Bielany
Bielany is a district in Warsaw located in the north-western part of the city. Initially a part of Żoliborz, Bielany has been an independent district since 1994, Bielany borders Żoliborz to the south-east, and Bemowo to the south-west. Its north-eastern border is the Vistula River, and the border is the limits of the city of Warsaw. The name Bielany, which in Polish is plural, derives from the habits of the Camaldolese monks who have an ancient priory there
Masovian Voivodeship
Masovian Voivodeship or Mazovia Province, is the largest and most populous of the sixteen Polish provinces, or voivodeships, created in 1999. It occupies 35,579 square kilometres of east-central Poland, and has 5,324,500 inhabitants. Its principal cities are Warsaw in the centre of the Warsaw metropolitan area, Radom in the south, Płock in the west, Siedlce in the east, the capital of the voivodeship is the national capital, Warsaw. The province was created on January 1,1999, out of the former Warsaw, Płock, Ciechanów, Ostrołęka, Siedlce and Radom Voivodeships, the provinces name recalls the traditional name of the region, with which it is roughly coterminous. Masovian Voivodeship is divided into 42 counties,5 city counties and 37 land counties and these are subdivided into 314 gminas, which include 85 urban gminas. The counties, shown on the map, are described in the table below. The voivodeship contains 85 cities and towns and these are listed below in descending order of population, Protected areas in Masovian Voivodeship include one National Park and nine Landscape Parks.
Together with Płock and Rawa Voivodeships, it formed the province of Masovia, Masovian Voivodeship was one of the voivodeships of Congress Poland. It was formed from Warsaw Department, and transformed into Masovia Governorate, there are three main road routes that pass through the voivodship, Cork–Berlin–Poznań–Warszawa–Minsk–Moscow–Omsk, Prague–Wrocław–Warsaw–Białystok–Helsinki and Pskov–Gdańsk–Warsaw–Kraków–Budapest. Currently there are small stretches of autostrada in the area. However, the A2 autostrada, upon its completion, will be the first autostrada to connect the region, the autostrada will pass directly through the voivodship from east to west connecting it with Belarus and Germany. The railroad system is based on Koleje Mazowieckie and PKP Intercity, the main international airport in the region is Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport. Masovian Voivodeship is the wealthiest province in Poland and it produces 22% of Polish GDP, and GDP per capita is 160% of country average. Second Polish Republics Warsaw Voivodeship Official website Things to do in Warsaw
Mariensztat
Mariensztat is a neighbourhood in Warsaws borough of Śródmieście. It is located between the Vistula river and the historical Old Town, the historical neighbourhood dates from the 18th century, when local nobleman Eustachy Potocki married Maria Kątska and received the parcel of land as part of Kątskas dowry. He established a jurydyka and named the town Maryenstadt after his wife, after World War II, the spelling was changed to Mariensztat, but this did not change the pronunciation. The neighbourhood was razed to the ground during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, reconstruction work began in 1948, involving a complete redesign of the street plan and architectural appearance of the area. Mariensztat became a housing project under Polands new communist and socialist authorities. The neighbourhood was featured in a 1953 film Adventure in Marienstadt, Mariensztat is one of the smallest districts of Warsaw. Currently, almost all the housing was built in 1948-1949, architects Zygmunt Stępiński and Józef Sigalin designed the post war buildings so as to evoke in a loose way the small-town buildings of 18th century Praga.
The façades of some homes were partially maintained and this was the first Warsaw housing estate built after World War II on a spot completely destroyed in the Warsaw Uprising. Much of the rebuild, built with bricks from demolition in Warsaw, the Mariensztacki Hotel is one of Warsaws oldest public bars. The etymology of the name comes from the German language word Marienstadt, as Mariensztat was owned by Eustace and Maria Potocki. The name comes from the name of the owner, media related to Mariensztat at Wikimedia Commons
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin.
This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index.
Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD.
With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
Siekierkowski Bridge
Siekierkowski Bridge is a bridge over the Vistula River in Warsaw, connecting the Mokotów and Wawer districts. It is a bridge,500 m long and 33.38 m wide. The structure is supported by two H-pylons,87.07 m high, when the bridge was opened on 21 September 2002 it was the newest and southernmost of Warsaws bridges. The bridge is named after Warsaws Siekierki district, on the west side of the Vistula River, Łazienkowski Bridge Poniatowski Bridge Świętokrzyski Bridge
Saxon Garden
The Saxon Garden is a 15. 5–hectare public garden in central Warsaw, facing Piłsudski Square. It is the oldest public park in the city, founded in the late 17th century, it was opened to the public in 1727 as one of the first publicly accessible parks in the world. The Saxon Garden was originally the site of Warsaw fortifications, Sigismunds Ramparts, the garden was extended in the reign of King Augustus II, who attached it to the Saxon Axis, a line of parks and palaces linking the western outskirts of Warsaw with the Vistula River. The park of the adjoining Saxon Palace was opened to the public on 27 May 1727, initially a Baroque French-style park, in the 19th century it was turned into a Romantic English-style landscape park. Destroyed during and after the Warsaw Uprising, it was reconstructed after World War II. The garden was a example of the Baroque extension of formal vistas inspired by the park of Versailles. The park starts from the back façade of the palace, flanking an alley with many sculptures.
