The Palace of the Ministry of Revenues and Treasury ( pl, Pałac Komisji Rządowej Przychodów i Skarbu) is located at 3/5 Bank Square in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. It is sometimes simply referred to as the Commission Palace. Currently it is not the home to the named ministry, but serves as Warsaw's official

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, the seat of the

President of Warsaw The city mayor of Warsaw, or more literally the ''city president of Warsaw'' (the official title in Polish is ''"prezydent miasta stołecznego Warszawy"'', literal translation ''"president of the capital city of Warsaw"'') is the head of the exec ...

and the provincial office of the Mazovia province.

History

In the middle of the 17th Century, a residence was built for

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Jan Leszczyński which was probably designed by the Italian architect

Giovanni Battista Gisleni Giovanni Battista Gisleni (1600 – 3 May 1672) was an Italian Baroque architect, stage designer, theater director, singer, and musician at the Polish-Lithuanian royal court. Gisleni was born and died in Rome. He served three Polish kings of th ...

. In the second half of the 18th century the palace was owned by

Józef Potocki Józef Potocki (; 1673–1751) was a Polish nobleman (szlachcic), magnate, Great Hetman of the Crown. Józef was considered as the richest magnate in Poland at that time. He was Voivode of Kijów Voivodship (Kyiv, also Kiev) from 1702 to 1744, R ...

, and then by the Zieliński family. The palace was fundamentally rebuilt from 1823 to 1825 by

Antonio Corazzi Antonio Corazzi (born 16 December 1792 in Livorno, died April 27 1877 in Florence) was an Italian architect working in Poland from 1819 to 1847, mainly in Neoclassical style. Biography Antonio Corazzi was the son of an impresario of the Aval ...

in neo-classical form as the base of the Ministry of Revenues and Treasury for its minister

Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki Prince Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki ('' en, Francis Xavier Drucki-Lubecki''; 4 January 1778–10 May 1846) was an important Polish politician, freemason and diplomat of the first half of the 19th century. He served as the minister of the ...

. There was the Stock Exchange, the Minister's Palace as well as the Ministry building all adjacent to each other. From 1829 to 1831, Polish romantic poet

Juliusz Słowacki Juliusz Słowacki (; french: Jules Slowacki; 4 September 1809 – 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of mode ...

worked here as an official. From 1919 to 1921 the buildings were renovated under the direction of

Marian Lalewicz Marian Lalewicz (21 November 1876–21 August 1944) - was a Poles, Polish architect and one of the main proponents of Academic classicism in interwar Poland. Early life and studies Lalewicz finished school at a ''gimnazjum'' in Suwałki in 189 ...

for the Ministry of Treasury. During the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

in 1939 the palace was burnt after being hit by German bombs and during the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...

it was almost completely destroyed, however some walls stayed intact. After the war, it was rebuilt in its neo-classical form under the supervision of architect Piotr Biegański and began its current role.

Architecture

The three-storey palace is located on a horseshoe-shaped floor plan around a main central courtyard. The six-columned

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

dominates. The sculptures in the tympanum of this portico are by

Paweł Maliński Paweł Maliński (1790-1853) was a Czech-born sculptor and mason who lived and worked in Poland. Training Maliński was born in Berniau, Czech Republic. In 1804 he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague. In the years 1810-1816 he studied at ...

and represent allegories of wisdom (

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Roma ...

), industry (

Jason Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He w ...

), trade (

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

), and the

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

and Bug rivers. The second level above the running frieze includes cherubs and garlands probably by M. Vincenti. The side wings of the palace help form the courtyard and are in the style of the main building. Overlooking Bank Square there is only two floors, both wings are also narrower than the main wing. The wings are each of a stepped gable nature. In front of the one wing is a monument to

, designed by

Edward Wittig Edward Wittig (September 20, 1879 – March 3, 1941) was a Polish sculptor and university professor, notable for designing many monuments in Warsaw. Born in Warsaw, Wittig went on to study art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under the t ...

(actually designed in 1932), and unveiled in 2001 to replace a statue to

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky ( pl, Feliks Dzierżyński ; russian: Фе́ликс Эдму́ндович Дзержи́нский; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed "Iron Felix", was a Bolshevik revolutionary and official, born into Poland, Polish n ...

(by Zbigniew Dunajewski).

Commemorative plaques

Plaques placed on the ground floor of the building between the arcades commemorate: * leaders of the

Polish Jacobins Polish Jacobins (or Huguenots) was the name given to a group of late 18th century radical Polish politicians by their opponents. Polish Jacobins formed during the Great Sejm as an offshoot of the " Kołłątaj's Forge" (''Kuźnia Kołłątajska'') ...

(unveiled in 1952) * Antonio Corazzi (from 1977, on the centennial anniversary of his death) * politician

Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski (30 December 1888, Kraków – 22 August 1974, Kraków) was a Polish politician and economist, Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, government minister and manager of the Second Polish Republic. Biography He studied at the pr ...

(from 2000) * and artist

Piotr Michałowski Piotr Michałowski (July 2, 1800 – June 9, 1855) was a Polish painter of the Romantic period, especially known for his many portraits, and oil studies of horses. Broadly educated, he was also a social activist, legal advocate, city administr ...

(from 2011)

Sources

{{coord, 52, 14, 35, N, 21, 0, 3, E, display=title Palaces in Warsaw Government buildings completed in 1825 1820s establishments in Poland