Walking along the Royal Route

Zamkowy Square is the starting point of the former Royal Route, which runs south to Wilanow Palace. On the embankment above the Vistula River stands St. Anne’s Church, founded in the 15th century by Princess Anna of Mazovia, with Rococo and Classicist wall paintings and a large façade. The view from the church tower includes Mariensztat, an autonomous part of the city in the 18th century with its own law and town hall. Nearby is the Polonia House, which was once the Museum of Industry and Trade, where Maria Sklodowska-Curie worked before she left for France. Curie went on to discover radium and polonium, for which she was awarded with the Nobel Prize.

On the same side of Krakowskie Przedmiescie Street stands Radziwill Palace, which today is the residence of the president of Poland. A little further down the street, on the Warsaw University campus, is Kazimierzowski Palace, which was originally the summer residence of King Ladislaus IV and later home to the Knights’ School, where Tadeusz Kosciuszko was a student. Opposite the university, in the annex of Czapski Palace, is the parlor of Frédéric Chopin’s parents. Today the palace houses the Academy of Fine Arts.

A number of elegant stores and restaurants- are located on Nowy Swiat Street, an extension of Krakowskie Przedmiescie Street. Charles de Gaulle feasted on delicious paczki (doughnuts) from the Blikle bakery when he was in Poland with a French military mission after World War I. Beyond Trzech Krzyzy Square are Ujazdowskie Avenue and adjacent park areas. The Botanical Gardens and Royal Lazienki Park, a magnificent palace-and-park complex founded by King Stanislaw August Poniatowski, create a true oasis of green in the city centre. The Old Orangery preserves Europe’s only 18th-century court theatre with original fittings and beautiful wall paintings. There is also a sculpture gallery.

The Royal Route ends in Wilanow, where King Jan III Sobieski established his residence. The Baroque palace, surrounded by a historical park, has retained part of its collections and original organisation. The Poster Museum, located on the palace grounds, features the work of great contemporary Polish artists.

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