Coat of arms of Warsaw. History of Warsaw - History of Warsaw How to get to Warsaw
It will be easy. For PLN 4 you can take buses No. 148 (to the Ursunov and Prague districts), No. 175 (to the central railway station) and No. 188 (to the metro station near the station). And at night, bus number 32 runs, which also goes to the station.
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Every 15 minutes, a train departs from the airport and stops at the Central Railway Station. If you are in a hurry, you can also take a taxi, but it will cost 40 PLN (€9.50).
It is better to buy tickets for tickets at newsstands or vending machines, the list and location of which can be viewed. You can also pay for the fare with the driver, but the ticket in this case will cost more.
There are a lot of varieties of transport tickets in Warsaw - from valid for 20 minutes to a monthly pass. You can familiarize yourself with all their types and prices. If you come to the Polish capital for a weekend, we recommend using special weekend passes for one person (PLN 24) or for a group of up to 5 people (PLN 40 in total).
Tourist card
The tourist map of Warsaw is slightly different from those offered by most European capitals. It applies only to visits to the main attractions, but does not give the right to travel in public transport.
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But along with the Warsaw Sightseeing Pass, you get a detailed guide and the opportunity to ride the Hop on Hop off sightseeing bus. You can buy a card in one of or online. The cost for 1 day is PLN 119, 2 days - PLN 159, 3 days - PLN 189. Tourists under 26 and over 65 receive a discount.
Free tours
To explore the city, you can use. But, judging by the reviews, he is boring. Where better to go on a tour of Warsaw with a local guide. Moreover, there is an opportunity to visit such a walking tour for free.
On this site you can view a list of the nearest similar events, and each of the proposed excursions is unique. There is also a standard sightseeing of the Old Town, and a route dedicated to the communist past of Warsaw, food and alcohol tours, as well as a non-standard Warsaw tour with visits to newfangled places.
The city was badly damaged during the Second World War, and many believe that because of this there is nothing to see in the city. Indeed, the Old Town in Warsaw is buildings recreated after the war, but the Prague area, which was not affected during the bombing, still retains the spirit of antiquity.
Of the must-see places, it is worth highlighting the Royal Palace (entrance - PLN 23), the Lazienko Palace and the beautiful park near it (entrance to the palace - 18 zlotys), the Chopin Museum (entrance - 22 zlotys) and the observation deck in the Palace of Culture. You can explore the old town by riding an old horse-drawn carriage - such a romantic walk will surely be remembered better than a boring sightseeing with a guidebook.
Keep in mind that many museums in Warsaw are closed on Mondays, so it's best to check their schedule in advance on official sites of attractions.
Experienced travelers are advised to avoid banks and exchange offices at hotels in Warsaw. The course and the commission in these institutions are extremely disadvantageous. We recommend looking for the so-called "cantors" (on the sign in Polish it will be indicated - Kantor) - this is where the most honest course without overpayments happens. The easiest way is to enter "kantor Warszawa" directly in the search engine - and the nearest cantors will be indicated on the map.
), the Poles defeated the Bolsheviks during the Battle of Warsaw in 1920.
Early history
The area occupied by present-day Warsaw has been inhabited for at least 1400 years. Some archaeological finds date back to the time of the Lusatian culture.
The first fortified settlements on the site of Warsaw are Brodno (IX or X century), Kamion (XI century) and Yazduv (XII or XIII century). Brodno was a small settlement in the north-east of present-day Warsaw, destroyed around 1040 during the uprising of Mieslav, one of the local princes of Mazovia. Kamion was founded around 1065 not far from today's railway station Warsaw-Wschodnya (Kamionek district), Yazduv - up to the city near the modern building of the Sejm. Yazduv was destroyed twice - in 1262 by the Lithuanians, in 1281 by the Prince of Plotsk Boleslav II of Mazovia. Boleslav II founded a settlement similar to Yazduv on the site of a fishing village called Varshova, 3.5 km north of Yazduv. Konrad II, brother of Boleslav and his successor, built a wooden church, which was destroyed by the Lithuanians. At this place, the prince ordered the construction of a brick church, which received the name of St. John and later became a cathedral.
