1.
Mermaid of Warsaw
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The Mermaid of Warsaw is a symbol of Warsaw, represented on the citys coat of arms and well as in a number of statues and other imagery. Polish syrenka is cognate with siren, but she is properly a fresh-water mermaid called melusina. The common English translation, in any case, is neither siren nor melusina, exactly when the mermaid was added to Warsaws coat of arms is not known but it was already in place in 1390 with a shape very different from todays. It presented the animal with a birds legs and a covered with dragon scales. On the seal of 1459, it already had feminine characteristics, the torso of a bird, human hands, the first presentation of the traditional mermaid dates from 1622. The adoption of such a coat of arms was thought to be a medieval fashion, the presentation of the coat of arms was probably derived directly from the 2nd century book Physiologus. There are various legends about the Warsaw mermaid, the main one used in the Citys literature and by tour guides says that the mermaid was swimming in the river when she stopped on a riverbank near the Old Town to rest. Liking it, she decided to stay, local fishermen noticed that something was creating waves, tangling nets, and releasing their fish. They planned to trap the offender, but fell in love with her upon hearing her singing, later, a rich merchant trapped the mermaid and imprisoned her. Hearing her cries, the fishermen rescued her, and ever since, the mermaid, armed with a sword, sometimes this legend is expanded to say that the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen is the Warsaw mermaids sister and they went their separate ways from the Baltic Sea. Another legend states that she assisted a prince when he got lost hunting, examples include, The sculpture in Warsaws Old Town Square was designed by Varsovian sculptor Konstanty Hegel. Originally and now it stands in the marketplace, at other times, it was moved to different places in Warsaw. In 2008, the sculpture made of bronzed zinc was taken from the market for maintenance work. The sculpture was in a poor condition due to mechanical damage. The repaired original was transferred to the Museum of Warsaw, and this statue, made of gunmetal, was erected in April 1939 in Powiśle near the Vistula river. The sculpture is by Ludwika Nitschowa and posed by poet Krystyna Krahelska, in autumn of 2006, a silver plaque of the Virtuti Militari was added to the monument for General Sikorski who was awarded it in recognition of his defense of Warsaw in September 1939. A mermaid sculpted by Jan Woydyga was erected on the Stanislaw Markiewicz viaduct in Karowa Street in 1905. A mermaid designed by Alexander Żurakowski in 1947 was engraved onto the shield on the breast of a statue of an eagle located in the meeting hall of the Polish parliament
2.
Mermaid
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A mermaid is a legendary aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of cultures worldwide, including the Near East, Europe, Africa. The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria, in which the goddess Atargatis transformed herself into an out of shame for accidentally killing her human lover. Mermaids are sometimes associated with events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks. In other folk traditions, they can be benevolent or beneficent, the male equivalent of the mermaid is the merman, also a familiar figure in folklore and heraldry. Although traditions about and sightings of mermen are less common than those of mermaids, some of the attributes of mermaids may have been influenced by the Sirens of Greek mythology. Historical accounts of mermaids, such as reported by Christopher Columbus during his exploration of the Caribbean, may have been inspired by manatees. While there is no evidence that mermaids exist outside of folklore, reports of mermaid sightings continue to the present day, including 21st century examples from Israel and Zimbabwe. Mermaids have been a subject of art and literature in recent centuries. They have subsequently been depicted in operas, paintings, books, films, the word mermaid is a compound of the Old English mere, and maid. The equivalent term in Old English was merewif and they are conventionally depicted as beautiful with long flowing hair. Sirenia is an order of aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit rivers, estuaries, coastal marine waters, swamps. They look ponderous and clumsy but are actually fusiform, hydrodynamic and highly muscular, sirenomelia, also called mermaid syndrome, is a rare congenital disorder in which a child is born with his or her legs fused together and small genitalia. This condition is about as rare as conjoined twins, affecting one out of every 100,000 live births and is fatal within a day or two of birth because of kidney and bladder complications. Four survivors were known as of July 2003, many folklorists and mythographers deem that the origin of the mythic mermaid is the dugong, posing a theory that mythicised tales have been constructed around early sightings of dugongs by sailors. The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria c.1000 BC, the goddess Atargatis, mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis, loved a mortal and unintentionally killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake and took the form of a fish, the Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo. Sometime before 546 BC, Milesian philosopher Anaximander postulated that mankind had sprung from an animal species
3.
