Bank Square, Warsaw

Coordinates: 52°14′35″N 21°0′8″E / 52.24306°N 21.00222°E / 52.24306; 21.00222
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Plac Bankowy, Warsaw
)
Bank Square today. The seat of the administration of Mazovia
Bank Square before 1939

Plac Bankowy (English: 'Bank Square', formerly Plac Dzierżyńskiego) is one of

Warsaw Metro station
.

History

Created in the 19th century, under the Congress Kingdom, the square was designed to be an elegant area of the country's capital. Notable buildings included the Palace of the Ministry of Revenues and Treasury (a building reconstructed by Antonio Corazzi), the Bank of Poland and the Warsaw Stock Exchange (also by Corazzi). The square was originally triangular-shaped.[1]

Between 1875 and 1878 the

Great Synagogue was built on the eastern side of the square, across from the palace. At the time of its building, it was the largest synagogue in Warsaw and one of the largest in the world. After the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
in 1943, the Nazi occupiers blew up the building, destroying it.

In the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, the remaining buildings on the square were destroyed. After the war, city planners reconstructed only its historic western part, changing it into a rectangle. The synagogue was not rebuilt and currently in the same location is the Błękitny Wieżowiec office building.

Under the communist

fall of communism in Poland
.

Today

Bank Square's present-day landmarks include Błękitny Wieżowiec (the Blue Skyscraper), and the former seat of the Ministry of Treasury now serves as Warsaw's

President of Warsaw and the provincial office of the Mazovia province
.

In 2001, a monument to Juliusz Słowacki, by Edward Wittig (actually designed in 1932), was erected on the spot previously occupied by the statue of Feliks Dzierżyński.

In front of the Błękitny Wieżowiec is a

, the pre-World War II President of Warsaw, by Andrzej Renes.

References

  1. ^ "Plac Bankowy". Warszawa1939.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2014-03-09. Photos and paintings showing the square as it was

52°14′35″N 21°0′8″E / 52.24306°N 21.00222°E / 52.24306; 21.00222