The first historical document confirming the existence of Warsaw dates back to 1313. More reliable information about the age of the city is contained in the court case against the Teutonic Order, which took place in the Warsaw Cathedral of St. John in 1339. At the beginning of the XIV century, Warsaw became one of the residences of the Mazovian princes, becoming the capital of Mazovia in 1413 (Prince Janusz Mazowiecki). The economy of Warsaw in the 14th century was based on crafts and trade. The townspeople were homogeneous in ethnic composition, but there was a big difference in their financial situation.
At that time, about 4,500 people lived in Warsaw. In the 15th century, the city began to expand - a settlement called the New City appeared outside the northern city wall, in comparison with the already existing settlement of the Old City. These two urban settlements had their own city charters and their own governments. The purpose of the creation of the New City was to regulate the placement of new settlers who were forbidden to settle in the Old City (mostly Jews) |
With the suppression of the local princely dynasty, Warsaw was included in the Kingdom of Poland in 1526 (there is a version that the last Mazovian prince Janusz III was poisoned by order of the Polish queen Bona Sforza, wife of Sigismund I).
1526-1700
Due to its central location between the 2 capitals of the Commonwealth - Krakow and Vilnius, as well as the fact that Gdansk, which was constantly threatened by the Swedes, was located quite close, Warsaw became the capital of the Commonwealth and at the same time Poland itself in 1596, when Sigismund III moved here with his court from Krakow. The fire that happened in Krakow Wawel prompted the king to such a decision. The royal architect Santa Gucci set about reconstructing the Warsaw Castle in the Baroque style, so the king did not live there permanently, but from 1611 he settled there permanently. During the transformation of Warsaw from one of the main Polish cities into the capital of the country, its population already numbered 14,000 people. Within the walls of the Old City stood 169 houses; outside the city walls, their number reached 204 houses, and there were more than 320 houses in the suburbs. In 1576 the first permanent bridge across the Vistula was built, but in 1603 it was destroyed by the ice cover of the river and until 1775 there was no permanent communication between Warsaw and Prague on the right bank of the Vistula.
In later years, the city grew towards the suburbs. Several legally independent districts were founded by representatives of the nobility, where they ruled according to their own laws. Such areas were called lawyers (Polish jurydyka) and were inhabited by artisans and merchants. One of these "legal" was Prague, which received the status of a city in 1648. The peak of their degree of independence fell on the period of the restoration of Warsaw after the Swedish invasion, which severely destroyed the city. Three times between -1658 Warsaw was besieged and three times it was taken and plundered by the Swedish, Brandenburg and Transylvanian armies. They, mainly Swedes, appropriated a large number of valuable books, paintings, sculptures and other objects of art. The mid-17th century architecture of the Old Town and New Town of Warsaw survived until the Nazi invasion. The buildings were dominated by the late renaissance style with gothic structures that were not damaged by the fire of 1607. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, during the time of the powerful nobility, numerous Baroque residences grew up around Warsaw. In 1677, King Jan III Sobieski ordered the construction of his baroque residence in Wilanów, a village 10 km south of the Old Town, to begin.
1700-1795
A series of political consequences after the death of King Jan III Sobieski led to a period of decline in the strength of the state compared to other European powers. The new king, Elector Frederick August of Saxony, elected in 1697, took the name of August II. The new monarch was more concerned about the fate of his homeland, Saxony, than Poland. At the same time, the Polish gentry began to fight for increasing their rights with the Polish crown, not caring about maintaining the positions of the kingdom, won in the 17th century. In addition, the rulers of the neighboring powers of Russia (Peter I) and Sweden (Karl XII) gradually expanded their own borders, strengthening their power. In 1700, the Northern War began between these two states; August II recklessly joined the side of Peter I. The decentralized Kingdom of Poland did not have the power to become an important player in this war, and therefore became only one of the battlefields between the two rulers. Warsaw was besieged several times - first in 1702 by Swedish troops. The city suffered greatly from the Swedish occupation. Under pressure from the Swedes, in June 1704, the Polish nobility deposed August II and elected a new king in the Wielka Wola region - the pro-Swedish governor of Poznan Stanislav Leshchinsky. Shortly thereafter, the course of the war changed and on September 1, 1704, August II, with the help of the Saxon army, regained Warsaw after 5 days of heavy artillery bombardment. August once again lost Warsaw after being defeated in the battle of July 31, 1705, which took place between the modern railway station Warsaw Zahodnia and Wielka Volei, in which 2,000 Swedes beat 10,000 soldiers of the Polish-Lithuanian-Saxon army. Only after that, Stanislav Leshchinsky was able to officially crown himself, which he did in October of the same year. In 1707, according to a peace agreement between Augustus II and Charles XII, Russian troops occupied Warsaw. After 2 months they left the city. Several times during the Great Northern War Warsaw was levied with indemnities. Leshchinsky ruled until 1709, when Russia defeated the Swedes near Poltava, forcing the Swedish army to leave Poland. As a result of the same defeat of the Swedes, August II again became the king of Poland. Since 1713, periodically Russian and Saxon troops stopped in Warsaw, who behaved in it as occupiers. In addition to the disasters of the war, Warsaw experienced an epidemic (), flood () and crop failures at that time.