Warsaw
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Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland, roughly 260 kilometres from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population is estimated at 1.750 million residents within a metropolitan area of 3.101 million residents. The city limits cover 516.9 square kilometres, while the area covers 6,100.43 square kilometres. Once described as Paris of the East, Warsaw was believed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world until World War II. On 9 November 1939, the city was awarded Polands highest military decoration for heroism, Warsaw is one of Europe’s most dynamic metropolitan cities. In 2012 the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Warsaw as the 32nd most liveable city in the world, in 2017 the city came 4th in the “Business-friendly” category and 8th in the “Human capital and life style”. It was also ranked as one of the most liveable cities in Central, Warsaw is considered an Alpha– global city, a major international tourist destination and a significant cultural, political and economic hub. The city is a significant centre of research and development, BPO, ITO, the Warsaw Stock Exchange is the largest and most important in Central and Eastern Europe. Frontex, the European Union agency for external security, has its headquarters in Warsaw. Together with Frankfurt, London and Paris, Warsaw is also one of the cities with the highest number of skyscrapers in the European Union, the city is the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of Warsaw. The historic city-centre of Warsaw with its picturesque Old Town in 1980 was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, buildings represent examples of nearly every European architectural style and historical period. Warsaw provides many examples of architecture from the gothic, renaissance, baroque, neoclassical and modern periods, furthermore, the city is positioning itself as Europes chic cultural capital with thriving art and club scenes and renowned restaurants. Folk etymology attributes the city name to a fisherman, Wars, according to legend, Sawa was a mermaid living in the Vistula River with whom Wars fell in love. In actuality, Warsz was a 12th/13th-century nobleman who owned a village located at the site of Mariensztat neighbourhood. See also the Vršovci family which had escaped to Poland, the official city name in full is miasto stołeczne Warszawa. A native or resident of Warsaw is known as a Varsovian – in Polish warszawiak, warszawianin, warszawianka, warszawiacy, other names for Warsaw include Varsovia and Varsóvia, Varsovie, Varsavia, Warschau, װאַרשע /Varshe, Варшава /Varšava /Varshava, Varšuva, Varsó. The first fortified settlements on the site of todays Warsaw were located in Bródno, after Jazdów was raided by nearby clans and dukes, a new similar settlement was established on the site of a small fishing village called Warszowa
4.
Seal (emblem)
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A seal is a device for making an impression in wax, clay, paper, or some other medium, including an embossment on paper, and is also the impression thus made. The original purpose was to authenticate a document, a wrapper for one such as a modern envelope, the seal-making device is also referred to as the seal matrix or die, the imprint it creates as the seal impression. In most traditional forms of dry seal the design on the matrix is in intaglio. The design on the impression will reverse that of the matrix and this will not be the case if paper is embossed from behind, where the matrix and impression read the same way, and both matrix and impression are in relief. However engraved gems were carved in relief, called cameo in this context. The process is essentially that of a mould and these pendent seal impressions dangled below the documents they authenticated, to which the attachment tag was sewn or otherwise attached. Some jurisdictions consider rubber stamps or specified signature-accompanying words such as seal or L. S. to be the equivalent of, i. e. an equally effective substitute for. In Europe, although coats of arms and heraldic badges may well feature in such contexts as well as on seals, the study of seals is known as sigillography or sphragistics. Seals were used in the earliest civilizations and are of importance in archaeology. In ancient Mesopotamia carved or engraved cylinder seals in stone or other materials were used and these could be rolled along to create an impression on clay, and used as labels on consignments of trade goods, or for other purposes. They are normally hollow and it is presumed that they were worn on a string or chain round the neck, many have only images, often very finely carved, with no writing, while others have both. From Ancient Egypt seals in the form of signet-rings, including some with the names of kings, have been found, recently, seals have come to light in South Arabia datable to the Himyarite age. One example shows a name written in Aramaic engraved in reverse so as to read correctly in the impression, from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC until the Middle Ages, seals of various kinds were in production in the Aegean islands and mainland Greece. In the Early Minoan age these were formed of stone and ivory. By the Middle Minoan age a new set for seal forms, motifs, hard stone requires new rotary carving techniques. The Late Bronze Age is the par excellence of the lens-shaped seal and the seal ring. These were a luxury art form and became keenly collected. His collection fell as booty to Pompey the Great, who deposited it in a temple in Rome, engraved gems continued to be produced and collected until the 19th century
5.
