Old Town Market Place, Warsaw

Historic Centre of Warsaw*
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party	Poland
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, vi
Reference	30
Region**	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1980 (4th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO.

Warsaw's Old Town Market Place (Rynek Starego Miasta) is the center of the Old Town of Warsaw, capital of Poland, with its unique traditional Polish restaurants, cafes and shops. It is the oldest part of the city of Warsaw and one of its most prominent tourist attractions. Immediately after the Warsaw Uprising, it was systematically blown up by the German Army.^[1] After World War II, the Old Town Market Place was meticulously restored to its prewar appearance.

1 History
2 Features
3 References
4 Gallery
- 4.1 Historical images
- 4.2 Details
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

Town Hall in 1701

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 was laid out at the time the city was founded, in the end of 13th century.^[2] Here the representatives of guilds and merchants met in the Town Hall (built before 1429, pulled down in 1817), and fairs and the occasional execution were held. The houses around it represented the Gothic style until the great fire of 1607, after which they were rebuilt in late-Renaissance style.^[3] In 1701 the square was rebuilt by Tylman van Gameren.^[4]^[3] In the 19th century, during Warsaw's rapid growth, the Old Town lost its importance as the commercial and administrative hub of the city. The four sides of this vast (90 by 73 m or 295 by 240 ft)^[5] square are named after the most famous 18th century Polish parliamentarians.

During the Invasion of Poland (1939), much of the district was badly damaged by the German Luftwaffe, which targeted the city's residential areas and historic landmarks in a campaign of terror bombing.^[4]

The ancient Market Place was rebuilt in the 1950s, after having been systematically blown up by the German Army after the suppression of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.^[6]^[4] As many of the original bricks were reused as possible. Today it is a major tourist attraction.

[edit] Features

Dekert's Side

Barss' Side

Kołłątaj's Side

Zakrzewski's Side

The buildings we have today come from 1948 - 1953.^[2] They were, in part, a reconstruction of the pre-War state, with the use of preserved details to look as it did in the 17th century when it was mostly inhabited by rich merchant families. The rubble was sifted for reusable decorative elements, which were reinserted into their original places. Since 1855 there is a bronze sculpture of The Warsaw Mermaid by Konstanty Hegel; it’s the symbol of Warsaw.^[7] The two cast-iron wells, dating back to the 18th century, were placed on the Market Square in 1970.^[2]

Each of the square's four sides has its own name:

Dekert's Side (Strona Dekerta), the north side (numbers, 28–42), named after Jan Dekert, which houses the Warsaw Historical Museum. The entrance is in a building called "The Negro" (Pod Murzynkiem, nr 36), after the traditional sign over the doorway. It is decorated by sgraffiti from the 17th century, by a portal coming from the Santi Gucci's workshop. The original houses from 15th – 17th centuries survived until 1944 and used to be the most interesting town complex. The house preserved best among them was the Barczyka house (nr 32) with a stone herma-post, and the only 17th century attic preserved in the Old Town, as well as a portal coming from the Pińczów workshop presenting a Baryczka gmerk.^[8]
Barss' Side (Strona Barssa), the east side (numbers, 2–26), with the Mickiewicz Museum honoring the 19th-century Polish poet. It was the one devastated most. It was pulled down before 1952 and its buildings were replaced by the pseudo-antique houses with old details (at nr 20 a Gothic niche with remains of an old polychromy) and new sgraffito.^[9]
Kołłątaj's Side (Strona Hugo Kołłątaja), the west side (numbers, 15–31), named after a co-author of the Constitution of May 3, 1791. The façades are decorated with details of Gothic as well as 17th century origins. The Fukier house (nr 27) is a reconstruction of a the forms of the end of the 18th century.^[10]
Zakrzewski's Side (Strona Zakrzewskiego), the south side (numbers, 1–13). Features The Bazyliszek House, named after a monster from the Dark Ages and the tower to the Jesuits' church. Façades typical of the turn of the 17th/18th centuries. The portals preserved: Renaissance (nr 1), dating back to the 17th century (nr 3). Pod Lwem house (nr 13) has an original late Renaissance gable, a relief of a lion, coming from around the half of the 18th century, and a polychrome of Zofia Stryjeńska, the only one that remained of a complex of the Old Town polychromies created in 1928 - 1929.^[11]