Warsaw Post-War Reconstruction to Present

[Urbanista1]

The Krakowskie Przedmieście is a major street starting just outside the old gate to the medieval old town. The street started to develop rapidly when the need for defensive walls dimished during the early renaissance. When the capital was moved to Warsaw formally in 1596, the wealthy magnates moved with it and built opulent palaces with their grand forecourts along it and funded the construction of renaissance and baroque styled churches along its length. After the war, the street was reconstructed largely as it had been during the war, some churches and palaces miraculously survived intact, however, inspired by paintings of Belotto Canaletto and to some extent a proletarian communist ideology that abhorred burgeois excess, many buildings were scaled down to recreate this section of Warsaw as it had looked during the 18th century.

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Structures that survived virtually intact:









Thanks Sławek and Polex for some of the nice pics.

[rychlik]

I am surprised those structures were spared more or less. I guess the Germans got lazy that day.

[rychlik]

Before the war.

[rychlik]

[rychlik]

Some more pre-WWII life:





Belweder



Royal Castle interior






Possibly the first skyscraper in Poland.

[Urbanista1]

thanks, I've never seen some of these pics. but now that the archives in Warsaw have opened all this up we will be seeing lots of books coming out that show Warsaw as it once was.

[rychlik]

Warsaw in 1910. I'm pretty sure this church does not exist anymore.



Something from 1916. I believe the print is in German.




This for sure is gone. Apparently it was too Russian looking. I agree. It did not suit Warsaw.




Warsaw actually had a Napoleon statue??

[rychlik]

They were renovating some old basements in Warsaws Old Town and found a 300 year old coins.




The renovated basements in the Old Town. Authentic and original foundations. I will visit them in May.









I think these will be mostly cafes and theatres. It would be cool if Warsaw had it's own medieval underground. If there are any Poles here who have more info on these then post here.


New Chopin museum.









It's already open.

[Urbanista1]

thanks rychlik. I'm really looking forward to seeing the medieval basements in the old town, they are supposed to be all complete by december I believe if not earlier. what the media has shown is apparently a small part. your pics of Chopin Museum are out of date. I saw the completed basements last year and I would strongly recommend that anyone visiting Warsaw should see them - wow!! really blew me away with the juxtaposition of ancient and high-tech modern. like seeing pre-war pics of this city, but sadly it does feel like a different city now.

[rychlik]

Yeah I know the Chopin museum is open. I wanted to showcase exceptional Polish renovation techniques.

[Darhet]

Reconstruction of Warsaw -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L27GBOVPy8A


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stg5ygNcveE



Construction of a Palace of Culture and Science ,230m, 1952-1955:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nywz2XOgO30

[rychlik]

Hallway in a house in the Old Town, 1920.
This is a great picture because it gives an idea how old and aged the interiors were in the structures of the Old Town in Warsaw (going back to the 13th century). I've never seen this picture until today. It's part of the photography collection at the National Museum in Warsaw.

[Tiaren]

Krakowskie Przedmieście is a very beautiful street! It reminds me of Unter den Linden (beneath the lime trees) in Berlin. Not because they look that similar, but because this were the grand 18th century boulevards of both cities, both were destroyed and fortunately both were reconstructed (in Berlin only one half though).

Would it be alright if I posted some pics of Unter den Linden?

[rychlik]

Sure, I'd like to see what it looks like.

[Urbanista1]

Yes Tiaren, please do post from Berlin, it would make for a nice comparison. I didn't know that only half was rebuilt. When I was last there it was mostly in East Berlin - long time ago KP is a beautiful street, but it has curves and turns and a number of squares along it and it ultimately merges into Nowy Swiat Street (New World Street) and goes onto to Ujazdowskie Allee.

rychlik love that interior shot. it's sad that so many amazing interiors were lost, but you know Stary Rynek 36, 38, 40 and Nowowiejska 10 and some others have all original interios still, not to mention all of the basements.

[rychlik]

Originally Posted by Urbanista1

Yes Tiaren, please do post from Berlin, it would make for a nice comparison. I didn't know that only half was rebuilt. When I was last there it was mostly in East Berlin - long time ago KP is a beautiful street, but it has curves and turns and a number of squares along it and it ultimately merges into Nowy Swiat Street (New World Street) and goes onto to Ujazdowskie Allee.

rychlik love that interior shot. it's sad that so many amazing interiors were lost, but you know Stary Rynek 36, 38, 40 and Nowowiejska 10 and some others have all original interios still, not to mention all of the basements.