This time was a new stage in the development of Warsaw. Political activity grew in the city, progressive ideas spread, political and economic changes - all this had a major impact on the development of Warsaw, whose architecture began to reflect modern aspirations and trends. The number of factories and workers increased, the urban strata of merchants, industrialists and financiers grew. At the same time, there was a large-scale migration of peasants to Warsaw. In 1792, the population of Warsaw was 115,000, while in 1754 there were only 24,000 inhabitants. These changes led to the rapid development of construction. New residences of the nobility grew, the middle class acquired their own houses.
On April 18, 1791, the Constitution was adopted: it granted rights to citizens, united the city into one administrative unit, abolished the jurisdiction that divided the city into districts, and gave broad powers to local governments. On April 21, 1791, a new charter was registered in the city books. Since 1991, i.e. Since the 200th anniversary of this event, the local authorities of Warsaw are celebrating Warsaw Day on 21 April. The victorious confederation of Targowitz led to the destruction of the Four Years' Parliament, the second partition of Poland (in 1793, the first took place in 1772) and a difficult economic situation, it was unable to suppress Warsaw's desire for freedom.
January 23, 1793 Prussia and Russia carried out the second partition of Poland. Prussia captured Gdansk, Torun, Greater Poland and Mazovia, and Russia captured most of Lithuania and Belarus, almost all of Volhynia and Podolia. The Poles fought but were defeated, the reforms of the Four Years Sejm were reversed, and the rest of Poland became a puppet state. In 1794, Tadeusz Kosciuszko led a massive popular uprising, which ended in defeat. The third partition of Poland, in which Austria participated, took place on October 24, 1795; after that, Poland as an independent state disappeared from the map of Europe.
1795-1914
Warsaw remained the capital of the Commonwealth until 1795, when it was captured by the Kingdom of Prussia. Liberated by Napoleon's army in 1806, Warsaw was made the capital of the newly created Duchy of Warsaw. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Warsaw became the center of the Congress of Poland, a constitutional monarchy under personal union with the Russian Empire. During this period, under the reign of the relatively liberal Russian Emperor Alexander I, the Royal University was built in Warsaw (1816). In 1818, the town hall in the old city market was demolished because it was too small for the city. The city authorities moved to the Jabłonowski Palace (Great Theatre), where they remained until World War II.
After repeated violations of the Polish constitution by the Russians (especially after the death of Alexander I, when the reactionary Nicholas I assumed power), an uprising broke out in November 1830. actual viceroy of the king. The uprising of 1830 led to the Polish-Russian War (1831), the biggest battle of which took place on February 25, 1831 in Grochov, a village in the modern northern part of the Prague region. After the defeat of the Polish army, the Kingdom of Poland was liquidated and divided into provinces. The emperor created a military administration in Warsaw. The Sejm and the Polish army were dissolved, and the university was closed.
The rise of the railways turned Warsaw into an important railway hub. Roads were opened to Vienna (1848), St. Petersburg (1862), Bydgoszcz (1862), Tiraspol (1867), Kovel (1873), Mlawa (1877), Kalisz (1902), along with several shorter lines. In 1864, the first iron road bridge was built on stone supports. In 1875 and 1908 two railway bridges were built. It was one of the most modern bridges in Europe at the time. In 1862 the university was opened again, and in 1898 the Nicholas II Institute was founded.
