The Palace of Culture and Science (; abbreviated ''PKiN'') is a notable high-rise building in central

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland. With a total height of , it is the second tallest building in both Warsaw and Poland (after the Varso Tower), the sixth tallest building in the European Union and one of the tallest on the European continent. At the time of its completion in 1955, the Palace was the eighth tallest building in the world, retaining the position until 1961; it was also briefly the tallest

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...

in the world, from 2000 until the 2002 installation of a clock mechanism on the

NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building The is a skyscraper located in the Sendagaya district of Shibuya, Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 millio ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan. Inspired by Polish historical architecture and American

art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

high-rise buildings, the Palace of Culture and Science was designed by Soviet-Russian architect Lev Rudnev in " Seven Sisters" style. The Palace houses various public and cultural institutions, including theatres, museums, universities, a cinema, a concert hall, a public swimming pool, and the offices of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

. The building is decorated with sculptures representing the fields of culture and science. The main entrance features sculptures of the astronomer

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

, by Ludwika Nitschowa, and the poet Adam Mickiewicz, by Stanisław Horno-Popławski. Since 2007, the PKiN has been listed in the Registry of Objects of Cultural Heritage.

Name

The building was originally known as the

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Palace of Culture and Science (''Pałac Kultury i Nauki imienia Józefa Stalina''). During the period of destalinization, the dedication to Stalin was revoked. Stalin's name was removed from the colonnade, the interior lobby and one of the building's sculptures. The Palace has a variety of nicknames. The most popular ones are ''Pekin'' ("

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

", from its acronym ''PKiN'') and ''Patyk'' ("stick", presumably from its appearance). Other nicknames include ''pajac'' ("clown", a word that sounds similar to ''pałac''), ''strzykawka'' ("syringe"), ''słoń w koronkowych gatkach'' ("elephant in lacy underwear"), ''ruski tort'' ("Russian birthday cake"), ''rakieta Stalina'' ("Stalin' rocket"), ''koszmarny sen pijanego cukiernika'' ("drunk confectioner's nightmare", attributed to poet Władysław Broniewski), and vulgar terms such as '' chuj Stalina'' ("Stalin's dick").

History

Construction

The agreement to construct the tower was signed between the governments of the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

on 5 April 1952. It was offered as a gift to the people of Poland. Upon its completion in 1955, it was dedicated to Joseph Stalin. To visually determine the optimal height of the building, Soviet and Polish architects gathered near the eastern approach of the Silesian-Dąbrowa Bridge. A small airplane flew over the planned site of the Palace, towing a balloon. It made the first pass at , then at . The Soviets, led by Lev Rudnev, decided that was enough for the tallest building in the city. However, the Poles, led by the chief architect of Warsaw, Józef Sigalin, kept shouting "Higher!" after every pass. Finally, the tower's height was set at , with a main structure, a turret and a spire. Construction started in May 1952 and lasted until July 1955. The tower was built using Soviet plans. It is estimated that between 3,500 and 5,000 Soviet guest workers and 4,000 local Polish workers participated in the project. 16 workers died in accidents during construction. The builders were housed at a new residential complex built at Poland's expense in the Bemowo district of Warsaw, called Osiedle Przyjaźń ("Friendship Neighborhood"). The complex had its own cinema, a food court, a community center and a swimming pool. The architecture of the building has many similarities to Moscow's Seven Sisters, a group of Stalinist skyscrapers by the same architect, in particular the main building of Moscow State University. Other similar buildings are the House of the Free Press in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

and the Latvian Academy of Sciences Building in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

. However, Lev Rudnev incorporated Polish architectural details into the project after travelling around the country. For example, the parapets are modeled on

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

houses and the palaces of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

and

Zamość Zamość (; ; ) is a historical city in southeastern Poland. It is situated in the southern part of Lublin Voivodeship, about from Lublin, from Warsaw. In 2021, the population of Zamość was 62,021. Zamość was founded in 1580 by Jan Zamoyski ...

Early years

At the time of its completion, the Palace of Culture and Science was the eighth tallest building in the world and the second tallest building in Europe (after the Moscow State University Building). The Palace retained these positions until 1961 and 1990, respectively. Shortly after opening, many visiting dignitaries toured the Palace, and the building hosted the 5th World Festival of Youth and Students, held from July to August 1955. In 1956, several people committed suicide by jumping from the observation deck on the 30th floor, at the height of . The first victim was a Frenchman, followed by seven Poles. After these incidents, the observation deck was enclosed in steel bars. The Palace's concert hall has hosted performances by notable international artists. In 1967,

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

became the first major western rock group to hold a concert behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

. The 1985 concert by

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

, held during the period of

martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland () existed between 13 December 1981 and 22 July 1983. The Polish United Workers' Party, government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an a ...

, was surrounded by intense expectations that the artist would make a political statement about the growing

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

movement.

Present day

The building currently serves as an exhibition centre and office complex. The Palace contains a multiplex cinema with eight screens (Kinoteka), four theatres (Studio, Dramatyczny, Lalka and 6. piętro), two museums ( Museum of Evolution and Museum of Technology), offices, bookshops, a large swimming pool, an auditorium hall for 3,000 people called

Congress Hall Congress Hall, located in Philadelphia at the intersection of Chestnut and 6th Streets, served as the seat of the United States Congress from December 6, 1790, to May 14, 1800. During Congress Hall's duration as the capitol of the United State ...

