Home <<<
WARSAW HISTORY
The earliest settlements in the Warsaw Valley date back to the 10th century. The first mention in the Russian chronicles of the burning down by the Lithuanians and Russians of the wooden township of Mazovian princes located in Jazdów, where the Botanical Gardens can be found today, comes from the year 1262. Jazdów was conquered and pillaged for a second time in 1281 and was most probably never rebuilt. Towards the end of the 13th century, some few kilometres north of Jazdów, a new town of Mazovian princes was established on a high embankment of the Vistula River. Its location corresponds with that of the Royal Castle. This settlement was Warsaw. The first mention of the new town comes from a document dating from the year 1313. In 1339 the Papal court of law sat in Warsaw, the capital of the neutral Mazovian Principality, to decide the dispute between King Kazimierz Wielki and the Order of Teutonic Knights concerning the unlawful occupation of Western Pomerania by the Knights. During the reign of Prince Janusz the Elder (1374 - 1429) who did a lot of good for the town Warsaw was already playing the role of regional capital. In 1406, following the relocation of the collegiate church in Czersk, Warsaw became the centre of the secular and ecclesiastical authorities and in 1413 its status was confirmed by the official move of the capital of Mazovia from Czersk to Warsaw. When the Mazovian Princes died leaving no heir the region was incorporated into the Polish Crown. Attempts to rescue its independence came to nothing. On 25 August 1526 King Zygmunt Stary made a triumphant entry and in September the local Parliament swore allegiance to him. Thanks to its convenient location Warsaw experienced a period of rapid development becoming the leading city of the entire state. Its central position was one of the main reasons why the Lublin Union Parliament in 1569 passed a resolution to hold joint Polish-Lithuanian parliamentary sessions there. Also here the free elections of Polish kings had been taking place from 1573 onwards. All this contributed to the transformation of the city into the capital in the years 1596-1610. Following a fire at Wawel Castle in Cracow King Zygmunt III Vasa moved the permanent royal residence, court and crown offices to the expanded Warsaw castle. Consequently, the city experienced yet another period of growth. The number of inhabitants also continued to increase. Thanks to the cultural and artistic leanings of the Vasa dynasty the royal court in Warsaw became an important arts and science centre. Music was particularly well represented with such composers like A. Jarzębski and B. Pękiel working here. The same could be said of the theatre with the famous theatre of Władysław IV Vasa leading the field. The wars of the mid-17th century brought about an economic collapse of Warsaw. In the years 1655-1658 the city found itself under siege three times and three times it was taken and pillaged by Swedish and Transylvanian forces. The years of the "deluge" destroyed and emptied the city of its cultural goods. A great number of works of art, books, paintings, tapestries and other historic objects were taken by the invaders. Then followed a period of regression. After the election of King Jan III Sobieski Warsaw returned to its former economic and cultural glory. The Northern War (1700-1721), the invasion of Charles XII coupled with internal strife leading to the dethronement of August II and the crowning of Stanisław Leszczyński attenuated by raging epidemics put a brake on the development of Warsaw. Under the reign of the Saxons and following the stabilisation of the internal situation Warsaw again became an important cultural centre. In 1740 Stanisław Konarski founded Collegium Nobilium and initiated a far-reaching reform of the education system. In 1747 the Załuski brothers opened the first public library. The city was also enriched with several major architectural elements. For example, King August II erected the wonderful baroque Saska Axle consisting of palaces and gardens located at today's Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square. On the King's initiative trees were also planted along the old road to Ujazdów together with Stations of the Cross. Today this is Aleje Ujazdowskie. The Paving Commission chaired by the grand crown marshal Franciszek Bieliński played a very important role in determining the direction of urban development. The second "golden age" in the history of Warsaw coincided with the reign of the last Polish King Stanisław August Poniatowski. It was then that the dynamically growing city expanded and was transformed into a modern urban organism becoming at the same time an unquestionable centre of political, economic, commercial and industrial life of the country and the capital of Polish Enlightenment. In the year 1765 the King founded the Knights' School which educated its students in the spirit of patriotism. Tadeusz Kościuszko was one of its alumni. The National Theatre was established in 1765 on the initiative of the King. At that time Warsaw also acquired a number of magnificent buildings and residences, built predominantly in the style of Stanisław August - a unique Polish variant of the early classicist style. These included the Palace and park in Łazienki, the rebuilding of the interiors of the Royal Castle and the mapping of the co-called Stanisław Axis, a major urban and garden project including the thoroughfare running west from Ujazdowski Castle towards the Wola Road and the system of star squares (Na Rozdrożu, Zbawiciela, Unii Lubelskiej). During the Four-year Parliament (1788-1792) on 3 May 1791 the Constitution was adopted (the first in Europe and second in the world) providing the foundations for the establishment of modern state. One of the most important issues dealt with by the Four-year Parliament was the matter of city rights. The town council of Old Warsaw, headed by Jan Dekert, who in the autumn of 1789 organised a congress of the representatives of Polish towns, played a particularly significant role here. On 2 December burghers formed the famous "black procession" and wearing black attire went in horse-driven coaches from the Old Town market Square to the Castle to deliver to the King and chancellors their demands for reforms. On 18 April 1791 the long-awaited act granting citizen rights to burghers, unifying the city into one administrative entity, abolishing jurisdictions, dividing towns into districts (Warsaw was divided into seven districts) and giving wide powers to local authorities was adopted. On 21 April 1791 the new statute was entered in the city books and since the two hundredth anniversary of this event