tourpoland

25.05.2015 It is amazing how many places in Warsaw are surprising and undiscovered. Places that are associated with amazing events, mysterious riddles, extraordinary people. Places that are an excuse to tell stories sometimes sad, sometimes funny, but always fascinating and colorful. Places that amaze and act on the imagination. All you have to do is get away from the beaten paths, the places besieged by tourists to get to know a different face of Warsaw, not described in every tourist guide, known only to true lovers of the capital. Some of these unknown places are open to the public every day, reaching out to others requires more patience. However, it is this inaccessibility that causes the place to be surrounded by an aura of mystery that makes it even more interesting. So let's take a walk around Warsaw, which we do not know yet, let's discover the capital again, get to know the amazing stories and people who took part in them. There is no better place to start our journey around Warsaw than its historical center - the Old Town. When we look at the tenement houses on Kanonia Street, one of them will draw our attention, so narrow that it only has one window! However, if we went up the staircase or saw the tenement house from the side of the Vistula, it would turn out to be much wider. Just the plot on which it was erected has a triangle shape, not a rectangle. There was a reason why the shape of the plot was chosen - taxes were payable on the width of the tenement house from the main street, so in this case they were the lowest. Nearby, in the Krakowskie Przedmieście two wings of the Kazanowski Palace have survived, once a delicious residence, competing with the Royal Castle, which was surrounded by a zoo. It was in him that Mr. Zagłoba experienced an unpleasant adventure, which is commemorated by the plaque on the wall of the palace from the side of Mariensztat: "Here at the foot of the Kazanowski, Mr. Zagłoba fought with monkeys". This event is described in this way by Henryk Sienkiewicz in "The Deluge": "- Simiae or devils?" Mr. Zagłoba said to himself. Suddenly anger caught him, bravery rose in his chest and, lifting the saber, he fell into the cage. A huge panic responded to the first blow of his sword. Monkeys , with which the Swedish soldiers handled well and which of their slim rations they fed, because they amused them, [...] they fell into such terrible horror that they were simply mad, [...] one jumped in madness, Mr. Zagłoba his neck and grabbing his head clung to him with all his strength. The second clung to his right shoulder, the third from the front grabbed his neck, the fourth hung from the tied behind the outlets, while he smothered, sweaty, vain thrashed, vainly inflicted back blind times, soon he ran out of breath himself, his eyes came out and in a desperate voice he shouted: Dear gentlemen, save me! Screams attracted a dozen companies, who, unable to discern what was happening, ran to help with blood-smoking sabers, but suddenly stood in amazement, looked at each other and as if under the influence of spells, roared with one huge laugh. More soldiers came, the whole crowd, but laughter, like the plague, spread to everyone. [...] It wasn't until Roch Kowalski who ran down the mountain and, breaking the crowds, freed his uncle from the monkey hugs. "Leaving this unusual duel in mind, let us now go to the Old Town Square, where another unusual place awaits us. Old tenement houses on Dekert's side, the best preserved frontage of the Market Square after World War II, there are mysterious cellars dating back to the 12th and 14th centuries. Renovation works carried out in the underground brought many interesting discoveries - a brick well from the 17th century and an oven that was probably used in the pharmacy laboratory in the 17th century However, the most spectacular discovery was the cache, which contained 1211 coins, among them zlotymes, orts, sixths and cutters from the 17th and 18th centuries. The found treasure weighed 4.8 kg. The fascinating history of the last tenement located on the basement trail is fascinating. , located at the address: Bolcio 2. It was founded in the 16th century near the entrance gate to the first permanent bridge over the Vistula River, which was the longest structure of this type in all of Europe. On the Prague side, the bridge overlooked today's Ratuszowa Street, and Mostowa Street, which exists until today, led to it from the Old Town. The initiator of the construction was King Zygmunt August, he also financed the project. The bridge, 500 meters long and supported on 15 pillars, aroused widespread admiration of the Varsovians, and Jan Kochanowski even wrote about it. On the Varsovian bridge "The inexorable Vistula, you shake the corners in vain, You make rape in the banks in vain, and King Augustus found a ruse, as he was to live, And you have to put that good thought on you, because the crowds of oars, the crowds of prum now dry foot, all