Warsaw prospered at the end of the 19th century under Governor Socrates Starynkiewicz (1875–1892), a Russian-born general appointed by Tsar Alexander III. Under Starynkiewicz, the first water and sewer systems were opened in Warsaw, designed and built by the English engineer William Lindley and his son, William Heerlein Lindley. Starynkiewicz also founded the Brodno Cemetery (1884), one of the largest European cemeteries.
In 1904 the first power plant was built. Electric lights were installed in the city and in 1908 the first tram route was opened. In 1914, the Stanisław Poniatowski Bridge was opened.
In 1897, according to the census, 56.5% of Poles, 4.9% of Jews and 35.8% of Russians lived in Warsaw.
World War I
On August 1, 1915, German troops entered Warsaw. The retreating Russian troops destroyed all the bridges in the city, including the Poniatowski Bridge, which was opened 18 months ago, and removed equipment from the factories, which made the situation in Warsaw more difficult.
The German authorities, led by General Hans von Beseler, needed Polish support during the war against Russia, so they tried to appear friendly towards the Poles. For example, they reintroduced the right to teach in Polish, and in 1915 they opened the Technical University, the Warsaw School of Economics and the Warsaw University of Natural Sciences.
However, the most important decision for urban development was to incorporate Prague into Warsaw. The Russian authorities did not allow the expansion of Warsaw because it was forbidden to cross the double line of forts that surrounded the city.
In the autumn of 1918, a revolution began in Germany. On November 8, the German authorities left Warsaw. On November 10, Jozef Pilsudski arrived in Warsaw. On November 11, the Regency Council gave him all military power - and on November 14, all civil power. Therefore November 11, 1918 is celebrated as the beginning of Poland's independence. Warsaw became the capital of Poland.
1918-1939
The first years of independence were extremely difficult for Poland - chaos, hyperinflation and the Soviet-Polish war, the turning point of which was the famous Battle of Warsaw, which essentially predetermined the outcome of the war and allowed Poland to maintain its independence as a result.
The Second World War
The first bombs fell on Warsaw already on September 1, 1939. Unfortunately, the most important representatives of the civil and military administration (along with the commander-in-chief of the army, Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigly) fled to Romania and took with them most of the equipment and ammunition intended for the defense of the city . To stop the chaos, President Starzynski seized full civilian power, even though he had no right to do so. All the time he supported the spirit of people in radio speeches. On September 9, German tanks broke through to Warsaw from the southwest, but the defenders (with a large number of civilian volunteers) managed to stop them in the Ochota area. The situation was further complicated by the news that on September 17 the Soviet Union invaded Eastern Poland. Three days later, the German ring around Warsaw closed. On September 17, the royal castle burned to the ground, and on September 23, the power plant. On September 27 Warsaw capitulated and on October 1 the Germans entered the city. In September 1939, approximately 31,000 people died (including 25,000 civilians) and 46,000 were injured (including 20,000 civilians). 10% of the buildings were destroyed. On October 27, the Germans arrested President Starzynski and sent him to the Dachau concentration camp, where he died in 1943 or 1944. (exact date unknown).
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historical images
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Ossoliński Palace and Kazanowski Palace in 1656
Warsaw is a large modern city - a metropolis, but at the same time, the small streets of the old city make you plunge into the atmosphere of the early 19th century. Beautifully restored old buildings. Over the 700 years of its history, the city and its inhabitants have experienced many blows. Before the war, Warsaw was called the "Paris of the North" for its magnificent architecture and street atmosphere.
Warsaw is located in the Masovian region in central Poland. Almost all city attractions are on the left bank, while most of the right bank is occupied by a trendy area called Prague.
Although settlements on the site of today's Warsaw already existed in the 10th century, the first fortified city arose here in the second half of the 13th century. At the beginning of the 14th century Warsaw was one of the most important centers of Mazovia. When the last Duke of Mazovia died without issue in 1526, this specific principality became part of the Kingdom of Poland. Warsaw was equated in rights with his other cities.
At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, Warsaw became the capital of Poland. It didn't happen right away. King Sigismund III Vasa in 1596, after a grandiose fire of the Krakow Wawel Castle, moved to the Warsaw castle, but firmly settled here together with the court only in 1611. The main reasons for moving the capital to Warsaw were the convenient location of the city (closer to Lithuania and the Baltic Sea) and political considerations.
