Rynek Starego Miasta Warszawa

The mermaid statue in the middle of Warsaw’s Old Town Market Square is a replica. The original is at the Museum of Warsaw. The square, called Rynek Starego Miasta in Polish, is the oldest part of the Old Town and its center. It started in the late 13th century, when the city was founded. Guild representatives and merchants used to meet in the town hall, built before 1429 and demolished in 1817. Fairs and occasional executions were held there too. The surrounding houses were Gothic until a major fire in 1607, after which they were rebuilt in late Renaissance and later late Baroque style by Tylman Gamerski in 1701. The old town hall was the square’s main feature. Antoneo de Ralia reconstructed it in 1580 in the Polish Mannerist style, and it was altered again in 1620-1621. It resembled other Polish town halls, including the one in Szydłowiec, and had decorated rooflines and four side towers. Its clock tower had an arcade loggia and a bulb-shaped spire, typical of Warsaw Mannerist architecture, like the Royal Castle. German forces systematically destroyed the square after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. It was rebuilt in the 1950s to look as it had before the war. The area had also been damaged by German Luftwaffe bombing during the 1939 invasion of Poland. Today it’s a major tourist attraction, and it remains the historic heart of the Old Town, once the heart of all Warsaw until the end of the 18th century.

I stopped here for pierogi, though I can’t pin down the exact place I ate, so I’m leaving this review here. The pierogi were decent, nothing more. I’ve had worse and better, but these little treats were okay. That’s all. I also had a couple of 1-liter beers with my buddy Kenneth Hansen, not from Luxury Trap.

One of the prettiest squares I’ve ever seen 👀👌

It’s heartbreakingly beautiful. Walking around, I loved noticing how each building differs and picking out the gold and silver details and all the historical references.