocks. I have never seen such a collection. Normally a city has a few, or a district filled with them. But Warszawa is a city that has almost nothing else; an entire city filled with the things that we are trying to get rid of from our own cities.
• Poland is a reasonably large country, but with a comparatively small area of seashore, in the far North, at the Baltic Sea (a bizzare sea whose narrow access channel means it has virtually no tidal variance, but that is something for another visit). So the inhabitants do the best they can, and use the banks of the Wisła (Veeswa - aka Vistula) river as a beach. On the Eastern side of the river is the newer housing district, which has real houses, not tower blocks.
• Fishing from a sand bar.
• On the West bank of the river is the old city and new-old city. Or is that old-new city, I forget which.
• At the top end of the new-old city, a typical grand building of Polish design. Curved arches, and the common Greek-inspired pediment above the door, with circular support columns.
• Pediment sculptures.
• Not all are so grand, but the same themes are visible. Curves above the windows, and the Greek pediment.
• With sculptures, of course.
• And of course, the all important and prolific churches. This one has pediments and arches, as you might expect.
• Now entering the new-old city properly. Parking, parking, parking, parking, parking, parking, and a sample of some of the newer architecture that brings back memories of Oslo. The arched circular roof windows are quite common in Warszawa.
• Just a moment too late. I was aiming for the double-decker horse-drawn carriage. But this also gives a good idea of the slightly older building style. Still heavily ornamented, with huge thin chimneys.
• An old church, with a very minimalist decoration. The most decoration is simple stepping of the oversized walls and buttresses - it can barely even allow a couple of the gothic arched doorways.
• This church is a little special, since it actually retains a small remnant of its original building materials.
• As the houses get older, the murals begin. Considering that this entire old and new-old city was rebuilt, you have to admire just how much attention was paid to such details. They are all reproductions.
• Murals.
• Stick death.
• Mural at a plaza.
• Plaza.
• And of course, the plaza has a church. Pediments, arches, curvy dome. Seeing a pattern here?
• Like Kraków, the old city in Warszawa has a well established tradition of horse-drawn carriage rides (as shown by the last mural). However, unlike Kraków, these actually have a useful route that takes tourists around the old city, similar to the walk we are doing. They do not just walk in circles around one building.
• A street in the new-old city, adorned with street cafés. Oh, and another church.
• Another horse drawn cart ... with a church ... directly opposite the last one.
• Decorated false capitals and window sils. Most important is the enormous walrus moustache.
• Back up the street.
• Uniquely decorated; walls covered in mosaic instead of the usual mural.
• The Barbican marks the start of the old city - or perhaps that should be the old-old city.
• The building materials do not feel entirely authentic, but the style definitely is. Though the building materials of the Barbican in Kraków was made of brick too, so perhaps I am mistaken.
• The old city wall.
• The inner mural. Get in touch with yours.
• Common in the old city; fake 3D brickwork, painted on the rendering, instead of murals.
• Damer on the wall.
• Rotten damer?
• A street in the old city, showing patterned murals.
• More fake brickwork, lightly etched and painted.
• Old city plaza, surrounded by decorated buildings, and filled with the typical street cafés and restaurants. We tried some other Polish food here - while most of the world has hot dogs, Warszawa has hollowed baguettes, filled with mushrooms in sauce. Not bad at all.
• No two buildings the same, no two roofs aligned, no two colours alike. Each unique. Imagine how much work must have gone into rebuilding this place to make it like this.
• Detailed mural.
• Bizzare adornment above a door - looks like a death mask.
• Syrenka Warszawska (Si(h)renka Varshafska - the Warsaw Siren). This topless, armed mermaid is the symbol of Warszawa.
• I know this is amazing, but for once, a grand building is not a church. This one is a theatre. Once again though, it has circular pillars, an arched doorway, and a pediment.
• Another small remnant of the old buildings.
• A lion chimera, growing from the corner of a building. There are more exmples of these elsewhere in the old town.
• Damer playing, of all things, Leva's Polka. I was probably one of the very few people to recognise such an odd choice of music.
• The cathedral, the oldest surviving building in Warszawa (if such a thing can be said for a building that has been rebuilt), having been originally built in 1339 (two years too late, eh?). Not exactly large enough to be a cathedral, and certainly lacking the usual style - it looks more like a brick pipe organ.
• I wasn't the first to take this, and I won't be the last, but that doesn't stop me from liking the picture.
• Bell End. Note the curved shape of the head ... er ... roofs.
• The bell of Bell End.
• The old city ends at the palace - or Royal Castle, but it's not a castle; the first thing to be destroyed at the very start of WWII.
• Palace courtyard.
• Palace entrance.
• Kolumna Zygmunta (Koloomna Zi(h)gmoonta - Zygmunt's Column) in Plac Zamkowy (Plats Zamkovi(h) - Castle Square). This was built in 1644 to commemorate the king who changed the capital from Kraków to Warszawa.
• At the start of WWII, the palace and column were the first victims of the initial strike that started the war. The column was damaged but survived, only to be largely destroyed at the end of the war with the rest of Warszawa. On the right here is that column. The damage you can see on its surface (not the big fractures) is the relic that marks the start of WWII. Not often you get to see something of such significance so close you can touch it.
• Back into some of the new-old city outside the old city, and some flowing roof tiles over the attic windows.
• A typical oval window, a classic piece of traditional Polish architecture.
• Mural commemorating Warszawa.
