Stare Miasto
An old town flattened in 1944 and rebuilt exactly, from Canaletto's paintings.
Duration
1 hr 30 min – 3 hrs
Best time
Early morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Warsaw's old town was over eighty-five per cent destroyed in 1944, on Hitler's orders, in reprisal for the Uprising: special units dynamited building by building whatever the bombs had left.
It was rebuilt between 1945 and 1966, identically, from pre-war surveys and from the views of Bernardo Bellotto, Canaletto's nephew, painted in the eighteenth century. Some façade details come straight from his canvases. UNESCO listed it in 1980 — not for its age, but for the reconstruction itself.
Getting there
North of the centre, at the end of the Royal Route. Metro to Ratusz Arsenał, then ten minutes on foot.
Rules on site
The terraces on the Market Square charge considerably more than one street back. The Royal Castle, also rebuilt, is ticketed and closes on Monday.