Warsaw Old Town

Background

Warsaw Old Town lies in the city centre on the west bank of the Vistula and is the city's oldest district: it was founded in the 13th century and received town privileges around 1300. It was first surrounded by an earthwork rampart, and brick city walls were standing before 1339; the Market Square took shape in the late 13th to early 14th century along the road linking the castle with the New Town. The Royal Castle, St John's Archcathedral, the city walls and the Barbican, and Sigismund's Column, raised on Castle Square in 1644, are the Old Town's main landmarks. The Mermaid statue in the middle of the Market Square was designed by the Warsaw sculptor Konstanty Hegel; the original was moved to the Museum of Warsaw in 2008, and a copy now stands on the square. During the Second World War most of the Old Town was destroyed, and after the 1944 Warsaw Uprising the remaining buildings were systematically blown up by Nazi Germany. After the war, the Warsaw Reconstruction Office rebuilt the Old Town between 1945 and 1951, relying heavily on the 18th-century city views of the painter Bernardo Bellotto (often called Canaletto in Poland) and on drawings made by pre-war architecture students. In 1980 the Old Town was inscribed on the World Heritage List as an outstanding example of near-total reconstruction, and in 2011 the archive of the Warsaw Reconstruction Office was added to the Memory of the World Register.

Local customs

• Walk in from Castle Square to see the Royal Castle first, then follow the cobbled streets to the Market Square and the Mermaid statue
• climb the Barbican to see the walls, and browse the cafés and galleries around the square
• stroll south along the Royal Route past palaces and churches.

Travel tips

• Ticket prices for the Royal Castle and some museums follow official information
• the Old Town has many cobbled streets, so wear flat shoes, and in winter the pavements may ice over, so watch your footing. From Warszawa Centralna station, take a bus or the metro to the Old Town area and walk in
• the Castle Square area is pedestrianised. Trains or buses from the airport reach the city centre.
• Open all year: in spring and summer the square's open-air café terraces are at their liveliest
• autumn is quieter and good for taking your time in museums
• during the winter Christmas market, the lights on the square are worth seeing.