Vistula
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The Vistula is the longest and largest river in Poland, at 1,047 kilometres in length. The drainage basin area of the Vistula is 194,424 km2, the remainder is in Belarus, Ukraine and Slovakia. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in the south of Poland,1,220 meters above sea level in the Silesian Beskids, where it begins with the White Little Vistula and the Black Little Vistula. It empties into the Vistula Lagoon or directly into the Gdańsk Bay of the Baltic Sea with a delta, the name was first recorded by Pomponius Mela in AD40 and by Pliny in AD77 in his Natural History. Mela names the river Vistula, Pliny uses Vistla, the root of the name Vistula is Indo-European *u̯eis- to ooze, flow slowly and is found in many European rivernames. The diminutive endings -ila, -ula, were used in many Indo-European languages, in writing about the Vistula River and its peoples, Ptolemy uses the Greek spelling Ouistoula. Other ancient sources spell it Istula, ammianus Marcellinus refers to the Bisula, note the absence of the -t-. Jordanes uses Viscla, while the Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith refers to it as the Wistla, the Vistula river basin covers 194,424 square kilometres, its average altitude rising to 270 metres above sea level. In addition, the majority of its basin is located at heights of 100 to 200 m above sea level. The highest point of the basin lies at 2,655 metres. The asymmetry of the basin is 73–27%. The most recent glaciation of the Pleistocene epoch, which ended around 10,000 BC, is called the Vistulian glaciation or Weichselian glaciation in regard to north-central Europe. The river forms a delta called the Żuławy Wiślane around the town of Biała Góra near Sztum, about 50 km from the mouth. In the city of Gdańsk the Head of the Leniwka branch separates again into the Szkarpawa branch, the so-called Dead Wisła divides again into the Przegalinie branch flowing into Gdańsk Bay. Until the 14th century the Vistula was divided into an eastern branch, the Elbląg Vistula, and the smaller western branch. Since 1371 the Vistula of Gdańsk is the main artery. After the flood in 1840 an additional branch formed called the Śmiała Wisła, in 1890 through 1895, additional waterworks were carried out up the Świbna. The history of the River Vistula and her valley spans over 2 million years, the river is connected to the geological period called the Quaternary, in which distinct cooling of the climate took place
6.
Polish People's Republic
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The Polish Peoples Republic covers the history of Poland under Communist control between 1952 and 1990. The name was defined by the Constitution of 1952 which was based on the 1936 Soviet Constitution, between 1947 and 1952, the name of the Polish state was the Republic of Poland, in accordance with the temporary Constitution of 1947. The Soviet Union had much influence over internal and external affairs, and Red Army forces were stationed in Poland. In 1945, Soviet generals and advisors formed 80% of the cadre of the Polish Armed Forces. The Polish United Workers Party became the dominant political party, officially making the country a Communist state, at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Stalin was able to present his western allies, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, with a fait accompli in Poland. His armed forces were in occupation of the country, and his agents, the USSR was in the process of incorporating the lands in eastern Poland which it had occupied between 1939 and 1941. In compensation, the USSR awarded Poland German territories in Pomerania, Silesia and these awards were confirmed at the Tripartite Conference of Berlin, otherwise known as the Potsdam Conference in August 1945 after the end of the war in Europe. Stalin was determined that Polands new government would become his tool towards making Poland a Soviet puppet state controlled by the communists. He had severed relations with the Polish government-in-exile in London in 1943, the communists held a majority of key posts in this new government, and with Soviet support they soon gained almost total control of the country, rigging all elections. This important victory would be their last, however, as the communists, tightening their grip on power, many of their opponents decided to leave the country, and others were put on staged trials and sentenced to many years of imprisonment or execution. In June 1946 the Three Times Yes referendum was held on a number of issues—abolition