Walking Through Old Town Warsaw

Sigismund's Column at the entry into the not-so-old Old Town Warsaw

On the agenda for today was the Free Walking Tour of Warsaw. I love the free walking tours that they have in all the major tourist cities in Europe. The guides are usually knowledgeable and entertaining. The price is right (free!) (you pay in tips). They are a great way to learn about a new city.

So let's walk.

The tour met at the Copernicus Monument on Nowy Swiat (translation: "New World"), the Royal Route, and walked the short walk to Old Town.

Which, as we learned, it is not very old. It may be the newest "Old Town" anywhere as it was completely rebuilt after being completely destroyed in World War Two.

Above is the "castle."  A few of the stones are original, but it was completely rebuilt.

This is the cathedral, rebuilt in a much more utilitarian appearance than it was pre-war.

But it is amazing at all that the communists rebuilt a cathedral.

The Old Town Market Square, Rynek Starego Miasta Warszawa, was rebuilt to look much more like it's pre-war appearance. 

This square was complete rubble at the war's end. It was rebuilt to its original beauty because the rebuilding began without the communists.

This is the famous "mermaid" statute, a symbol of the City of Warsaw:

Eat your heart out Copenhagen because Warsaw's got a mermaid, too, This is an original, not a rebuilt replica, as it was securely hidden from the Nazis during World War Two.

Even the medieval fortifications around the Old Town were rebuilt. Somewhat.  This is the Barbican:

This shows that much of the energy and drive for rebuilding Warsaw came from a severe case of "Krakow envy." Krakow has a beautiful, medieval Old Town. Warsaw must rebuilt its beautiful Old Town. Krakow has a Barbican. Warsaw must have its old Barbican back.

What is a "barbican" you ask? It's the fortified entry way, guard point, inside a city's walls.

 

The tour guide photo-bombs the rebuilt medieval walls.

There was some sort of movie shoot happening nearby, so old cars were parked along the street:

And this is the house of Marie Curie:

Madame Curie, a Nobel laureate in two fields (physics and chemistry), the discoverer of two elements (polonium and radium), has had her Warsaw home turned into a museum. But, please, in Poland, do not call her only by her French name. She is "Maria Sklodowska-Curie." Please include the Polish maiden name.

Hansom cab alert.

We are in the Old Town. And now for something much less whimsical:

This is a marker for where the old "Jewish ghetto" walls stood during World War Two and the Nazi occupation. Almost none of the wall still stands. Again, the whole area was reduced to complete and total rubble during the war.

This is the Polish Supreme Court building:

Which is right next to ...

The Warsaw Uprising Monument, which is much more accessible on this day since the previous days events.

The monument is split into two parts, and shows the underground movement emerging into the streets of Warsaw on August 1, 1944.

The Uprising was, in the end, a deadly futile gesture. The Soviet Red Army was not going to aid the resistance because that meant they would have had to deal with the Resistance at the war's end. So they watched across the Vistula River (just on the other side of the river in the City of Warsaw) as the rebellion was crushed and, three weeks later, the Soviet Red Army moved in to "liberate" Warsaw and crush the Nazis.

Need something happier?

This is a "Chopin bench." There are 16 or so of these throughout the city. You press the button (far right side in this picture) and you can sit on the bench and listen to some lovely Chopin music.

If the batteries are charged. Which this ones were not. No Chopin for you!

 

Unless we venture back to Holy Cross Church on the Nowy Swiat, where the heart of Chopin is buried.

 

Inside is a lovely church, with an ornate altar.

And, inside, within one of the pillars, lies the heart of Chopin.

Let's have a closer look.

When Chopin died, Warsaw was controlled by the Russians after the notorious Partition of Poland. It was impossible to smuggle his whole body back from France when Chopin died (at age 38, of tuberculosis), so they smuggled in his heart and buried it here. Chopin's heart was placed in storage somewhere in the Polish countryside during the Nazi occupation, while Warsaw was being reduced to rubble.

But now Chopin (well, at least his heart) is back where he belongs. In the church across the street from where he gave his first public recital,