• Don't think this one is a church, but it shows more of the Polish-borrowed-from-Greek architecture; round pillars and pediment, with arched windows. The decoration in the recessed pediment is a scene made up from mermaids and mermen.
• Now outside the old and new-old city, same architecture as before; yep, it's a church.
• Capitals.
• The statue is of a famous poet, but the building looks beautiful. You'll never guess what it is.
• Heading away from the grand buildings for a moment, through an alley with a house bridging the gap. Add some water and this could be Venice.
• More Polish windows, with sculptures.
• No idea what it is, and who cares, it looks grand, and I like it.
• Griffins.
• CitiBank wanted to rent this building, and were told that they could do so only if they paid to renovate it. They paid up, and the result is impressive, done in the Polish style.
• The National Theatre (and Opera).
• Theatre ornamentation.
• The Polish equivalent to Number 10. Certainly a lot nicer than Downing Street anyway.
• Sculptures on a nearby wall.
• Much like in Cardiff, the University of Warszawa (Universitas Varsoviensis in Latin) owns a large amount of buildings in the city centre, most of which are on this street.
• University entrance gate.
• University buildings.
• The science society building. The statue at the front is Kopernicus (Copernicus), who is credited with proving that the Earth revolves around the sun, and not vice versa. As such, he is treated as a hero within Poland.
• More griffins.
• Now into the current city centre area, this church used to have pride of place at the end of a wide road. Disliking the Polish symbolism, the communists had a plaza built in front of it, with a large building blocking the view of the church.
• The architecture around the plaza was changed to suit the communist style, and the change in appearance is obvious. No more circular pillars, no more arches, no more pediments. The communist architecture uses straight lines. Decorated and grand, but without the same asthetics. All based on straight lines. One of the buildings here is the old censorship building, where all potential books, publications, and broadcasts were censored before release. Thou shalt not publish that which opposes communist ideals.
• Communist sculptures, trying to reiterate the proletariat roles; the working man, and the housewife mother. Thou shalt be communist. These are the eyesores of communism that are left in country that rejected it. The transformation is slow, but it is happening.
• The worst insult to people in Warszawa; this is the ironically named palace of culture and science (the orientation is intentional as a reverse insult). It is hated by most people because it symbolises the Soviet presence in Poland. A stamp to say "we were here". In an appropriate city, it would be good, but not in Warszawa. It can be seen for many miles, making it even more painful, and is the first landmark seen by most visitors (as well as being a gathering place for tramps). Since the fall of communism, several suggestions have been made, starting with its destruction, the removal of the phallic protrusions, and painting it in odd colours. However, the current trend is to build as many tall skyscrapers around it as possible, so that it cannot be seen. For now, it is covered for about half of its possible angles by other buildings, perhaps in another 20 years it will have disappeared completely.
• The Polish parliament building, which is surrounded by the embassies of many other countries, some extremely ugly (France), but most looking quite nice. No pictures, sorry.
• Pałac Łazienkowski (Pawats Waj(e)enkofskee - The Palace on the Water), in Park Łazienki (Pa'rk Waj(e)enkee - Łazienki Park), the largest (formal) park in Warszawa.
• Everybody needs a bull for a pillow.
• Upskirt statue.
• Damer, this time with classical music.
• The palace is attached to the bank by bridges, and sits on an artificial island in the middle of "the baths". The name "the baths" comes from the polish form that could also be translated to "the toilets", hence the obvious humour that revolves around the park.
• Turn a corner, and whaddaya know, a wedding. I quite like the picture, wonder if they would like it too. Tell you what, if this is you, get in touch, and I'll send you the full quality version, but only if you send me the copy taken by your official photographer so I know it's you, ok?
• An open-air theatre on an island, built to resemble the ruins of an old amphitheatre.
• Amphitheatre seats.
• Another corner, another wedding. Hmm. So that's what this park is here for, eh? Wedding photographs?
• Palace on the Water from across the water, with - wouldn't you know it - a wedding party in front of it, and a duck walking on water.
• Red squirrel in the park, eating a nut.
• Peacock - without any tail feathers.
• Why no tail feathers? Because thieves stole them all. Thieves! Ok, so they probably bought them legitimately, but why would you want to ruin the best part of a peacock just so you can wave a silly feather? Tourists.
• Still, the peacocks don't seem to be having too much bad luck.

We spent three days in the city, in the midst of a heatwave. It was unbearable. Worse in the trams and busses. At least we finally had a proper bath, and reduced financial requirements.

We were treated to real Polish cooking and some more typically poish dishes; white barszcz (barshch - aka borscht) - like żurek but more sour, Polish sausages, Beef with boiled noodle dough, miseria (meeseree'a) - cucumber in sour cream, and salads made with soured gherkins. Oh, and of course tea without milk (sugar and lemon don't cut it, sorry). Polish hosts have a custom to make sure they prepare more food than you can possibly fit. That is their way of making you feel welcome, and we were made to feel welcome. This conflicts with the British custom for guests, which is to always eat whatever is prepared for you, no matter how much. I had to abandon my country's customs.

But after three days, we wanted to go somewhere, and do something. Since it is unlikely I shall be in a position to do so again any time soon (yes, it was mainly for me), we changed to a different track, to visit one last place before heading home.

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