A new chapter in the history of the city has opened. Artists, scientists, merchants and artisans arrived in Warsaw. Palaces of nobles, churches and monasteries were built here.
The second half of the 17th and early 18th centuries were not favorable for the capital of Poland. The Swedish invasions, and then the worldwide craze, caused enormous damage to the city. Only during the Saxon Wettin dynasty was Warsaw able to develop again. Second half of the 18th century.
However, the best times came for the capital under King Stanisław August Poniatowski. It was then that many banks and manufactories appeared, crafts and fine arts flourished, and the number of inhabitants grew.
In 1788-1792, the Four-Year (Great) Sejm sat in Warsaw. The most important act of which was the constitution adopted on May 3, 1791. But it soon lost its meaning. And there was no point in fulfilling all the laws prescribed in the constitution. Because at the end of the 18th century, Prussia, Austria and Russia partitioned Poland. This was done in stages, in 1772, 1793 and 1795. Warsaw came under Prussian rule. New borders, new rules and laws.
After the defeat of the Prussian army by Napoleon, in 1807, the Duchy of Warsaw was formed. It did not last long. Already in 1813, after the defeat of the French, Russian troops occupied Warsaw.
Another change came with the Congress of Vienna in 1815. By his decision, the Kingdom (Kingdom) of Poland was formed with its capital in Warsaw, subordinate to the Russian Empire. However, the increasing expansion of the power of the tsar's governor, the violation of the constitution, the restriction of political freedoms, the persecution of the opposition led to the formation of secret patriotic societies and, ultimately, an uprising that broke out in November 1830. After his defeat, the Kingdom lost the remnants of autonomy, and the construction of the Citadel, the place of execution of many Poles, became a symbol of the enslavement of the capital.
Romuald Traugutt, the dictator of the January uprising of 1863-1864, and members of the National Government formed at that time died here in 1864. At the end of the First World War, in 1918, Poland regained its independence. Warsaw again became the capital of a free country.
But already on September 1, 1939, the first German bombs hit the city. For four weeks Warsaw waged an unequal struggle. And again the capital became the center of underground activity. Throughout the years of occupation, newspapers and leaflets were printed here, secret training was conducted, the Union of Armed Struggle was created, later transformed into the Home Army. The Resistance Movement organized sabotage, handed down and carried out executions of death sentences against the Nazis, who distinguished themselves with particular cruelty.
The Warsaw Uprising is one of the most complex topics in the recent history of Poland. On August 1, 1944, the population of the city rose to fight against the German invaders. The initiator of the uprising was the bourgeois government in exile in London. The goal of this government was to win legitimacy just before the Soviet troops entered the city. The heroic struggle of the rebels ended in defeat. The population was expelled from Warsaw, which the Germans decided to wipe out.
Systematically, blowing up house after house, they demolished entire neighborhoods, especially violently destroying the most valuable monuments of Polish culture. Only ruins remained of the city. After the end of the war, among the ruins in Warsaw, life quickly revived. Old residents returned and new ones arrived. The city was gradually rebuilt.
Now it is hard to believe that there were once ruins on the flourishing metropolis, which Warsaw appears to the eyes of the guests. Construction was carried out extensively and not always reasonably. Therefore, the current layout of the city may seem chaotic: next to the surviving or restored architectural monuments, there are large-panel buildings of the seventies.
And yet, it was possible to achieve what seemed impossible: in a few years the city was restored from ruins. Such historical ensembles as the Old Town, the streets of the Krakow suburb and many others have been carefully restored. New residential areas, streets and highways appeared. The city is constantly expanding: high-rise buildings and modern administrative buildings are growing. In Warsaw, numerous monuments and memorials to the fallen people remind of the past war. For example, a monument to the small defender of the city. And now flowers are placed at its foot.
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland, as well as the economic and cultural center of the country.
Brodno (IX-X), Kamion (XI) and Yazduv (XII-XIII) are considered the first well-fortified settlements on the lands of modern Warsaw (the information about whose existence is beyond doubt). After the latter was thoroughly destroyed in 1281 by the prince of Plotsk Bolesław II of Mazowiecki, just 3-4 km north of Jazdów, on the site of a small fishing village, Warsaw was founded.
