Krakowskie Przedmieście Street in Warsaw

On Krakowskie Przedmieście you can walk through four centuries of Polish history in an hour: from St Anne's Church, where Pope John Paul II met young people in 1979, past the University of Warsaw and the Presidential Palace, to a pillar in Holy Cross Church that holds Frédéric Chopin's heart. The street is the northern stretch of Warsaw's Royal Route — about a kilometre between Castle Square and Nowy Świat — and the city's grandest avenue.

History: from suburb to the capital's drawing room

A settlement began to form outside the Kraków Gate in the 14th century, and in 1454 the Bernardine church — today's St Anne's — was built here. The road led first to Czersk and later to Kraków, hence the name, which means "Kraków Suburb". Once Warsaw became the capital, magnates and the royal court built palaces here, and triumphal processions passed along it, including those of the commander Stefan Czarniecki and King John III Sobieski. By around 1762 the street was fully paved; it gained gas lighting by 1855, a horse-drawn tram in 1866 and electric street lamps in 1907. On 27 February 1861 Russian troops fired on a patriotic demonstration here, killing five people; their funeral turned into a huge national demonstration.

Addresses worth knowing

• No. 3 — Holy Cross Basilica; one of its pillars holds Chopin's heart, brought to Warsaw by his sister,
• No. 5 — Czapski Palace, home of the Academy of Fine Arts,
• No. 7 — the house where Bolesław Prus placed Wokulski's shop in his novel "The Doll",
• Nos. 26/28 — the Main Gate of the University of Warsaw; on the campus stands the Kazimierz Palace, once the summer residence of King Władysław IV,
• No. 34 — the Church of the Visitationists, nos. 42/44 — Hotel Bristol, nos. 46/48 — the Presidential Palace,
• No. 68 — St Anne's Church,
• No. 89 — the building with the House of Literature and Poland's first escalators, linking Castle Square with the W-Z road tunnel below.

War and rebuilding

The street was damaged in 1939 and during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, but proportionally less than the rest of historic Warsaw — the Visitationist and Carmelite churches, the Governor's (now Presidential) Palace and Hotel Bristol survived with only minor damage. After the war most buildings were rebuilt, some restored to their 18th-century appearance, and the frontages were levelled to a uniform height. The exception is the so-called "Kicked House" at no. 9. In 1965 the street was entered in the register of historic monuments, and in 1994 — together with the Royal Route — declared a national Monument of History.

Did you know?

• The stone figure of Our Lady of Passau from 1683, by Józef Belotti, is Warsaw's second-oldest monument after Sigismund's Column.
• The 2006–2008 redesign by Krzysztof Domaradzki turned the street into a wide promenade with a narrow lane for buses and taxis. The yellowish granite paving was chosen to echo the colour of the street in Canaletto's paintings, and display cubes along the street show reproductions of his views.
• The Germans destroyed the 1898 Adam Mickiewicz Monument in 1942; only the head and part of the torso were found for the reconstruction.

Tripto tip

Start at Castle Square and walk south — allow 1–1.5 hours for an unhurried stroll with a visit to one or two churches. At the Canaletto cubes, compare the 18th-century view with what you see today. The tower of St Anne's Church offers a view of the street and the Old Town, and the Saxon Garden and Nowy Świat are just a few minutes further on.