of the Senate of Poland, land reform, the communist-controlled Interior Ministry issued results showing that all three questions passed overwhelmingly. Years later, however, evidence was uncovered showing that the referendum had been tainted by massive fraud, Gomułka then took advantage of a split in the Polish Socialist Party. One faction, which included Prime Minister Edward Osóbka-Morawski, wanted to join forces with the Peasant Party, another faction, led by Józef Cyrankiewicz, argued that the Socialists should support the Communists in carrying through a socialist program, while opposing the imposition of one-party rule. Pre-war political hostilities continued to influence events, and Mikołajczyk would not agree to form a front with the Socialists. The Communists played on these divisions by dismissing Osóbka-Morawski and making Cyrankiewicz Prime Minister, between the referendum and the January 1947 general elections, the opposition was subjected to persecution. Only the candidates of the pro-government Democratic Bloc were allowed to campaign completely unmolested, meanwhile, several opposition candidates were prevented from campaigning at all. Mikołajczyks Polish Peoples Party in particular suffered persecution, it had opposed the abolition of the Senate as a test of strength against the government, although it supported the other two questions, the Communist-dominated government branded the PSL traitors. This massive oppression was overseen by Gomułka and the provisional president, the official results of the election showed the Democratic Bloc with 80.1 percent of the vote
7.
Virtuti Militari
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The War Order of Virtuti Militari is Polands highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war. It was created in 1792 by Polish King Stanisław II August and is one of the oldest military decorations in the still in use. It is awarded in five classes either for personal heroism or, to commanders, some of the heroic actions recognized by an award of the Virtuti Militari are equivalent to those meriting the British Victoria Cross or the American Medal of Honor. Soon after its introduction, however, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was destroyed in the partitions of Poland, since then, the award has been reintroduced, renamed and banned several times, with its fate closely reflecting the vicissitudes of the Polish people. There have been no new awards since 1989, throughout its history, the War Order of Virtuti Militari has shared its countrys fate, and has been abolished and reintroduced several times. The order was created on 22 June 1792 by King Stanisław II August to commemorate the victorious Battle of Zieleńce. Initially, it comprised two classes, a medal for generals and officers, and a silver one for non-commissioned officers. By August 1792, a statute for the decoration had been drafted, the regulation changed the shape of the decoration from a medal to a cross, which has not changed substantially since then. It also introduced five classes to the order, the first members of the decorations chapter were also its first recipients. For the Polish-Russian War in Defence of the Constitution of 1792, anyone who wore the medal could be demoted and expelled from the army by Polands new authorities. Although on 23 November 1793 the Grodno Sejm reintroduced the decoration, it was banned again on 7 January 1794, at the insistence of Russias Catherine the Great. Only a year later, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth itself shared the fate of its decoration when what remained of the Commonwealth was annexed by its neighbors in the partitions of Poland, King Stanisław II August abdicated the same year. During his reign,526 medals had been granted,440 Silver Medals and Crosses,85 Golden Medals and Crosses, and 1 Commanders Cross. In 1806, Lt. Gen. Prince Józef Poniatowski was promoted to commander-in-chief of all forces of the Duchy of Warsaw, as one of the first recipients of the Virtuti Militari, Poniatowski insisted on the reintroduction of the decoration. The official name of the decoration was changed to the Military Medal of the Duchy of Warsaw, however, soldiers remained faithful to the former name. However, the system was changed and, since then. According to the decree of 10 October 1812, each of the recipients of a Golden or Silver Cross had the right to a salary until promoted to officer or for life. In addition, during the Napoleonic Wars, the present tradition of awarding the soldiers with the Virtuti Militari in front of the unit was established
8.
