This huge edifice stands at the heart of the modern city, a gigantic 230m high grey tower visible from 30km away. “A gift from the Soviet Nation to the Polish Nation”, it was built in the 1950s and comprises three theatres, a multiplex cinema, a 3 00..

Precious collections of ancient and medieval art, Polish art from the 16C to the 20C and decorative arts. The Faras Gallery is remarkable for its 120 frescoes removed from Faras in the Sudan (saved from destruction by flooding when the Aswan Dam wa..

This 4km-long promenade is composed of a series of three thoroughfares used by the monarchy (hence its name). It links the Old Town to the Lazienski Park and, further south, to the Wilanow Palace . Lined by commemorative monuments, historical bu..

Built at the end of the 13th C., the castle served as residence to the Dukes of Mazovia before becoming the seat of the Royal Crown. Considerably extended in the 17th C., it was for a time the seat of Parliament. Occupied by the Tsars for more than a..

The Old Town (completely rebuilt to its 17C-18C layout, based on archive documents and engravings) gives a beautiful panorama of Gothic and Renaissance buildings, symbolising the capital's historical richness.This remarkable work of reconstruction, s..

The market square is one of the Old Town’s most popular spots. The many market stalls, terraces and restaurants and bars that it offers share in its success. Several centuries of architecture today offer the onlooker a mixture of the most wonderful a..

The museum is sited in an old brick building which was the electric tram terminus. Using modern media, (film, images, sound effects), it gives a day by day account of the uprising from 1 August to 19 October 1944. This symbolic and desperate undertak..

Many monuments stand between Anielewicza Street and Stawki Street: after the ghetto uprising monument at a site of confrontation with the Nazis, the heroes of the ghetto monument is of polished stone. On this street, 15 stone blocks honour promin..

A former hunting ground of King Stanislas II Augustus, this park at the southern end of the Royal Way , was acquired by him in 1776 in order to build his summer residence. Sited among linked ponds and water features formerly used as spas ( lazienki ..

This neo-Classical building was built for King Stanislas II Augustus Poniatowski. It suffered war damage but its furniture and other collections survived. On the ground floor, decorations at the foot of the walls recall that this was a “bathing pavil..

The Wilanow Palace was used as a summer residence in the 17C by King Jan III Sobieski. A splendid villa in the Baroque style, many of its rooms display period furniture and decorations (see in particular the Crimson Room, Etruscan Study, the royal ap..

Lying around the palace of culture and sciences , Warsaw’s commercial and economic hub gives the impression of being a huge building site: an unsettling scene of skyscrapers and futurist structures (notably the centre for life and leisure , Zlote T..

Situated in the town centre, opposite the evangelical church, the Ethnographic Museum offers a rich collection of exhibits representative of Polish crafts and folklore: headdresses and costumes, tools related to traditional trades, many items from lo..

The church was destroyed during the 1944 uprising, in battles that were fought even inside this building. Its fine Baroque-style structure was subsequently the setting for confrontations between students and the communist authorities. The Christ in t..

Standing in the middle of a square, Plac Trzech Krzyzy, this church was built in 1818 in honour of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, also King of Poland. Based on the Pantheon in Rome, it was destroyed during the war, then rebuilt in its original form. Its..

This neo-Renaissance palace is today home to the Polish architects’ association and an architecture centre (SARP), a pleasant café-restaurant with terrace giving onto an attractive English-style garden, plus the famous Foksal Gallery, one of the city..

Closed by the Tsar in 1832 as part of reprisals for the 1830 insurrection, the university did not reopen until 1915. Under German occupation, studying was forbidden and thousands of clandestine students and teachers were killed. An underground univer..

Born on 22 February 1810 in a small village on the city’s outskirts, Chopin was the city's great child prodigy. Showing his gifts for music (especially on the piano) at an early age, he was still very young when he took lessons at the Central School ..

To the South of the Theatre Square, we find the Grand Theatre, an impressive neo-Classical structure built between 1825 and 1833 by architect Antonio Corazzi. Its designers envisaged it as the biggest in Europe. Largely destroyed and burned down duri..

A visit to the ZIH is an excellent introduction to the tragic history of Warsaw’s Jewish communities. Established after the Second World War, it has two permanent exhibitions, one on Jewish art, the other on the Warsaw Ghetto. On the site of the Blu..