Warszawa Poland description, location, history. Poland map.

Warszawa Poland description, location, history. Poland map.

Warsaw, the capital of Poland since 1596, is located in central Poland; it is an important cultural, political, academic and economic centre.

State authorities, diplomatic posts and organizations of nationwide range are located in the city.

Among the most frequently visited places are: the Old and the New Town, historical Powązki cemetery, and the Royal Route, which runs from the Royal Castle, through Krakowskie Przedmieście Street, Nowy Świat and Aleje Ujzadowskie to Wilanów.

Many cultural events, which are great tourist attractions, are organized throughout the whole year, among many there are: trade fairs, concerts and exhibitions.

At the end of the 13th and the beginning od the 14th century (the exact date is not known), the city received the charter under the Chełmno Law; this time is also considered to be the end of the primaeval and an early stage of the history of Warsaw. The first reference to the castellan of Warsaw dates back to 1321; during this time, Warsaw was located on the territory of the Old Town.

In 1596, after the fire at the Wawel Castle in Cracow, the king's residence, the royal court and the crown offices were moved to the extended Warsaw castlein; hovewer, the city had been the seat of the General Sejm and the leading city of the entire state even before 1596.

The old villages located on the suburbs of Warsaw (Praga, Skaryszew, Grochów)) became towns; in the 18th century the new settlements were established, among many: Leszno and Grzybów.

In the 1790s, the first five- and six-story tenement houses were built. Even the smallest plots of land were used and built on - as a result the so called well- backyard (the backyard is surrendered by four buildings and thus resembles a well) were created.

Due to the intensive development of the city, it was necessary to improve transport services and to pursue new investments in communal infrastructure. In 1864, the first permanent bridge over the Vistula River was commissioned; it was constructed by Stanisław Kierbedź.

In 1866, the first railway line for the horse-drawn trams was established; yet only in the 1890s did the building of the tram line accelerate. In 1907, electric streetcars appeared; the electrification was a breakthrough.

Industry was one of the most important factors of the city's development. So far focused on the Russian market, from the 1870s one could observe an idustrial revolution and the urban concentration process.

At the outbreak of World War I, the city stayed relatively calm. The general mobilization was announced on July 31, 1914; on August 1, Germany declared war on Russia.

During the first year of the war, the life in Warsaw did not change drastically. People had clothes from before the war and the food was delivered regularly. However, there were problems with the fuel and power supply.

After the Germans enered the city many things changed. Russian inscriptions were removed from the sign boards and the names of the streets were changed; instead, German names appeared, mainly on the sign posts.

On September 1, 1939 the first German bombs were dropped on Okęcie Airport, houses of Rakowiec and Koło districts. The air-raid alarms were sounded twice during that day; it soon turned out that the alarms became part of the citizens' daily life and the bombardments spread death and destruction.

During the first days of the war, the life did not changed much: shops, restaurants, coffee houses, theatres and cinema were opened, public transport was working, there was no shortage of food.