POLAND, WARSAW: ROYAL PALACE

June 27, 2019

Old Town Market Square, where we were staying in Warsaw, is only a block from the beginning of Castle Square, which is the starting point for the Royal Route, a 7-mile road that leads from the Royal Castle to King Jan III Sobieski's 17th-century personal residence. A main artery of the city, it is chock-full of things to see. 

The first thing we noticed when we entered Castle Square was a 72-foot-tall column topped by a statue of King Sigismund II of Vasa, who moved Poland's capital from Krakow to Warsaw in 1596. The column was erected in 1664 and has the distinction of being the first secular monument in column form in modern history. You'll notice, however, that although the king has a sword in one hand, he is carrying a cross in the other hand. Not much separation between church and state in those days.

Sigismund made it through the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, but on September 1, 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, the column was demolished in bombing raids. Miraculously, the figure of Sigismund more or less survived. 

Photo from Wikipedia

Sigismund had some reconstructive surgery after the war and was re-elevated to the top of a new granite column in 1949. Today the column is a popular gathering site. Every time we were near it, there was a busker of some sort playing on the steps and dozens of people languishing on or near its base.

To the right of the column is a huge red brick building. This is the Royal Castle, once the home of Polish monarchs (including Sigismund, the dude on the column) and now a Polish art and history museum. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The castle's clock tower is almost 200 feet tall, and its base dates to the mid-14th century. The castle was hit by bombs during the initial invasion of Warsaw in September 1939, which destroyed the roof and turrets. Immediately after the Germans seized the city, they cleaned out everything that was valuable from the building, sending some items to Germany and giving others to Nazi officials living in Warsaw.  However, some of the art was secretly smuggled out by Polish museum staff at great risk to their lives. The Nazis dynamited what was left of the 600-year-old building in 1944 in retribution for the Warsaw Uprising.

The incredible Poles rebuilt the castle using voluntary contributions between 1971-1975. Many valuable artworks were donated to the castle by local and foreign Poles. The castle stands today as yet another monument to the indomitable Polish spirit.

A view of the castle from the other side, which faces the Vistula River.

Looking back at my pictures now, I am even more in awe as I realize that almost every artwork represents someone who risked his or her life to save it or someone who donated it to the museum.

There are three thrones in the castle. Here are the first two:

At first I thought those were bees on the wall behind the second throne, but they are the ubiquitous Polish eagle. These 86 eagles are hand-embroidered with silver thread to exactly match what was here prior to 1939. This may have been my favorite spot in the entire palace. I'd love to sit in that chair, put my feet up on that stool, and eat chocolate bon bons. It seems to be made for that.

The Great Assembly Hall (aka Ballroom) looks like it was moved here from Versailles:

The elaborate ceiling shows Jupiter pointing to the corner, where there is a representation of "fire" (or at least "chariots of fire"), which our guide Pawel said is a symbol for the arts, the foundation of culture.

I love the sculpture of Atlas with the world on his shoulders:

He looks very world-weary (no pun intended).

Ah, but did you see whose portrait hangs above him? Poland's favorite native astronomer!

It's hard to believe this isn't the original castle, and that, in fact, it was built in a period of less than five years.

Next stop, the Conference Room, aka the European Monarch Portrait Room:

Everyone looks up at the portraits:

. . . but they also need to look down at the beautiful parquet floor:

Next up, the king's dressing room. I'd say this is at least upper middle class, right?

What? ANOTHER throne room??! This is "the Old Audience Chamber."

When the king sat in his throne, did he look at the beautiful parquet floor or at the dramatic ceiling?

Did you notice the camel? Cute, huh? Wait. There is something familiar about that turbaned, mustachioed man. Does he look like a Pole you've seen before? Pawel told us it is Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity Movement! It was the artist's sneaky way of showing support for Solidarity.

Compare the painting to a photo. Yup, I think it's him!

Photo from the BBC

The fireplace is adorned with the head of Hercules:

There is a room of floor-to-ceiling paintings by the Italian landscape artist Canoletto, who lived in Warsaw during the late 17th century. He was commissioned to paint 22 very detailed landscapes of the city using the camera obscura technique in which an image is projected onto a canvas. The result is an almost photographic likeness. So why is this so important? Well, in spite of being claimed and moved around several times (by Napoleon in 1807, by Tsar Nicholas of Russia in 1832, and by the German authorities in 1939), all the original paintings survived. It was these paintings the architects who designed the rebuilding of Warsaw relied on heavily for measurements, details, placement, etc. Several of the paintings were the only picture of a building or street they had to go on.

The paintings were finally brought home to this room in 1984.

Hey, I recognize this spot! It's Sigismund's Tower and Castle Square!

It looks like they moved Sigismund's Column to the center of the square during the reconstruction of Warsaw, but everything else looks very similar.

This small chapel was part of the king's personal apartment:

Between the chapel pillars, a black box sits on a stand of four golden Polish eagles, which is in turn on top of a marble stand. What is inside? Are you sure you want to know??

It is the heart of of Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish national hero who fought in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's war against Russia and Prussia in the late 18th century and on the US side in the American Revolutionary War. He died in 1817. Thomas Jefferson was the executor of his will, in which Kosciuszko stated that his estate should be sold to buy the freedom of black slaves, including those belonging to Jefferson, and to educate them. Unfortunately, the will got tied up in three U.S. Supreme Court cases, and none of his money was every used for that purpose. In 1927, his heart, which had been kept at a Polish museum in Swizterland, was repatriated to Warsaw and placed in the Royal Castle. During the Nazi occupation and bombings, it was hidden by the underground and saved from destruction.

What? You've never heart of him? I think we don't talk about him much because we can't pronounce his name. "Lafayette," for example, is much more pronounceable to us than "Kosciuszko."

Still, Kosciuszko is everywhere--not just Poland, but in the U.S. as well. His Philadelphia home is now the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, which is the smallest national park in the United States. Among many other honors, warships and infantry divisions have borne his name, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and John Keats both wrote poems about him, in 1933 the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp with his image on it, and a statue of Kosciuszko riding a horse stands near the White House in Washington, D.C. Who knew?

The Hall of the Crown's Horse Guards is where the royal guard saluted those who had come for an audience with the king.

By the way, that is Alexander the Great on top of that column:

The castle also has a small art gallery. This rather bizarre bronze is Jan III Sobieski, whose name kept popping up during our tour. He was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. He reigned during a rare stable period in Polish history and was very popular.  He is buried in Wawel Castle in Krakow.  Apparently he became quite obese in later years, so it's interesting to see his exposed six-pack here!

We walked quickly through many galleries of paintings on our way out, but stopped to admire these two by Rembrandt.

Pawel told us that Poland used to have quite a few Rembrandts, but over the years they were stolen, lost, or sold. These two remain. The one of the girl is notable for her hands appearing to come out of the frame.

We went to the cloakroom to collect Bob's backpack on our way out, and I couldn't help but be moved yet again by two photographs on display there, one of the castle in 1945 and one of the reconstructed castle thirty years later in 1975. 

Kocham cię, Polska!