AROUND WARSAW—VIEWS

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View of the Warsaw skyline looking South from World Bank headquarters on the 17th Floor of the Intraco Building on Stawki Street. There were few skyscrapers.  From right are the INTRACO II tower and the LIM Center building and toward the center is the Palace of Culture and Science.

The Warsaw Marriott, which opened in Oct. 1989, served as an hub of Western activity.  The hotel, in the 43-story, 460 foot (140 meter) tall LIM Center building, occupies floors 20 and above.  (At left) In the foreground is the Warszawa Centralna railway station and in the background is the INTRACO II tower, completed in 1978. 

Below are two views from the 38th Floor of the Warsaw Marriott.
To the North is the 42-story Palace of Culture and Science, at 778 ft (237 meters tall), then the tallest building in Warsaw.  A gift from Stalin, it opened in 1955 (>).  In the far background is  the Vistula River.

Looking East is the view down Aleja Jerozolimski, a major East-West street.  One can see the Dmowskiego Roundabout and several distinctive buildings in the foreground. 

On the left was the PKO Rotunda, designed by Jerzy Jakubowicz, which opened in 1966, and was rebuilt after a deadly gas explosion in 1979 (1, 2).  Behind the Rotunda was the Universal building (1965).

Across the street is the former Forum Hotel (>).  Designed by Swedish architect Sten Samuelson and built by a Swedish firm, the 33-story hotel was intended for foreign tourists and opened in Jan. 1974.

In the far background on the left, across the Vistula River, which is obscured in this view, one can see the 10th Anniversary Stadium (Stadion Dziesięciolecia).
 
A tram in Warsaw's Śródmieście district.  In the background is the Church of the Holiest Saviour (Kościół Najświętszego Zbawiciela).
Quite a few buildings were undergoing renovation.
Some typical drab gray apartment blocks.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, (Grób Nieznanego Żołnierza) , situated in Piłsudski Square, is a fragment of the Saxon Palace, which was destroyed by the Nazis after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.

Łazienki Park (Royal Baths Park), the largest park in Warsaw, houses Łazienki Palace (Palace on the Isle), likewise heavily damaged by the Nazis..

The Gdańsk Bridge (Most Gdański), one of several bridges over the Vistula River in Warsaw, has a bottom layer for trams and a top layer for autos.

Outskirts.

Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych (Passenger Car Factory) located in Żerań, a northern suburb of Warsaw.  The production line opened in 1951.
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Additional Resources:
Rudolph Chelminski.  "Warsaw on the Rise."  Smithsonian Magazine, Feb. 2011.

Ryszard Kowalczyk, Jerzy Skrzypczak and Wojiech Olenski.  "Politics, History and Height in Warsaw's Skyline."  CTBUH Journal, 2013 Issue III.

Ann Babe.  "The Movement to Destroy Warsaw's Tallest Building."  Next City, Feb. 26, 2018.

Katherine McLaughlin.  "The Tallest Building in the EU Was Just Completed in an Unexpected City."  Architectural Digest, Oct. 26, 2022.