Tourist attractions Warsaw

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..

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 ..

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..

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..

On Bank Square, in the former Stock Exchange building, we find this amazing collection of European paintings. The neoclassical style dates from the 19th C. Recognisable by its rotunda capped with a dome, it was the work of A. Corazzi (architect of th..

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 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..

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..

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..

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..

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..

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..

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..

This magnificent cobbled square situated at the heart of the old town has grown since the 14C, shadowing the history of the royal castle, and assumed its current form in the 19C, after works were carried out to enlarge and open it up, including the d..

St. John's cathedral is the oldest church in the Polish capital. Built at the start of the 15th C., on the remains of an old wooden church, it was altered several times before being razed to the ground during the Second World War. After work undertak..

On the market square at the heart of the Old Town, Warsaw’s History Museum traces the entire history of what is today capital of the Polish Republic. Laid out over four floors, the museum's collections illustrate the political, religious and public l..

Founded shortly after the Old Town, the New Town had its own independent administration. Although not as wealthy as its sister town, it offers a succession of churches and baroque palaces which are well worth a detour. At the centre of the Polish ins..