Thanks Urbanista. I will pay attention to these building when I'm in Warsaw this May.
By the way, do you know how many of those basements are open to the public at this time?

[Urbanista1]

not sure, but by summer I believe the Warsaw History Museum should be reopened, it's been going through a big renovation and the basements are also being restored as part of this larger szlak podziemny turystczyny (basement complex) that will be opening in stages. Should be more info somewhere under 'Warszawa' and 'Zabytki' in the Polish forum.

How did you find this photography collection at the National Museum? - online or did you scan this from soemthing you bought?

BTW, the Napoleon statue is returning this summer, not that I necesarily agree with this.

[Tiaren]

Unter den Linden ("under the linden trees") is a boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin.
It is about 1,5km long and named for its linden (lime in British English) trees that line the pedestrian mall between two carriageways.
It runs east–west from the site of the former Stadtschloss (royal palace) at the Lustgarten park, where the demolished Palast der Republik used to be, to Pariser Platz and Brandenburg Gate. Eastward the boulevard crosses the Spree river at Berlin Cathedral and continues as Karl-Liebknecht-Straße...
Unter den Linden developed from a bridle path laid out by Elector John George of Brandenburg in the 16th century to reach his hunting grounds in the Tiergarten. It was replaced by a boulevard of linden trees planted in 1647, extending from the city palace to the gates of the city, by order of the “Great Elector” Frederick William.

This is how the boulevard looked like around 1930:


And this is how it looked like around 1945:


Berlin Wall period (1966/1968):


This is Unter den Linden and Pariser Platz today:

Source: Wiki & flickr[/QUOTE]

As you can see the west part including Pariser Platz was rebuilt in a modern way. They called it "critical reconstruction" and in my eyes the final result is average at best.

Just the street level of Pariser Platz with it's fountains, pavement and lamp posts were reconstructed.

Only the second half (eastern half) of the boulevard was carefully reconstructed by the GDR and todays Germany.

[Tiaren]

Part I, southern side of Unter den Linden

Here you see the monument to Friedrich III. The white house in the background is the Gouverneurs Haus (Governour's house) and is actually a translocation. After the war it was relocated from another part of East Berlin replacing a destroyed palais.

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/holgerb...n/photostream/


This is the beautiful Altes Palais (Old Palace). It was recently renovated:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/profila...n/photostream/


The pergola on it's side was only recently recontructed (the large building in the background with the scaffholding is the State Library, which is now renovated inside and out):

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/holgerb...n/photostream/


This curved building on Bebelplatz is the Alte Bibliothek (Old Library). It's fassade was initially designed for the Imperial Palace in Vienna, but wasn't executed there. It was freshly renovated as well:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/holgerb...n/photostream/

On the other side of Bebelplatz Hotel de Rome, which was renovated/reconstructed some years ago:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davepin...n/photostream/


Here is St. Hedwig's Cathedral. Berlins first catholic church:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asmythi...n/photostream/


Unfortunately the 19th century dome was not reconstructed. They chose this version, because it looked more like the Pantheon, which it was initially intended to look like:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paweldu...n/photostream/


This is the State Opera Berlin, which is now being renovated inside and out. It's a reconstruction of the 50s:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arnimsc...n/photostream/


Front fassade:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkpun...n/photostream/


Now following the Prinzessinnen Palais (Princesses' Palace) and the Kronprinzen Palais (Palace of the Crown Prince):

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/holgerb...7621935346134/

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/holgerb...7621935346134/


The Kronprinzen Palais is a reconstruction of the 60s for state guests. It was recently renovated:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolf-ra...n/photostream/


This is the Alte Kommandantur, fully reconstructed just some years ago:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/damiavo...n/photostream/

Notice the beautiful lamp posts in front of Alte Kommandantur? They are called Schuppmann Kandelaber. Those were reintroduced some years ago. Before that very ugly post war lamps illuminated Unter den Linden.


View to Friedrichswerder Church. The empty lots in the background will be soon rebuild:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/holgerb...7621935346134/


At the southern End of Unter den Linden lies Schinkelplatz. The Square was reconstructed with fountain, monuments and the intricate floor mosaic two years ago:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/holgerb...7621935346134/


In the background you see the Bauakademie (Academy of Construction). It was built by Friedrich Schinkel and will be reconstructed soon as well. It was a really important building in Berlin's history of architecture:

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3277663...n/photostream/

On the site were now is Schinkel Platz again, there was a huge GDR administration building. Thank god it is gone!

Tomorrow I'll show you the northern side of Unter den Linden!

[rychlik]

Wow Tiaren. The changes have been drastic. I can't believe it.