your bare back they can trample." However, Warsaw residents did not enjoy the new crossing for a long time, because 30 years after its construction it was destroyed by spring ice. The entrance gate to the bridge, which protected it from fire, therefore ceased to be needed, therefore it was intended as a powder magazine. This function of the building is commemorated by the name of the theater located in it - Old Powder Tower. In later years, the building housed a prison, and from the mid-nineteenth century it became a residential building. Old town cellars are open to visitors as part of the tourist trail, and its additional attraction is concerts often held in the underground. Listening to live music in such a unique place is an unforgettable experience! We regretfully leave the atmospheric, town-saturated tenement houses, but at the corner of Wąski and Broad Danube, in the Shoemakers' House, another attraction is waiting for us - the Museum of the Leather Craft Guild. Jan Kiliński. The items collected in it were part of the life of the inhabitants of old Warsaw and are testimony to its splendor and prosperity. Imagine fashionable Warsaw women wearing tasteful shoes shown in the museum! However, in carefully recreated two workshops - shoemaker's and saddler's workshop, we can imagine what the work of a shoemaker and saddler looked like in the 19th century. In the museum we can also see authentic tools of their work, e.g. an upper sewing machine. The exhibition is supplemented by guild documents, including the Saddler Guild Statute signed by King Stanisław August Poniatowski. Of course, there were also portraits of shoemakers and saddlers - saints Kryspin and Kryspian, and a portrait of the most famous Warsaw shoemaker, colonel of the Kościuszko Uprising Jan Kiliński. Let's stay in the atmosphere of old Warsaw, moving this time to the reign of Sigismund III Vasa and let us go to the narrow street Dziekania. There is a porch above it, through which once passed from the castle through the dean's palace to the royal lodge in the cathedral. This porch was erected so that the king could safely go to the mass without going out into the street, where his life was threatened by such events: When on November 15, 1620 the king went to the mass to the cathedral accompanied by the primate, court and family, he unexpectedly attacked him with an ice ax in your hand the Sandomierz nobleman Michał Piekarski. Fortunately, his son, heir to the throne, Prince Władysław and other members of the royal court came to the king's help. The bold attack on the monarch had to be severely punished. Before the execution of Piekarski, they were subjected to gruesome torture - first, he was burned with his right hand, which he dared to raise to the majesty of the king, then both hands were cut off, and finally, according to the wording of the sentence: "... with four horses the body into four parts distracted, and the disgusting corpse quarters to dust on the pile of trees will be burned. At the end of the gunpowder, filled with guns, a shot through the air will disperse. Piekarski, subjected to such terrible torture, emitted some strange, incomprehensible words and hence the Warsaw saying "Pleta, like Piekarski in agony." It should be added that the execution of Piekarski took place on the so-called Piekełku at the end of ... Piekarska street. However, this was not the only case when an attempt was made on the royal dignity witnessed by the inhabitants of the Old Town. This time, King Stanisław August Poniatowski became the victim of the attackers, and Kozia Street was the place of the monarch's shameful kidnapping. The opponents of the king first established a confederation in the town of Bar, Ukraine, in 1768, after which they announced the dethronement of the king, and when it failed, they decided to kidnap him! It was no accident that they chose Kozia Street to replace this wicked act - it was so narrow that it was impossible to turn its back on the carriage, which is why the king could not escape. Armed kidnappers attacked the king's carriage early in the evening, when he returned from the sick uncle Michał Czartoryski, then they escaped with the abducted monarch first Miodowa and Długa, and then headed towards Bielany. It quickly turned out, however, that the kidnappers themselves were terrified of the wickedness of what they had done and as they moved away from Warsaw they gave up participating in their evil undertaking. Only one of the attackers, a man named Jan Kuźma, was guarding the king near Bielany. However, his king effectively discouraged his abduction, and even changed his intentions to such an extent that the would-be kidnapper knelt at one point and vowed loyalty to majesty. Lost in the darkness of the night and tired, the kidnapper and the victim spent the night at the mill in Marymont near Warsaw, and the next morning the guard arrived for the king and took him to the castle. Fortunately, the monarch did not suffer