The central avenue lead directly to the palace, as was usual in French parks of the era, following the completion of the Saxon Palace, the surroundings were included in the structure. A baroque flower garden with pieces of turf, flower beds and these gardens extended the central axis of a symmetrical building façade in rigorously symmetrical axial designs of patterned parterres, gravel walks and formally planted bosquets. The parterres were laid out from 1713 by Joachim Heinrich Schultze, a vast palace complex according to Tylman van Gamerens design arose here between 1661 and 1664 for Jan Andrzej Morsztyn. In 1669 the palace was rebuilt and enlarged, the main break was enhanced and a two galleries ended with a double-storied pavillons were added to the palaces alcoves. In 1713 the building was purcheased by King Augustus II, who started to repurchase surrounding freeholds, the Palace was remodeled in 1842. During World War II, the Saxon Palace was blown up by the Germans after the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, Brühl Palace, former palace of Jerzy Ossoliński, was rebuilt between 1681 and 1697 by Tylman van Gameren.
Purchased by Heinrich von Brühl in 1750, on his request it was reconstructed by Johann Friedrich Knöbel, the two outbuildings were built in that time and put together with the palace. Later another two outbuildings were added and weaved together by an enclosure decorated with sculptures, the central limb of the building was enhanced and covered with a mansard roof. During 1932-37 the palace was adapted for use as the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the new Polish Republic and it was deliberately destroyed by the Germans on December 18,1944. Sandstone statues, a part of the collection of sculptures removed to Saint Petersburg after recapturing the city by Marshal Suvorov in 1794. According to the 1745 plan of the Saxon Garden there were 70 postuments in the Garden, four of these sculptures were completely destroyed during the blowing up of the Saxon Palace in 1944, but they were reconstructed
Praga
Praga is a district of Warsaw, Poland. It is located on the east bank of the river Vistula, first mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter. The historical Praga was a settlement located at the eastern bank of the Vistula river, directly opposite the towns of Old Warsaw and Mariensztat. First mentioned in 1432, it derived its name from the Polish verb prażyć, meaning to burn or to roast, as it occupied a forested area that was burnt out to make place for the village. Separated from Warsaw by a river, it developed independently of the nearby city. However, as it was mostly a suburb and most buildings were wooden, currently the only surviving historical monument from that epoch is the Church of Our Lady of Loreto. Although there were attempts to build a permanent bridge across the river, none succeeded. Communication between the capital and Praga was maintained by privately run ferries and, in the winter, over the ice, finally, in 1791, during the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski, Praga was attached to Warsaw as a borough.
The Battle of Praga, or Battle of Warsaw of 1794, was a Russian assault during the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794 and it was followed by a massacre in which over 20,000 inhabitants of the Praga district lost their lives. Unlike the western parts of Warsaw, Praga remained relatively untouched during World War II and in the period of reconstruction. A Soviet War Memorial is located here, because of the traditional separate status of Praga, there are two Catholic dioceses in Warsaw, Archdiocese of Warsaw with St. Johns Cathedral and Diocese of Warsaw-Praga with St. Florians Cathedral. In 2011 the local Monument to Brotherhood in Arms was taken down, besides historical Praga, they include, Białołęka Rembertów Targówek Wawer Wesoła Praga Park Museum of Praga Media related to Praga at Wikimedia Commons
Palace of Culture and Science
Constructed in 1955, the Palace of Culture and Science is a notable high-rise building in Warsaw, Poland. The Palace of Culture and Science is the tallest building in Poland and it is 237 metres tall, including the structural 43-metre high spire. The building was known as the Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science. Stalins name was removed from the colonnade, interior lobby and one of the buildings sculptures, varsovians still commonly use nicknames to refer to the palace, notably Pekin, and Pajac. Other less common names include Stalins syringe, the Elephant in Lacy Underwear, only Pekin was the popular alternative name. The four walls of the signpost display the names of large or important cities around the world. Construction started in 1952 and lasted until 1955, a gift from the Soviet Union to the people of Poland, the tower was constructed, using Soviet plans, by 3500–5000 Russian workers and 4000 Polish workers. 16 workers died in accidents during the construction, the Russian builders were housed at a new suburban complex built at Polands expense, with its own cinema, food court, community centre and swimming pool, called Osiedle Przyjaźń.
The architecture of the building is related to several similar skyscrapers built in the Soviet Union of the same era. However, the main architect Lev Rudnev incorporated some Polish architectural details into the project after traveling around Poland, the monumental walls are headed with pieces of masonry copied from Renaissance houses and palaces of Kraków and Zamość. Shortly after opening, the hosted the 5th World Festival of Youth. In 1985, it hosted the historic Leonard Cohen concert, surrounded by many political expectations, four 6. 3-metre clock faces were added to the top of the building ahead of the millennium celebrations in 2000. As the citys most visible landmark, the building was controversial from its inception, many Poles initially hated the building because they considered it to be a symbol of Soviet domination, and at least some of that negative feeling persists today. Some have argued that, regardless of its political connotations and this contrast has been lessened somewhat over the years with the construction of several skyscrapers in the vicinity.
Despite the controversies, the Palace became a recognized symbol of Warsaw. The building currently serves as a center and office complex. The terrace on the 30th floor, at 114 metres, is a well-known tourist attraction with a view of the city. The Congress Hall held the finals of Miss World 2006, in 2010, the illumination of the building was modernized and high power LED lights were installed, allowing the Palace to take various colours at night
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Srodmiescie travel guide from Wikivoyage