, and an accredited university, Collegium Civitas, on the 11th and 12th floors of the building. The terrace on the 30th floor, at , is a well-known tourist attraction with a panoramic view of the city. The Warsaw City Council and city offices are located in the building. A collection of sculptures representing figures of the fields of culture and science surrounds the Palace. Two of them are located in front of the main entrance: one of Polish astronomer

, by Ludwika Nitschowa, and another of Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, by Stanisław Horno-Popławski. Four clock faces were added to the top of the building ahead of the millennium celebrations in 2000. The clocks began working on 31 December 2000. The Congress Hall held the finals of Miss World 2006. In 2010, the illumination of the building was modernized and high-power LED lights were installed, allowing the Palace to take various colours at night. The first use of the new lighting was during Christmas in 2010, when the Palace was illuminated in green and white to resemble a Christmas tree. In December 2013, during the

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

protests, it was illuminated in blue and yellow, the colours of the Ukrainian national flag as a sign of solidarity with the protesters. On 29 January 2021, during the Women's Strike protests, the symbol of the movement—a single red bolt on a black background—was projected on the building.

Radio and TV transmitter

Due to its height, the Palace has always been an attractive location for telecommunication antennas. The first antenna was installed in 1956 to transmit state television signals. In 1974, a microwave link was installed to send Polskie Radio Program I programming to the

longwave In radio, longwave (also spelled long wave or long-wave and commonly abbreviated LW) is the part of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave (MW) broadcasting band. The term is historic, dati ...

Warsaw radio mast in Konstantynów.

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

transmissions began in 1992. Digital television transmissions began on 22 July 2008, using the

DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Fe ...

standard. Nowadays, all six digital

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: Science and technology * Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel ** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast * ...

es of the country's free-to-air broadcasters are transmitted from the Palace. Analog television transmissions were shut down on 19 March 2013. Soviet Central Television Programme One, later

Channel One Russia Channel One ( rus, Первый канал, r=Pervý kanal, p=ˈpʲervɨj kɐˈnal, t=First Channel) is a Russian Television in Russia, federal television channel. Its headquarters are located at Ostankino Technical Center near the Ostankino To ...

, was rebroadcast from the PKiN transmitter between 1 April 1987 and 31 May 1997. Its target audience was the

Soviet Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republi ...

(later

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...

) personnel stationed in the country until 1993.

Fauna

The 42nd floor of the Palace is a nesting place for

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...

s. In 2009, cameras were installed at the site, with a live view from the nest being available on the website of the Association for Wild Animals Sokół. In 2016, after a five-year break, a pair of falcons had offspring there. In a competition of internet users, the young falcons were given the names Bazyl, Orion and Wawa. In 2017, due to the maintenance works on the spire of the building, the falcons were moved to the highest floor of the Warsaw Trade Tower skyscraper. They returned to the Palace of Culture and Science after the renovation of the spire was completed. Cats live on the second basement floor, with the administration of the Palace of Culture and Science responsible for their care. In the past, there were several dozen of them, while in June 2015 the number of these animals was 11. Since 2015, an

apiary An apiary (also known as a bee yard) is a location where Beehive (beekeeping), beehives of honey bees are kept. Apiaries come in many sizes and can be rural or urban depending on the honey production operation. Furthermore, an apiary may refer to ...

is kept on the roof of the Studio Theatre at the Palace of Culture and Science.

Controversy

The Palace of Culture and Science is highly controversial. It was built at the peak of

Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

, when Polish citizens suffered severe violations of their human rights. As a result, it is often viewed as a symbol of Soviet domination over the Polish People's Republic. ''Porozumienie Organizacji Kombatanckich i Niepodległościowych w Krakowie'', a coalition of veteran and nationalist groups, and the

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

party have called for its demolition. In 2009, then Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski supported the demolition of the Palace noting the expense involved in its maintenance. Other prominent government leaders have continued to endorse demolition plans, including former Prime Minister

Mateusz Morawiecki Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki (; born 20 June 1968) is a Polish economist, historian and politician who served as the prime minister of Poland between 2017 and 2023. A member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, he previously served in the Cabinet of ...

Notes

References

External links

* *
Sculptures of the Palace of Culture and Science
at sztuka.net
Construction of the Palace of Culture and Science
in the chronicle of the Repozytorium Cyfrowe Filmoteki Narodowej
Installation of the spire of the Palace of Culture and Science
in the chronicle of the Repozytorium Cyfrowe Filmoteki Narodowej
Google Maps view of the Palace of Culture and Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palace Of Culture And Science, Warsaw 1955 establishments in Poland Art Deco architecture in Poland Clock towers in Poland Landmarks in Poland Palaces in Warsaw Poland–Soviet Union relations Skyscrapers in Warsaw Socialist realism Stalinism in Poland Stalinist architecture Śródmieście Północne Towers completed in 1955 Soviet monuments outside Russia Architectural controversies Controversies in Poland