10. Fallen beauty

      Recent english classes made me think about something that comes to my mind whenever we talk about architectural pieces of art. It isn’t so well-known like world’s most recognized buildings, not even close to St Mark’s Basilica in Venice in terms of its external beauty and not so majestic compared to Palace of Culture in Warsaw; however it is still one of my favourite buildings ever built, even if it no longer exists. 

     Saxon Palace, whose construction started in 1666, was one of the most recognizable buildings in prewar Warsaw. Great palace surrounded by great plaza in front and by Saxon Garden behind it was the royal residence, sometimes partly theatre, sometimes school, office and in XXth century also a headquarters of Sztab Generalny Wojska Polskiego (Polish General Staff). This piece of architectural art went through many reconstructions by Polish, French and Italian architects. Saxon Palace might be today main destination for travelers from all over the world in Warsaw only if it weren’t for World War II. In 1944 it was overly destroyed by Nazi Germans in revenge for Warsaw uprising. After the war communist authorities rebuilt small part of it, it means Tomb of the Nameless Soldier situated next to Saxon Garden.

      Nowadays it is more and more probably that polish government will rebuild the rest. When or will they do that for sure? We’ll see.