A colourful Old TownZamkowy Square, containing Sigismund’s Column, is the most prominent feature of the Old Town. The 15th-century Gothic St. John’s Cathedral stands on narrow Swietojanska Street. Its crypt houses the sarcophaguses of the princes of Mazovia and the tombs of many famous Poles. The cathedral is the summertime venue of the International Festival of Organ Music. Swietojanska Street leads into the Old Town Square, with its colorful, narrow-fronted tenement houses. The Old Town’s history dates back to the early 14th century. Due to the amazing reconstruction that followed the destruction of World War II, the Old Town was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1980. The Old Town’s charming little streets and alleys are home to numerous galleries, cafés and restaurants. In the Old Town Square, which becomes a busy open-air gallery in the summer, painters sell landscapes, panoramas of Warsaw and portraits of passersby. Also on the square is the Warsaw History Museum, which presents the history of the city. Jazz concerts are held here in summer on Saturday nights and horse-drawn carriages are available for visitors. Beyond the Barbican, the gate that sealed the old defensive walls of the Old Town, Freta Street leads to the New Town, founded in the early 15th century. The New Town Square is dominated by the Church of the Nuns of the Order of the Holy Sacrament. It is not far from here to the Baroque Church of the Franciscan Order and Warsaw’s oldest church, the Church of the Virgin Mary. The majestic Royal Castle was expanded during the reign Poland’s last king, Stanislaw August Poniatowski. Great ademics, prominent architects and painters worked here, cluding the painters Marcello Bacciarelli and Canaletto. The Canaletto Room houses 18th-century panoramas of Warsaw painted by the famous Italian artist. |
|
Menu: |
