Presidential Palace
Why is it significant?
Four stone lions guard the railings, and behind them, at the end of a deep courtyard, stands a long neoclassical palace with a flag on the roof. In front of it, a bronze rider in a Roman tunic reins in his horse.
Key Facts
| Place | Presidential Palace |
|---|---|
| Address | Krakowskie Przedmieście 48/50, 00-071 Warszawa, Poland |
| Geo Coordinates | 52.24300, 21.01520 |
| Part of Walk | Chopin's Warsaw: A Walk Through the Composer's Home Town |
| Generated | Generated |
Four stone lions guard the railings, and behind them, at the end of a deep courtyard, stands a long neoclassical palace with a flag on the roof. In front of it, a bronze rider in a Roman tunic reins in his horse. This is the Presidential Palace, the official seat of the President of Poland since 1994.
It began in the 1640s as the residence of the great military commander Stanisław Koniecpolski and passed through the hands of some of the richest families in the country, the Radziwiłłs among them. And on the twenty-fourth of February 1818, it is said, a charity concert in this palace featured a very small soloist. Eight-year-old Fryderyk Chopin played a piano concerto by the Bohemian composer Adalbert Gyrowetz, and Warsaw newspapers started talking about a new Mozart.
The family story goes that his mother, who stayed at home, asked him afterwards what the audience had liked best. And the boy answered, quite seriously: my collar. He had been dressed for the occasion in a velvet jacket with a large lace collar, and he was sure that was what everyone had been staring at.
The palace has hosted heavier moments too. In May 1955 the Warsaw Pact was signed here, binding the Eastern Bloc together under Moscow's lead. And in 1989 the Round Table talks between the communist government and the Solidarity opposition took place in these halls, opening the way to the first partly free elections. The rider out front is Prince Józef Poniatowski, a marshal of Napoleon, sculpted by Bertel Thorvaldsen, the same Dane who made the Copernicus you saw earlier.
Next door, the Hotel Bristol opened in 1901, and one of its founders was the pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the most famous Chopin player of his age, who in 1919 briefly became Prime Minister of Poland. Now cross Krakowskie Przedmieście and head west through the side streets to Teatralny Square, where a vast colonnaded theatre fills one whole side.