Queen's Royal Hussars
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The Queens Royal Hussars is the senior United Kingdom armoured regiment. It was formed on 1 September 1993 from the amalgamation of the Queens Own Hussars, the regiment traces its roots back to 1685 and during the past 320 years has been awarded 172 Battle Honours and eight Victoria Crosses. The regiment is based in Sennelager, Germany, where it is the armoured regiment for 20th Armoured Brigade. The Queens Royal Hussars was formed in Fallingbostel on 1 September 1993 from the amalgamation of the Queens Own Hussars, the regiment, in January 1996, became the first to be deployed in Challenger 1 tanks to Bosnia with NATOs British-led Implementation Force IFOR. In August 1996 the regiment deployed to Northern Ireland on Operation Banner, an independent tank squadron deployed to Kosovo in 2001, with the rest of the regiment deploying later that year in the dismounted role. December 2003 saw the regiment deploy once again, this time to Iraq on Operation Telic 3, the regiment saw its first Military Cross awarded to Lance corporal Christopher Balmforth of B Squadron for his actions during an ambush in Basra. April 2006 saw the regiment deploy once again to Iraq on Operation Telic 8, as the final Operation Telic the Queens Royal Hussars were intimately involved in the drawdown from the main British base and spent many hours escorting convoys to and from Kuwait. On return from Afghanistan in 2012 the regiment was called on at very short notice to support the Security for the London Olympic Games, the remainder of the year was used to return to the armoured role. 2013 saw C Squadron training with 5 Rifles on Exercise Baverian Charger, the Queens Royal Hussars Battlegroup, comprising sub-units from 5 Rifles and 1 PWRR deployed on Exercise Prairie Thunder 2 between July and August 2013. In June 2014, the regiment deployed C Squadron to Operation Herrick 20 in Afghanistan and they were the last British combat units on the ground in Helmand. The regiment will move to Tidworth with 20 Armoured Infantry Brigade, in addition the Regiment also fields a squadron with a close reconnaissance troop mounted in eight FV107 Scimitars. The regiment has three museums, The Queens Own Hussars Museum is located at Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick, the Queens Royal Irish Hussars Museum is located at The Redoubt Fortress in Eastbourne. The Blackshaw Museum is located in the Regimental Guard room of Athlone Barracks in Sennelager and these are encircled by the Garter Belt, above which is placed the Queens Crown. In over 300 years of distinguished service the regiment has gained a number of unique privileges and traditions. The Loyal Toast, After the Jacobite rebellion in 1745, all officers of the army were required to drink the health of the Sovereign in their mess after dinner as a token of loyalty to the King. This privilege was reaffirmed by the Sovereign prior to the formation of the regiment in 1993 and it was first granted, as a special head-dress badge, by King George I to the 3rd Kings Own Regiment of Dragoons in 1715 for their part in defeating James Francis Edward Stuart. The crossbelts were worn with distinction for many years, and the nickname St Georges Crossbelts was given to the regiment. Although the crossbelt worn today is based on the original 4th Hussar pattern, the Maid of Warsaw, Every member of the regiment wears the Maid of Warsaw, the crest of the City of Warsaw, on the left sleeve of his No.2 Dress
9.
Cavalry
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Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the most mobile of the combat arms, an individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations such as cavalryman, horseman, dragoon or trooper. The designation of cavalry was not usually given to any military forces that used animals, such as camels. Cavalry had the advantage of improved mobility, and a man fighting from horseback also had the advantages of greater height, speed, another element of horse mounted warfare is the psychological impact a mounted soldier can inflict on an opponent. In Europe cavalry became increasingly armoured, and eventually became known for the mounted knights, in the period between the World Wars, many cavalry units were converted into motorized infantry and mechanized infantry units, or reformed as tank troops. Most cavalry units that are horse-mounted in modern armies serve in purely ceremonial roles, modern usage of the term generally refers to specialist units equipped with tanks or aircraft. The shock role, traditionally filled by heavy cavalry, is filled by units with the armored designation. Before the Iron Age, the role of cavalry on the battlefield was largely performed by light chariots, the chariot originated with the Sintashta-Petrovka culture in Central Asia and spread by nomadic or semi-nomadic Indo-Iranians. The power of mobility given by mounted units was recognized early on, Cavalry techniques were an innovation of equestrian nomads of the Central Asian and Iranian steppe and pastoralist tribes such as the Persian Parthians and Sarmatians. The photograph above left shows Assyrian cavalry from reliefs of 865–860 BC, at this time, the men had no spurs, saddles, saddle cloths, or stirrups. Fighting from the back of a horse was more difficult than mere riding. The cavalry acted in pairs, the reins of the archer were controlled by his neighbours hand. Even at this time, cavalry used swords, shields. The sculpture implies two types of cavalry, but this might be a simplification by the artist, Later images of Assyrian cavalry show saddle cloths as primitive saddles, allowing each archer to control his own horse. As early as 490 BC a breed of horses was bred in the Nisaean plain in Media to carry men with increasing amounts of armour. However, chariots remained in use for purposes such as carrying the victorious general in a Roman triumph. The southern Britons met Julius Caesar with chariots in 55 and 54 BC, the last mention of chariot use in battle was by the Caledonians at the Mons Graupius, in 84 AD. During the classical Greek period cavalry were usually limited to citizens who could afford expensive war-horses
10.
