Warsaw

[jawnbc]

As I wandered through the Castle in Warsaw's Stare Miasto (Old Town) I thought to myself "a culture must value itself that goes to such great efforts to ensure its legacy is maintained.

And then I remember 95% of what I'm experiencing was recreated after WW II. Almost entirely financed by the Polish people themselves, despite the privations of communism.  That's pride folks.



The Castle itself was razed by the Nazis as punishment for the Warsaw Uprising. This is a remarkable recreation then, a monument as much to collected memory as to the history embodied here. Tenacious seems an understatement. 

I'm not exactly a photographer, so I tend to snap a lot and often at random things.  Here's some randocity, inspired by texture, colour and light:





After the Castle I meandered down through Nowy Miasto (also rebuilt after the war) and visiting the Marie Curie Museum. Which is in the apartment where her parents lived when she was born. Curie was the 5th child and youngest of 4 daughters born to two educated parents. Curie was the first person to win Nobel prizes in TWO disciplines (physics and chemistry) and the only to do so in two science disciplines. She was also the first woman professor at the Sorbonne, having taken over the lab run by her husband after his death (about 2 years after they jointly won her first Nobel).

The second woman to win a Nobel in Science was her daughter and her husband. Curie and her daughter shared another aspect of life: both died from radiation exposure (Curie from anaemia, her daughter from leukaemia). Remarkable family; charming wee museum (no photos; I just grooved on the nerdy feminist vibes).

Jet lagged and disoriented, I decided to try and find the Warsaw Uprising Museum--and failed. But I did find the Memorial. Which fairly took my breath away:

    

And then I went back to my hotel and not sleeped.  Full set of photos to be found here. 

Comments

[theorybunny.livejournal.com]

Try coffee at Kawiarnia Literacka - it is right off Plac Zamkowy on Krakowskie Przedmiescie on your right, the first or second building from Plac Z.

[skeezix1000.livejournal.com]

The Old City in Warsaw is remarkable - it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site for a reason. Once the city was "liberated" by the Soviets, Warsaw looked a lot more like post-bomb Hiroshima than it did post-war Berlin - the devastation caused by the uprising and the Nazi revenge destruction was that extensive.

A little more than pride was involved in the reconstruction, though. Poles are rightfully proud of what was accomplished, but they will also tell you that the communist authorities imposed a lot of privations on the people in order to achieve this reconstruction, and the people were not given any choice in the matter. A lot of stone and brick from the destroyed old towns in smaller towns and cities across Poland were shipped to Warsaw to make the reconstruction as authentic as possible, which is great for Warsaw, but still sticks in the craws of the people living in those smaller towns and cities.

But none of that takes away from the overall achievement. And most Poles I suspect are very relieved and grateful that the old City wasn't reconstructed in the Stalinist stye of the Palace of Culture, which I understand had been a real possibility.

[tilia-tomentosa.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's interesting. Thank you for the information. :)

As an Eastern European, I cringe to think of the Stalinist style.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Beautiful stuff. Definitely on the list of places to go.

[paterson-si.livejournal.com]

How are the people? Poland was never even remotely on my list of countries to visit, don't know, maybe I am making a mistake. I have this notion of overly religious, bitter, rather dark atmosphere in my head when I think of Poland.