Zachęta

Gabriel Narutowicz, the first president of Poland after regaining independence, was assassinated on 16 December 1922, five days after taking office, aged 57. He was fatally shot by Eligiusz Niewiadomski, an artist and art critic, while visiting an exhibition at Warsaw's Zachęta gallery.

The Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw (Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie) was an independent arts organization founded in Warsaw, then Kingdom of Poland, in 1860. Its main goal was to support and popularize Polish art through active acquisitions, providing help for young artists through scholarships, as well as publishing and organizing exhibitions and art competitions, among other activities. The society remained active until the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 and was officially shut down in 1942. The former building of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Małachowski Square in Warsaw currently houses the Zacheta National Gallery of Art, a major Central and Eastern European museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art.

The Holy Trinity Church (Polish: Kościół Świętej Trójcy), also known as Zug's Protestant Church (Polish: Zbór Zuga), is a Lutheran church in central Warsaw, Poland, and one of two Augsburg Evangelical temples in the city. Designed by Szymon Bogumił Zug, it is one of the largest churches in Warsaw and one of the most notable for its round design.

The National Museum of Ethnography (Polish: Państwowe Muzeum Etnograficzne w Warszawie) is a museum of ethnography in Warsaw, Poland. It was established in 1888.

The Krasiński Tenement (Polish: Kamienica Krasińskich), also known as the Heurich Tenement (Polish: Kamienica Heurichowska), and the Raczyński Tenement (Polish: Kamienica Raczyńskiego), is a historic seven-storey tenement house in Warsaw, Poland, located at 2 Małachowski Square, in the neighbourhood of North Downtown. It was designed by Jan Fryderyk Heurich and Artur Goebel, in neoclassical style, and constructed between 1907 and 1910, originally being used as a tenement house. It was destroyed during the Second World War, and rebuilt in 1950, serving as a headquarters of the Ministry of Post and Telegraphs, and Ministry of Communication. In 2014, it was renovated and turned into an office building. This includes construction of a new modernist wing.

The Saxon Palace (Polish: pałac Saski w Warszawie) was one of the most distinctive buildings in prewar Warsaw, Poland. It was destroyed by German armed forces in World War II and not rebuilt as of 2020. There are however discussions regarding reconstruction of the building.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Polish: Grób Nieznanego Żołnierza) is a monument in Warsaw, Poland, dedicated to the unknown soldiers who have given their lives for Poland. It is one of many such national tombs of unknowns that were erected after World War I, and the most important such monument in Poland.The monument, located at Piłsudski Square, is the only surviving part of the Saxon Palace that occupied the spot until World War II. Since 2 November 1925 the tomb houses the unidentified body of a young soldier who fell during the Defence of Lwów. Since then, earth from numerous battlefields where Polish soldiers have fought has been added to the urns housed in the surviving pillars of the Saxon Palace. The Tomb is constantly lit by an eternal flame and assisted by a guard post provided by the three companies of the 1st Guards Battalion, Representative Honor Guard Regiment of the Polish Armed Forces. It is there that most official military commemorations take place in Poland and where foreign representatives lay wreaths when visiting Poland. The changing of the guard takes place every full hour, 365 days a year.