badly during the whole event and was only slightly wounded with a saber. This is probably why he later recalled his abduction as a peculiar adventure. Let's stay with King Stanisław August Poniatowski, getting to know another place in Warsaw associated with him - the election field in Wola, where he was elected king in 1764. Canaletto immortalized this momentous event in one of his paintings. In addition to Stanisław August Poniatowski, eight more Polish rulers were elected in Wola, including one woman - Anna Jagiellonka and one king twice - Stanisław Leszczyński. The place of election of kings is commemorated today by the Electio Viritim monument, erected in the place where it stood senatorial shed. In Warsaw, however, there was one more election field, located in the fields of the village of Kamion (today's Kamionek), where the church of St. MB victorious at ul. Grochowska. Two kings were chosen there, but they cannot be considered a successful election from today's perspective ... Both elected monarchs did not write well in Polish history - Henryk Walezy escaped after 9 months of sneaking from Poland, and August III Sas so absorbed sumptuous assuming that he no longer had time to deal with the affairs of the Commonwealth. Describing the election fields in Warsaw, it should be mentioned that the principle of free election in Poland was introduced by the Lublin Union in 1569, and it was first introduced in 1573, a year after the childless death of Sigmund August. Warsaw was chosen as the election because it was halfway between Vilnius and Krakow. How did King Stanisław August Poniatowski spend his free time? Theater was a sophisticated, majestic entertainment, of course, as befits a courtly theater - private and private. Dominik Merlini designed it at the Old Orangery on the order of the king. The theater was opened to the public on September 6, 1788, and the opening was graced by French art played by amateurs from the surrounding of the king. The auditorium of the theater, named after the King in the Stanisławowski Theater, could seat 200 spectators. They admired not only great performances and excellent acoustics, but also wonderful interior design - the royal coat of arms and medallions depicting the greatest playwrights selected by the king in the history of the theater - Sophocles, Shakespeare, Molier and Racine. The paintings of Jan Bogumił Plersch depicting the row of lodges and in them the stately court audience were delighted - elegantly dressed ladies in exquisite hats decorated with feathers look through the lorgnon at the toilets of the neighbors or admire the performance, holding a fan in hand. It is a real miracle that the Stanisławowski Theater survived World War II, despite the fact that it is built of wood. He saved himself because the area of ​​the Royal Łazienki Park belonged to the Germans and there were no fighting during the war. Also by a lucky coincidence, the order to demolish the Palace on the Water did not mention the theater. We are still visiting the Royal Łazienki to discover their next surprise - four sundials. The oldest of them has been standing on the terrace of the White House since 1778 and has a shield made of white Carrara marble, supported by sandstone, kneeling satire. Who else than that of Greek mythology participant in the retinue of the god of wine Bacchus, often depicted in dance, while playing an instrument or in the pursuit of forest nymphs better suits the idyllic garden of the Royal Baths? The clock in front of the Old Orangery building is also unusual. He drew it in 1828 on a granite boulder found at the establishment of the Botanical Garden by prof. Wojciech Jastrzębowski using a device he invented. We are not parting with the royal family yet, this time paying our attention to the oldest brother of King Stanisław August Poniatowski, Prince Kazimierz Poniatowski. It was for him that architect Szymon Bogumił Zug designed the garden "Na Książęca" in 1776-1779, which consisted of a geometrical part and a more wild, natural part with a small pond and island. In Warsaw, there were legends about the peculiarities and riches of the garden, according to which there were conservatories in which pineapples were grown, and monkeys happily played on the island on the pond! The park was decorated with numerous small architecture buildings, including Imam's house, minaret, Chinese pavilion and hidden in the escarpment mysterious rotunda called Elizeum. In Elizeum, Kazimierz Poniatowski organized sumptuous parties for his friends, splendid with music that thanks to perfect acoustics was heard perfectly in the whole interior. Stairs and a dark corridor led to Elizeum, and the interior dazzled with a delicious dome, comfortable sofas, paintings on the walls and the glow of countless lanterns. Today, unfortunately, it is difficult to see traces of its former splendor, only fragments of polychrome on the walls and prints of coffers once decorating the vault remind us of it.