Old and New Town

Next to the cathedral there is a Jesuit monastery complex, which consists of the church of. Blessed Virgin Mary Gracious and the monastery founded by Piotr Skarga, St. 1597 r., and located in an adapted town house. The church was rebuilt twice in the 17th and 18th centuries. and is not uniform in style (late gothic elements – from the east, late renaissance and baroque). It is a single-nave building. Inside, among others. considered a miraculous early baroque painting of Our Lady of Graces (crowned with papal diadems 7 October 1973 r.), gothic crucifix with 1383 r., Jan Tarła's tombstone made after 1750 r. by J. J. Plersch and the bronze epitaph of St.. Andrzej Bobola with 1 half. 17th century. In the several-story underground of the church there are. graves: Maciej Sarbiewski – a Latin poet, and Prince Charles Ferdinand Vasa. The church was visited by 1979, 1983 i 1987 r. Pope John Paul II.

From the Jesuit church, we continue along ul. Świętojańska to the Old Town Square. It is a rectangular square with dimensions 90 on 73 m. It was formed at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. probably at the location of Warsaw. He leaves the market square 8 streets – two from each corner. From the 15th century. a brick town hall surrounded by stalls stood in the middle of the square, and on the north side. pillory, because (collar) and a cage intended for villains to disgrace them in public. The town hall was demolished in 1817 r. W 1855 r. in the middle of the square, there is a fountain with a statue of the Mermaid by Konstanty Hegel (currently a sculpture on the city walls, and the water fountain was removed). W 1916 r. the individual frontages of the market were named after eminent political and social activists of the period of the Great Sejm: Hugo Kołłątaj (zach.), Jana Dekerta (north), Francis Barss (east) and Ignacy Wyssogota Zakrzewski (south). During the Warsaw Uprising, Nazi troops destroyed tenement houses around the market square. They have been reconstructed over the years 1949-53. Currently, individual tenement houses are intended for museums, cultural, luxury shops and stylish cafes and restaurants. The most magnificent and interesting tenement houses in the market square are: tenement house "Under Saint Anna" (no 31) – currently the seat of the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, tenement houses "Under the Negro" (no 36) and Szlichtyngowska (no 34) occupied by the Historical Museum, including. st. of Warsaw, the late Renaissance Baryczków tenement house (no 32), Busserowska tenement house (no 24), gothic-baroque, located in the 18th-19th centuries. printing house J. un-gera, in which "Tygodnik Ilustrowany" was printed, "Pod Fortuną" tenement house (no 22), Two famous painters, Franciszek Smuglewicz and Szymon Czechowicz, lived there (which is commemorated by a plaque built in the 1950s.) – currently, the Literary Bookshop and the Bookseller's Club (another plaque on the building, unveiled in 1983 r. commemorating booksellers saving national cultural property during World War II), Or-Lemus tenement house (no 18) – currently the seat of the Museum of Literature, the tenement house "Under the Basilisk" (no 5) – with a classicist façade and the "Pod Lwem" tenement house (no 13) – having the original polychrome from 1928 r., made by Zofia Stryjeńska.

We leave the Old Town Square along the north-east corner. and then we follow ul. Stone steps. This charming corner of old Warsaw is made of stone stairs leading steeply to ul. Brzozowa and further to ul. bug. In the past, the stairs allowed access to the Fisherman's Gate in Biała Baszta. We turn left into ul. Birch. On the building at no. 6/8 it is placed unveiled in 1964 r. a commemorative plaque dedicated to the writer Pola Gojawiczyńska, who lives here. It was in this house that the v 1934 r. the well-known novel "Girls from Nowolipki". On the left, before the intersection with ul. Mostowa, you can see the medieval city walls with the remains of the former Round Tower (Marszałkowska).

On the embankment there is a tin statue of the Mermaid by Konstanty Hegel, made in 1855 r. and originally set on the Old Town Square. It is planned to re-position this monument in its original place. On the right, at the exit of ul. Mostowa, there is a late gothic one, a brick Bridge Tower (ul. Rybaki 2), built approx. 1580 r. (foundation of Anna Jagiellonka). Currently, it is the seat of the "Stara Prochownia" theater.

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