Ziemiańska or Mała Ziemiańska (the name coined after the term ziemianin, meaning member of Polish landed gentry) was a coffeehouse in Warsaw. It was notable as a meeting place of many of Poland's most prominent artists of the inter-war period. The venture was founded in 1918 at 12, Mazowiecka Street in Warsaw's city centre. It was officially opened on April 14 of that year and its original owners were Jan Skępski and Karol Albrecht, two prominent pâtissier masters. Initially the cafe consisted only of a small room with several tables, later a gallery above was added with additional tables. The cafe lay roughly halfways between the Warsaw University, the Filharmony, Zachęta Art Gallery and many notable cultural facilities. Because of that, it started to be frequented by artists of all sorts. Among the most prominent to be frequent guests there were the Skamandrites, including poets Julian Tuwim, Antoni Słonimski, Jan Lechoń, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz and Kazimierz Wierzyński, as well as their frequent companion Franciszek Fiszer. The table of the poets occupied the gallery, while one of the tables at the ground floor was reserved for painters and sculptors. Among its owners were Zofia Stryjeńska, Tadeusz Gronowski and Henryk Kuna, but also a poet Bolesław Leśmian. Among frequent guests were also Eugeniusz Bodo (dubbed the king of Polish actors), Adolf Dymsza, Jadwiga Smosarska, Leon Schiller, Jerzy Zaruba, Ludwik Solski and Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, who met his future wife there. Another group of guests were politicians, including Poland's prime minister Walery Sławek, minister of foreign affairs Józef Beck and General Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski After the initial success, the owners of Ziemiańska opened up several other cafe houses in Warsaw. The most prominent of them (and the largest) was opened nearby, at the corner of Kredytowa and Jasna Street. From then on the original venue at Mazowiecka started to be called "Mała Ziemiańska" (Small Ziemiańska), as opposed to "Duża Ziemiańska", or Big Ziemiańska. The success of the pastries served there allowed the owners to open a similar cafe in Nice, which however was closed in the 1930s, following protests from French pastry makers. The Ziemiańska (and the building) ceased to exist during the Warsaw Uprising. It was not rebuilt.

Piłsudski Square (Polish: plac marsz. Józefa Piłsudskiego), previously Victory Square (plac Zwycięstwa, 1946-1990) and Saxon Square (Plac Saski, 1814–1928), is the largest city square of Poland's capital, located in the Warsaw city centre. The Square is named for Marshal Józef Piłsudski who was instrumental in the restoration of Polish statehood after World War I.

The Saxon Garden (Polish: Ogród Saski) is a 15.5–hectare public garden in central (Śródmieście) Warsaw, Poland, facing Piłsudski Square. It is the oldest public park in the city. Founded in the late 17th century, it was opened to the public in 1727 as one of the first publicly accessible parks in the world.

The Saxon Axis (Polish: Oś Saska) is a feature of the historical city centre of Warsaw. It is a line running from the Vistula through the Presidential Palace, the Krakowskie Przedmieście, Saxon Square, Saxon Palace, Saxon Garden, Lubomirski Palace to Plac Żelaznej Bramy.The idea was first proposed by August II of Poland, who intended to build a large Royal palace surrounded by a French-style garden. The plan was loosely based on the baroque design of the Palace of Versailles and was to cover a large part of what is now the city of Warsaw. The main concept, which gave the name to the modern part of the city, assumed the construction of the Saxon Palace, with gardens extending to the both sides along a single axis running exactly through its middle. Between 1713 and 1726 the king bought 28 parcels of land in the area and invited Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann and Johann Christoph Naumann to design the urban plan. However, financial difficulties made the plan never come true in its entirety. The Saxon Garden and the Saxon Palace were constructed, but the planned demolition of the Lubomirski Palace at the Plac Żelaznej Bramy was called off after August's death in 1733. During World War II and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, all the buildings along the axis were demolished by the Germans. After the war, the Saxon Palace was not rebuilt. However, the garden was refurbished and the demolished Lubomirski Palace was rebuilt, but was rotated to fit into the 18th century scheme. In recent times also the Warsaw University Library at the Vistula below the river escarpment was added to the list of buildings with main entrances along the axis, and a large golden tablet was placed in the pavement in front of it marking the line running through the city centre.

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Polish: Sobór św. Aleksandra Newskiego, Russian: Александро-Невский собор) was a Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Saxon Square built in Warsaw, Poland, then a part of the Russian Empire. The cathedral was designed by the distinguished Russian architect Leon Benois, and was built between 1894 and 1912. When it was finally completed, it was 70 metres in height, at that time, the tallest building in Warsaw. It was demolished in mid-1920s by the Polish authorities less than 15 years after its construction. The negative connotations in Poland associated with Russian imperial policy towards Poland, and belief it was built purposely to hurt Polish national feelings, was cited as the major motive by the proponents of the demolition, especially since the church occupied one of Warsaw's main squares. The cathedral shared the fate of many Orthodox churches demolished after Poland regained its independence from Russia.