i.e. 1991 the local government of Warsaw has been celebrating the Warsaw Day on 21 April. The victorious rule of Targowica which led to the destruction of the work of the Four-year Parliament, the second partition of Poland (1793, the first took place in 1772) and the difficult economic situation all failed to suppress Warsaw's drive towards freedom. The capital soon became the centre of clandestine activity aimed at overthrowing the foreign rule by force and restoring independence. The Kościuszko uprising and the victory at Racławice spurred the people of Warsaw to action. On 17 April 1794, led by Jan Kiliński, a local shoemaker and Józef Sierakowski, a butcher, they attacked and defeated the Russian troops stationed in the city. In May at the gallows erected in the Old Market Square the traitorous aristocratic members of the Targowica government were hanged. However, the final defeat of the uprising also meant the end of the Republic. Following the third partition in 1795 Poland disappeared from the maps of Europe for 123 years and its territory was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria. The part of Mazovia containing Warsaw fell to the Prussians and the town was relegated to the status of a provincial centre. Renewed hopes for the restoration of independence followed the arrival in Warsaw of Napoleon's army in 1806. In July 1806 Warsaw Principality was established following the signing of the Tylża Peace Treaty with the city again becoming a vibrant centre of political and cultural life. However, the defeat of Napoleon put paid to the independence hopes and also spelled the end of the Principality. After the Vienna Congress in 1815 Warsaw became the capital of the Polish Kingdom, a quasi-state politically dependent on Russia but managing to keep considerable autonomy for some years to come. This period saw an effective drive towards more orderly urban development coupled with important events in the academic life. A new thoroughfare - Aleje Jerozolimskie - was built and the style of buildings along the main streets such as Nowy Świat unified. Warsaw University and Technical University, the Main School of Music were established and the Society of the Friends of Sciences made up of leading scholars began its activities. However, severe censorship and meddling by secret police led by Grand Duke Konstanty hampered free cultural development. After the eruption of the November Uprising Warsaw lived through a short period of independence. Alas, after the defeat of the insurrection the Polish Kingdom was stripped of the last vestiges of political independence such as the Parliament, government and the Polish army. The University was closed and associations banned. In the Citadel erected in the years 1832-34 at the cost of demolishing a whole district the feared Investigative Commission worked, its aim was to control the rebellious city by means of terror. Cultural life took the form of unofficial and informal activities. After the defeat of the January Uprising (1864) the last of the symbols of the autonomy of the Kingdom were removed and strict Russification of schools and administration introduced. Despite such adverse political conditions the city continued to develop. Its industrial potential kept growing. In the years 1840-48 the first railway line was built linking Warsaw with Vienna. In 1864 the first permanent bridge over the Vistula was commissioned followed in 1875 by the first railway bridge. The first water system (1851-1855) and the first sewage system (1881-1886) were built. In 1856 gas was introduced and in 1881 the first telephone exchange was installed. In 1882 the first regular horse-drawn trams arrived in the streets followed in 1907 by electric streetcars. However, the lack of interest in the development of Warsaw on the part of the occupation authorities meant that there existed no conditions conducive to the implementation of new, well-thought out and bold urban schemes. In 1915, during World War I, Warsaw was occupied by the Germans and in 1918 became the capital of the reborn Polish State. As early as 1916 a group of town planners and architects headed by Tomasz Tołwiński prepared plans for the regulation of the Greater Warsaw. New thoroughfares were mapped out and modern housing estates such as Żoliborz, Mokotów and Saska Kępa, built. The urban planning activities, of particular intensity under the presidency of Stefan Starzyński, came to an abrupt and dramatic end in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland and following a fierce battle lasting until 28 September finally took Warsaw. The city - as it was its tradition under foreign occupation - soon became the main centre of resistance, but also a major centre of clandestine cultural and academic life. In April 1943 an uprising began in the Jewish ghetto resulting in a total annihilation of this district populated by half a million people. On 1 August 1944 the Warsaw Uprising, prepared by the Home Army erupted. The act of honourable capitulation was signed on 2 October. After the defeat of the uprising the city was given a death sentence. The population was expelled or transported to camps and the Germans began a systematic destruction of the town. The cultural losses, including the burned down libraries and museum collections, churches and palaces and the property of the inhabitants, were incalculable. Some 650 000 people died and 84 percent of the urban fabric was destroyed. Special Nazi detachments set fire to house after house, street after street with particularly valuable buildings such as the Royal Castle blown up. The intention was not to leave a single building standing... The rebuilding of Warsaw began immediately in 1945. Regardless of the political motives of this decision made by a regime imposed upon Poland the most important factor was the attitude of the people of Warsaw who returned from their war exile to the ruins of their beloved city. The support of all Poles given to the task of rebuilding Warsaw was very important too. It is also necessary to remember that the plans of this huge urban development project were put into reality under the guidance of top specialists. It is difficult to identify a date of the completion of this task as in certain terms this process continues even today. A ballpark date would be 1970 - when Warsaw's population again reached 1.3 million. The shape of Warsaw gives rise to numerous objections regarding both the effects of certain politically-motivated decisions and the developmental disproportion caused by the declining economic effectiveness of "real socialism". Nonetheless, a capital that was to be deleted from the map of Europe has been reborn and is full of life.