Army Air Corps (United Kingdom)
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The Army Air Corps is a component of the British Army, first formed in 1942 during the Second World War. There are eight regiments of the AAC as well as four Independent Flights and they are located in Britain, Brunei, Canada, and Germany. The AAC provides the air elements of 16 Air Assault Brigade through Joint Helicopter Command. The British Army first took to the sky during the 19th century with the use of observation balloons, in 1911 the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers was the first heavier-than-air British military aviation unit. Between the wars, the Army used RAF co-operation squadrons, at the beginning of the Second World War, Royal Artillery officers, with the assistance of RAF technicians, flew Auster observation aircraft under RAF-owned Air Observation Post Squadrons. Twelve such squadrons were raised —three of which belonged to the RCAF—, early in the war, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced the establishment of a new branch of army aviation, the Army Air Corps, formed in 1942. The corps initially comprised the Glider Pilot Regiment and the Parachute Battalions, in 1944, the SAS Regiment was added to the Corps. One of their most successful exploits during the war was Operation Deadstick, including the attack on Pegasus Bridge, once the three gliders landed, some roughly which incurred casualties, the pilots joined the glider-borne troops to act as infantry. The bridge was taken within ten minutes of the battle commencing and they were soon reinforced and relieved by soldiers from Lord Lovats 1 Special Service Brigade, famously led by piper Bill Millin. It was subsequently reinforced by units of the British 3rd Division. The pilots who had flown the gliders soon had to transfer to flying powered aircraft, becoming part of the RAF Air Observation Post Squadrons. In 1957 the Glider Pilot and Parachute Corps was renamed to The Parachute Regiment, while the Glider Pilot Regiment and the Air Observation Squadrons amalgamated into a new unit, from 1970, nearly every army brigade had at least one Aviation Squadron that usually numbered twelve aircraft. The main rotor aircraft during the 1970s were the Westland Scout, the Sioux was replaced from 1973 by the Westland Gazelle used for Airborne recce, initially unarmed, they were converted to carry 68mm SNEB rocket pods in 1982, during the Falklands War. The Scout was replaced from 1978 by the Westland Lynx, which was capable of carrying additional firepower in the form of door gunners. Basic rotary flying training was carried out on the Bell Sioux in the 1970s, fixed-wing types in AAC service have included the Auster AOP.6 and AOP.9 and DHC-2 Beaver AL.1 in the observation and liaison roles. Since 1989, the AAC have operated a number of Britten-Norman Islander and Defender aircraft for surveillance, the corps operated the DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10 in the training role until its replacement by the Slingsby T67 Firefly in the 1990s. The Firefly was replaced by the Grob Tutor in 2010, a further boost in the Army Air Corps capability came in the form of the Westland Apache AH.1 attack helicopter. In 2006, British Apaches deployed to Afghanistan as part of the NATO International Security Assistance Force, the strength of the Army Air Corps is believed to be some 2,000 Regular personnel, of which 500 are officers
11.
