Warsaw Post-War Reconstruction to Present

[Urbanista1]

[B]Reconstruction of the Old Town

View to Old Town beyond St, John's Cathedral

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After Reconstruction



Old Town Square Frontage - The so-called Dekert Side was the most intact frontage on Old Warsaw

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Side Streets

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Kanonia Square

Before







Brzozowa Street







Freta Street (Main Street linking Old Town and New Town)





















Franciscan Street

Post war



Today



Dluga Street (Main street between Krasinski Square and Freta Street)











Podwale - By the Old Town Walls





Krasinski Palace

Before



After



Miodowa Street (Links Krasinski Square with Theatre Square/Plac Teatralny)

Before





Church in above photo









My thanks to Polex and Slawek for some of the recent images and the book WARSZAWA. Ballada o okaleczonym mieście for many of the original photos

[Urbanista1]

More Old Town and Environs





Castle Square





















Ruins of City Hall/Ratusz or Plac Jablonowski



Area after the war



Rebuilt Jablonowski Palace (rebuilt 1996 - last major reconstruction)



Thanks Slawek and Polex

[rychlik]

The destruction is ugly but it appears like a lot of the foundations and walls survived somewhat intact.

[Albion Boris]

Reconstruction failed because there was no clear agenda no clear goal. Once slavery was abolished no one had a clue as to what to do. As fierce as the Abolutionist were in their goal of ending Slavery they remained mostly racist - - - in their own Churches they made 'blacks' either sit at the very back of the room or most often 'blacks' were restricted to a rickety balconey accessible via a ladder. In fact several leading abolutionists raised funds to build 'black' curches rather than intergrating their churches!

[Urbanista1]

Almost all of the foundations in the old town survived with only a few exceptions, many exterior walls survived but some had to be pulled down anyway because of a freak hurricane that hit in 1947. The old town basements are now a very cool and authentic venue for cafes/gallery/art culture.

[Tiaren]

It's such a perfect reconstruction! You can't tell todays buildings aren't 200 years and older.
I wished, they'd be so perfect with Dresden. But they are unfortunately not. Only special structures, like churches or castles/palaces are reconstructed into the smallest detail. Houses along Neumarkt can't hide they're completely new.

[Urbanista1]

I think the difference is that they were required to use traditional technology, crafts and even traditional window-making techniques when rebuilding the old town. They also salvaged tens of thousands of pieces of original building decoration (friezes, window mouldings, cornices, bas-reliefs sculptural elements etc) that were then reincorporated into the buildings. What also lent these buildings such a look of originality is the use of original gothic brick most of which was salvaged from the ruins as you can see in some pictures, but as we all know much was taken from other cities in post war Poland.

Most of the core of the old town originates from between the 13th to 16th centuries. During reconstruction as much (a lot in some cases) of the original construction or facades was preserved and shored up prior to the dismantling of remaining unsalvageable components and the rebuilding. Almost all of the basements were preserved and those along the main market square have been restored to house galleries, museums and cafes.

Examples of surviving fragments reincorporated into reconstructed buildings:















Attic from 1683



Bas-relief







16th Century Sculpture of St. Anne Samotrzec













During reconstruction this fragment of one of the original city (Brama Gnojowa - Sh*t Gate) gates was uncovered



Another Section of medieval wall uncovered during reconstruction. The old walls were incorporated into buildings over the centuries and during reconstruction it was decided that the walls that should remain uncovered.





Most of the above photos credited to Marek Lef

[Urbanista1]

I'm going to Dresden this year and look forward to seeing what they have done. It is still a good thing that the form of the original city is being rebuilt, details can be added over the years as they are uncovered sometimes or based on current tastes. The landmark buildings, churches etc, look amazing.

[Chadoh25]

Great photos! I love seeing before and afters. It shows how much work really went into the reconstructions!

[rychlik]

It's interesting to see what the surviving fragments are in the Old Town. I thought everything was lost. If you can get more pics of these than that would be great.

[Urbanista1]

del

[Urbanista1]

Old Town Churches

St. John's Cathedral







Can you spot the telltale reminder of how old the church actually is? - although it was rebuilt using many of the salvaged bricks of the original



St. Jacek's









Virgin Mary Church









St. Casimir's







St. Benon's





Church of the Holy Spirit





St. Francis Serafin





Church of the Holy Trinity





St. Martin's (literally flattened except for a few walls and the gothic tower to the left)



Thanks Slawek for some of the best photos

[Urbanista1]

Old Town Walls

[rychlik]

How much of the wall is original? When was it constructed?

[Urbanista1]

A lot of the wall is original as is the cobblestone paving in the old town (btw). the upper portions were reconstructions, but the base and lower walls were all part of later additions and buildings that effectively hid the wall. Back in the days when horsepower really meant horses, people didn't demolish and start from tabula rasa as in North America especially, you kept what was solid and built on it. You see this in the Forum Romanum where old temples were retrofitted into churches etc.I will try to find out what condition the walls were in when they were uncovered and get some pics....unless you find something.

[Urbanista1]

Originally Posted by Chadoh25

Great photos! I love seeing before and afters. It shows how much work really went into the reconstructions!

I really like the photos that show people and scaffoldin working on restoring buildings, it gives you a sense of everyday life in the city and who these people were that toiled for years on this great project.

[Urbanista1]

The Core of the Old Town - reconstruction involved far more than just the Old Town shown so far, but it was the area that received the greatest attention.

Before the War









After the War



After Reconstruction - 2010

[Pedro Paulo Carreira]

A destruição da cidade foi quase que total. Acredito que Varsovia, Berlim e Stalingrado tenham sido as cidades mais destruidas na Europa na II Guerra.

[Tiaren]

The achievement they made is SO impressive! I'm really at a loss of words... And I am a tiny bit jealous.

[Urbanista1]

I'm very glad you are enjoying this thread...much more to come, it'll take a few weeks