Middle Ages
The first written mention of Warsaw dates back to 1313. More extensive information is contained in the court case against the Teutonic Order, which was heard in the Warsaw Cathedral of St. John in 1339. At the beginning of the 14th century, Warsaw was already one of the residences of the Mazovian princes, and in 1413 it officially became the capital of Mazovia. During this period, the economy of Warsaw was based on crafts and trade, and class inequality was already quite clearly visible.
In 1515, during the Russo-Lithuanian War, most of the Old Town was burned down. In 1525, the ever-increasing social contrast and the infringement by the nobility of the poor classes led to the first uprisings, as a result of which the so-called third estate was admitted to the current authorities. In 1526, Mazovia, including Warsaw, became part of the Kingdom of Poland, which undoubtedly contributed to the unprecedented economic growth of the city. In 1529, the Polish Sejm met for the first time in Warsaw (on a permanent basis since 1569).
In 1596, Warsaw, largely due to its geographical position (between Krakow and Vilnius, in close proximity to Gdansk), became the capital of not only the Kingdom of Poland, but also the Commonwealth, continuing to develop and grow rapidly. The architectural appearance of Warsaw of this period was dominated by the late Renaissance style with Gothic elements. Numerous baroque residences of the local nobility around the city grew already in the 17th-18th centuries.
In 1655-1658, Warsaw was repeatedly besieged, as a result of which it was sacked several times by Swedish, Brandenburg and Transylvanian troops. The city also suffered significant losses during the Northern War (1700-1721), during which Poland became one of the battlefields between Russia and Sweden. In addition to military disasters during this period, Warsaw also experienced an epidemic, floods and crop failures. Nevertheless, in the post-war period, the city quickly recovered and continued to actively develop in all areas (finance, industry, science, culture, etc.). The same period in the history of Warsaw was marked by rapid construction and a sharp increase in population.
19th-20th century
Warsaw remained the capital of the Commonwealth until its final demise in 1795, after which it was annexed to Prussia, becoming the administrative center of South Prussia. In 1806, Napoleon's troops liberated Warsaw, and the city became the capital of the Duchy of Warsaw (under the French protectorate), and after the Congress of Vienna in 1816, the capital of the Polish kingdom, which entered into a personal union with Russia, and in fact is experiencing full political and economic integration into the Russian Empire. Despite a number of uprisings caused by the violation of the Polish constitution and the oppression of the Poles, which led to a military conflict and, as a result, the loss of autonomy by Poland, Warsaw, which did not stand aside from the industrialization that swept Europe, developed and prospered. By the end of the 19th century, Warsaw was already the third largest city in the empire after St. Petersburg and Moscow.
In 1915-1918, during the First World War, Warsaw was occupied by the Germans, who, probably hoping for Poland's support in the war against Russia, not only opened the Technical University, the Warsaw School of Economics in the city and allowed Poles to teach in their native language, but also significantly expanded city limits. On November 8, 1918, German troops left the city, and already on the 10th, Jozef Pilsudski (the head of the underground Polish military organization) returned to Warsaw and, having received authority from the Regency Council the next day, founded an independent Polish Republic, the capital of which was Warsaw.
The first years of independence were extremely difficult for Poland - chaos, hyperinflation and the Soviet-Polish war, the turning point of which was the famous Battle of Warsaw, which essentially predetermined the outcome of the war and allowed Poland to maintain its independence as a result.
On September 1, 1939, with the invasion of German troops in Poland, the Second World War began, which became one of the most global military conflicts in world history and claimed millions of human lives. Warsaw became one of the main centers of resistance to the Nazi regime in occupied Europe. Unfortunately, leaving the city, the Germans (despite the agreed terms of surrender) practically razed it to the ground, and only thanks to the surviving drawings and plans, the Poles were subsequently able to restore the historical center of Warsaw with amazing accuracy. In 1980, the Old Town was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List "as an exceptional example of the almost complete restoration of the historical period between the 13th and 20th centuries."
Today, Warsaw has the status of a "global city" and is experiencing perhaps the biggest economic boom in its history.