Old Town Market Place, Warsaw
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Warsaws Old Town Market Place is the center and oldest part of the Old Town of Warsaw, capital of Poland. Immediately after the Warsaw Uprising, it was blown up by the German Army. After World War II, the Old Town Market Place was restored to its prewar appearance, the Old Town Market Place is the true heart of the Old Town, and until the end of the 18th century it was the heart of all of Warsaw. It originated in the late 13th century, at the time that the city was founded. Here the representatives of guilds and merchants met in the hall, and fairs. The main feature at that time was the town hall, reconstructed in 1580 in the style of Polish mannerism by Antoneo de Ralia. The architecture of the building was similar to other structures of that type in Poland. It was adorned with attics and four side towers, a clock tower, embellished with an arcade loggia, was covered with a bulbous spire typical for Warsaw mannerist architecture. The district was damaged by the bombs of the German Luftwaffe during the Invasion of Poland, the ancient Market Place was rebuilt in the 1950s, after having been destroyed by the German Army after the suppression of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Today it is a major tourist attraction, the current buildings were reconstructed between 1948–1953, to look as they did in the 17th century when it was mostly inhabited by rich merchant families. The Warsaw Mermaid, a sculpture by Konstanty Hegel, has stood as the symbol of Warsaw since 1855. Names of 18th-century Polish parliamentarians are used for the four sides of this vast square, Dekerts Side, the side, named after Jan Dekert. The entrance is in a building called The Negro, after the sign over the doorway. Barss Side, the east side, with the Adam Mickiewicz Museum honoring the 19th-century Polish poet, the square is maintained by Wario Wojciech, who can often be seen in traditional dress, consisting of a red suit and a curved sword. Castle Square, Warsaw Warsaw New Town Market Square A live video webcam with view of the Old Town Market Place in Warsaw Treasures of Warsaw on-line Virtual tour Plan of the Old Town Market Place
12.
Sejm
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The Sejm of the Republic of Poland is the lower house of the Polish parliament. It consists of 460 deputies elected by ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. In the Kingdom of Poland, Sejm referred to the entire three-chamber parliament of Poland, comprising the house, the upper house. It was thus a three-estate parliament, since the Second Polish Republic, Sejm has referred only to the lower house of the parliament, the upper house is called the Senat Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Sejm stems from an Old Slavic word meaning gathering and its origin was the Kings Councils, which gained power during the time of Polands fragmentation. The Sejm in Łęczyca was the most notable of these councils and it forbade arbitrary sequestration of supplies in the countryside and takeover of bishopric lands after the death of a bishop. These early Sejms were not an event, they convened at the Kings behest. After the 1493 Sejm in Piotrków, it became a regularly convening body, the bicameral system was also established there. The Sejm now comprised two chambers, the Senat of 81 bishops and other dignitaries, and the Chamber of Envoys, over time, the envoys in the lower chamber grew in number and power as they pressed the king for more privileges. The Sejm eventually became more active in supporting the goals of the privileged classes when the King ordered that the landed nobility. Its chambers reserved the final decisions in legislation, taxation, budget, and treasury matters, foreign policy, until the end of the 16th century, unanimity was not required, and the majority-voting process was the most commonly used system for voting. Later, with the rise of the Polish magnates and their increasing power, additionally, if the envoys were unable to reach a unanimous decision within six weeks, deliberations were declared void and all previous acts passed by that Sejm were annulled. From the mid-17th century onward, any objection to a Sejm resolution, by either an envoy or a senator, automatically caused the rejection of other, previously approved resolutions. This was because all resolutions passed by a session of the Sejm formed a whole resolution. It is estimated that between 1493 and 1793, a Sejm was held 240 times, the total sum of which was 44 years. The Chamber of Envoys, despite its name, consisted not only of 77 envoys from the hereditary nobility, all deputies were covered by Parliamentary immunity, with each individual serving for a term of office of six years, with half of the deputies being elected every two years. Candidates for deputy had to be able to read and write, the legal voting age was 21, except for those citizens serving in the military, the personnel of which were not allowed to vote. Parliamentary sessions were initially convened every two years, and lasted for 30 days, however, after many clashes between liberal deputies and conservative government officials, sessions were later called only four times
