In Warsaw tradition looks in the mirror Warsaw is a city of contrasts. Different periods left their tracks here. We have places where tradition reflects in steel and glass. Let’s visit them together...

The Blue Skyscraper and the Jewish Historical InstituteThe Institute is located at 3/5 Tłomackie Street. Earlier an old Judaic Library was here. The building had been designed by Edward Eber. It was constructed between 1928 and 1936 and located near the Great Synagogue, designed by Leander Marconi. The building of the Institute has remained. Now it looks in the glass façade of the Blue Skyscraper, which was built in the place of the Great Synagogue, destroyed in the Second World War. And what about the skyscraper? Its story is also interesting. The construction was planned in the 1950s, it started in the 1970s and, after “scaring” Varsovians for many years, it was finished in 1991. No other building was being constructed for so long in Warsaw.

The baroque building of the Chopin Museum also has its mirrorThe baroque building located at 41 Tamka Street is called the Ostrogski Castle. Its name comes from the first owner, who built a fortified castle in the 16th century. The castle changed its owners many times, and they changed its architectonical style. The Institute of Music was opened there in 1858. It housed the Frederic Chopin Association since 1953, together with a small museum. Today the castle houses one of the most modern biographical museums in Europe, devoted to a composer. This historical building looks in the windows of the Frederic Chopin National Institute. According to a Warsaw legend, basements are home for a beautiful princess turned into a golden duck, who protects a treasure.

Socialist realism and the Marriott hotelA quarrel about the Palace of Culture and Science, which is located in the centre of Warsaw, has lasted since the beginning of its construction in 1952. It simmered down in 2007, when the building was recognized as a monument. The idea for the project came from Joseph Stalin. 3 500 Russian workers built the palace, supervised by an architect Lev Rudniew. The Palace is the tallest building in Poland (as for now), and it has 3288 rooms. In the New Year’s Eve of 2000 the second biggest clock in Europe was unveiled on its tower. It doesn’t mean we became more punctual. Warsaw looks great from the observation deck on the 30th floor of the palace. The palace itself looks great in the windows of the nearby Marriott hotel.

Greenery likes mirrors tooWarsaw is a very green city. If you want to find out about it, you have to come here between May and September. You can take a walk in the most beautiful roof garden in Europe, which is placed on the roof of the University Library. The garden is an open, great place for studying and relaxing. Flora takes up more than 5,000 m2 and it looks in the roof of a modern library building, visited daily by more than 3,000 people. And they’re not only students! Among honorary guests of the library there were Pope John Paul II and George W. Bush, the President of the USA. You must see it when you’re in Warsaw – 56/66 Dobra Street.

And the sky has the place to look too…The sky of Warsaw, although it’s not always blue, has its beautiful and modern mirror. It’s Golden Terraces - a shopping arcade located in the city centre with cinemas and restaurants. It’s situated 20 minutes from the airport and 5 minutes from the underground station. It’s only half a minute from the Central Railway Station, which “luckily” is so short, that it doesn’t reflect in the windows of the Golden Terraces. It doesn’t frighten others with grey, aluminium, hard-to-explain architectural style.