I moved to Warsaw 8 years ago from Radom which is 100 km from Warsaw. My first impression of Warsaw? A huge city with many shops and Palace of Culture and Science. Warsaw – and especially the center of city – has changed completely since then. Many new buildings were build like huge shopping mall Złote Tarasy or Warsaw Financial Center with 35 floor.
One building, the Palace of Culture and Science (in polish Pałac Kultury i Nauki), remains to look the same. This place is controversial and divides people into who love this place or hate. What is interesting, many people from abroad, who visit Warsaw, are really impressed by this place. Some of them say that it looks a bit scary and some say it looks dignified but noneof them call it ugly.
So maybe some history of the Palace of Culture and Science.
Construction started in 1952 and lasted until 1955. It happens to be the highest building in Poland (42 floors, 231 m high). It was built ‘as a gift from the Soviet people for the Polish nation’, Joseph Stalin’s idea. The plans come from a Soviet architect called Lev Rudniew and it was built by 3500 workers from Soviet Union, of whom 16 died in accidents during the construction! The architecture of the building looks like skyscrapers built in the Soviet Union, like the Moscow State University. In 1956 a series of suicide jumps from the observation deck on the 30th floor, at an altitude of 114 meters began – first a man from France jumped and after him seven people from Poland. After these incidents they set up a grid on the terrace.
On New Year’s Eve 2000 they unveiled the second largest clock in Europe at the tower of the palace – its four discs have a diameter of 6 meters. It is also the second highest clock tower in the world. These days the building serves as an exhibition center and office complex. There are cinemas, theaters, museums, bookshops and really large conference hall for 3000 people and Collegium Civitas University on the 11th and 12th floor of the building. Palace of Culture and Science is a well-know tourist attraction with a really amazing panoramic view of the city. There is also some old joke that you’ll get the best view of Warsaw by nót looking out of the window. Now I disagree on that!
Right now in night you can see this building in blue and purple lights. Stunning!
No Comments