Belweder Palace
Why is it significant?
Stop at the railings and look up the slope at the pale neoclassical palace with its columned porch: calm, symmetrical, a little stiff. This is Belweder, and its name is simply Italian, bel vedere, a beautiful view, because from its terraces you once looked out over the whole Vistula valley.
Key Facts
| Place | Belweder Palace |
|---|---|
| Address | ul. Belwederska 52, 00-594 Warszawa, Poland |
| Geo Coordinates | 52.21310, 21.02760 |
| Part of Walk | Warsaw's Green Royal Route: Aleje Ujazdowskie to Łazienki Park, Chopin and the Palace on the Isle |
| Generated | Generated |
Stop at the railings and look up the slope at the pale neoclassical palace with its columned porch: calm, symmetrical, a little stiff. This is Belweder, and its name is simply Italian, bel vedere, a beautiful view, because from its terraces you once looked out over the whole Vistula valley.
A villa has stood here since the seventeenth century, and for a while King Stanisław August even ran a faience workshop in it, producing tableware for the court. The building you see now was designed by Jakub Kubicki around 1820 for a very particular tenant: Grand Duke Constantine, brother of the tsar and commander of the army of the Kingdom of Poland, a man famous for his parade-ground temper.
On the night of 29 November 1830 a group of young officer cadets and conspirators stormed this palace to kill him. It was the first spark of the November Uprising. Constantine escaped, but the uprising spread through the city and became a full war with Russia, lost the following year, after which thousands of Poles went into exile.
In the twentieth century Belweder belonged to independent Poland. Józef Piłsudski, the marshal who led the country to independence in 1918, lived and worked here, and he died in this palace on 12 May 1935. After the war it served the communist heads of state, and in the early 1990s it was the seat of President Lech Wałęsa. Today it is used for state ceremonies and visiting guests, so admire it from outside.
Notice how close it is to the park: the old palace gardens slope down towards Łazienki itself, so the most feared man in the city lived with a royal water garden at the bottom of his lawn. Now turn back a few steps north and go through the main gate of Łazienki Park from Aleje Ujazdowskie. Just inside, under a bronze willow, someone is listening to the wind.