Sigismund III Vasa Column

(Polish version)
A natural spot from which to start exploring the Old Town is triangular Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy). Attracting snap-happy tourists by the hundreds each day is the square's centrepiece, the Sigismund III Vasa Column.

This lofty 22m-high monument to the king who moved the capital from Kraków to Warsaw was erected by the king's son in 1644 and is Poland's second-oldest secular monument (after Gdańsk's Neptune). It was knocked down during WWII, but the statue survived and was placed on a new column four years after the war. The original, shrapnel-scarred granite column now lies along the south wall of the Royal Castle.

 

 

The Royal Castle in Warsaw is the royal palace and official residence of the Polish monarchs Zamek Krolewski or Royal Castle with its Red Baroque Tower drew me back time after time. The Castle is a prime monument of national history and culture. Each year hundreds of thousands of visitors enrich their knowledge of history and deepen their aesthetic appreciation within its walls. It provides the setting for cultural events and official state ceremonies, as well as visits.

 

Royal Castle was built in the years 1589-1619 for the King Sigmund III Vasa, ruling Poland at the time. Italian architects Giovanni Trevano, Giacomo Rodondo, Paolo del Corte, Mateo Castelli incorporated the old gothic castle of the Mazovian Princes into a new early baroque structure, imposing itself upon the bank of the river Vistula. Royal Castle was further rebuilt by the Kings – August III Strong from the Saxon dynasty and Stanislaw August Poniatowski in the 18th century. It is also here, that during the November Uprising, in 1831 Polish Sejm removed Tsar of Russia Nicholas I from the Polish throne. Russians rebuilt the castle in the years afterwards, demolishing Sejm halls, trying to uproot all traces of Polish democracy. The building that visitors enter today is thus a remarkable reconstruction, carried out in the 1970s, with only a few parts of the interior salvaged from the ruins. Neo-Baroque rooms are filled with museum pieces, including period furniture, porcelain, tapestries, and Oriental rugs.

The Royal Castle in Warsaw burning after being hit by German shellfire, 17 September 1939.