President's Palace, Warsaw

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As a palace it is known from middle of 17th century, later mainly rebuilt in classicism style at the beginning of 19th century. Nowadays it is working place of president of Poland. Some time ago it was used as residence of noble families, also as seat of government.

Presidential palace is also called Radziwili (Radvilos) palace, as owners before was noblemen Radziwili from Lithuania.

When I was standing near stone lions of the palace I already knew that here Warsaw pact was signed in 1955, putting half of Europe under “protection” of Soviet Union.

Well, obviously this guy needs a lot of staff to keep this enormous place tidy. The presidential palace along the old "Trakt Karolewski" (Royal Road) is a beautiful building around a central square. At night (lucky me) it was wonderfully alluminated, so that also in the dark the building looked just great. Only wonder whether the president will be happy or sad when - after his presidential period - he has to move out again and start living in a - no doubt - somewhat smaller establishment (-:

This palace on Krakowskie Przedmiescie street was built in the middle of the 17th century - later it belonged to the powerful nobles of the Radziwill family. Among the true historic events this palace witnessed was the founding of the Warsaw Pact 1955 and the negotiations in 1989 between Solidarity and the communist government leading to the peaceful transition of Poland into a democratic political system. (Among the minor events a visit by Michael Jackson comes to mind). Since 1994 the seat of the Polish President. The Palace square features a monument to the famous Polish military commander Poniatowski (who served in the campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte).

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Palac Prezydencki has been the residence of Poland's Presidents since 1994. The Palace seems to have different names according to my guide book one being the very long Palac Namiestnikowski or quite simply The Governor's Palace. This Palace has seen a lot of history, noteably the signing of the Warsaw Pact in 1955. There is a statue of Duke Jozef Poniatowski riding his horse in the front courtyard. The palace sits next to the swanky Bristol Hotel and is guarded by four lions, two at each entrance, legend has it that the Lions will roar if a truely chaste woman walks by - unfortunately they were silent all the time we were there!!

Like a number of other democratic nations, we have a president. And the president needs a house to live. Here's the house, lovely, isn't it.

Till recently it used to be known as the Governor's Palace. It is here that the Warsaw Pact treaty was signed in 1955. Later, in 1989, the Palace was the venue of the Round Table talks which led to the dismantling of the communist system and deep socio-political changes in Poland.

Standing in front courtyard, framed by the building's projecting wings and guarded by four lion figures is the statue of prince Jozef Poniatowski, commander in chief of the Dutchy of Warsaw armies and French marchall.

There's still one thing that comes up to my mind: the house is huge and it needs a lot of cleaning. How much time, do you think, the president spends on cleaning his rooms?

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There are ten places called Warsaw in USA. Don't worry, I am not going to write about them...;)

Warsaw has a population of about 1 million 700 thousand and become the biggest city in Poland. In 1596 Zygmunt III Waza, the King of Poland, moved the capital from Krakow to Warsaw.

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The Presidents Palace was built between 1643 and 1645 for the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army.
Until 1817, it was the property of the Family of Radziwill, and was extended several times.
Since 1994 this has been the residence of the President of Poland.

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VT-gang stayed in Le Meridien Bristol hotel at night January 20/21, 2006. I had a view through my window (open the last picture) to the southern wing of Presidential Palace usually called the Namiestnikowski Palace. Wow, maybe this fact justifies great care of hotel staff and security about amusing VT-ers desperately looking for own rooms of forgotten numbers in the middle of a night to sleep though, not to hit the president.

The impressive, elegant, classical building of Namiestnikowski Palace has been a seat of the President of Poland since 1994. Well, we had first secretary of communist party before which resided in what is a stock exchange now, comrades Stalin and Brezhnev must turn in their graves :-). The palace is surely fenced and unfortunatelly closed for the public. It was built in 17th century but changed its design in 1818 - 1819.

Many famous and unfamous events which influenced my and many others life took place in this building:
- Poland's 3rd May Constitution, the first written national Constitution in Europe (and the world's second after the US) was signed in 1791 :-);
- the Warsaw Pact was signed in 1955 :-(;
- the Treaty of Warsaw between West Germany and the People's Republic of Poland was signed in 1970 :-);
- the Polish Round Table Talks between Solidarity and the Communist regime took place in 1989.