The Warsaw New Town ( pl, Nowe Miasto) is a neighborhood dating from the 15th century 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 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. It lies just north of the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...

and is connected to it by ''ulica Freta'' ( en, Freta Street), which begins at the

Warsaw Barbican The Warsaw Barbican ( pl, barbakan warszawski) is a barbican (semicircular fortified outpost) in Warsaw, Poland, and one of few remaining relics of the complex network of historic fortifications that once encircled Warsaw. Located between the Old ...

. Like the Old Town, the New Town was almost completely destroyed by the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and rebuilt after the war.

History

The historic district of the New Town was formed at the turn of the 14th century as an independent city. The official recognition of the New Town occurred in 1408, when it was separated from the Old Town by an act issued by Janusz I the Old,

Duke of Masovia Duke of Masovia ( pl, Książę Mazowsza) was a title born by the sons and descendants of the Polish Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth. In accordance with the last will and testament of Bolesław, upon his death his lands were divided into four to five ...

. At that time the new city encompassed the territory of the New Town Market Square and streets - ''Freta, Kościelna, Koźla, Przyrynek, Stara'' and ''Zakroczymska''. It was independent from the Old Town authorities and had its own

vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

, council and a

town 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 ...

. In 1411 the Parish Church of St. Mary was erected, and according to the 1546 mensuration there were 204 estates in the Warsaw New Town. The largest investment of that time was the

Sigismund Augustus Sigismund II Augustus ( pl, Zygmunt II August, lt, Žygimantas Augustas; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler ...

bridge built between 1568-1573 by Erazm Cziotko (c. long). Unfortunately it was destroyed in 1603 by the drifting ice floes. Warszawa, ul

The disastrous time of the Swedish-

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

ian invasion (1655–1660), left the predominantly timber buildings of the New Town burned, but because of those events many beautiful and more permanent buildings were erected (the Town Hall, built in 1680; St. Kazimierz Church, 1688–1692; the

Kotowski Palace The Kotowski Palace ( pl, Pałac Kotowskich) was a 17th-century palace in Warsaw, Poland. It served as the main cloister building for the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. History The palace was built some time between 1682 and 1684 for ...

, 1682–1684; the Holy Spirit Church, 1707–1717; and the ornate chapel of the Kotowski family, constructed between 1691-1694) by the most prominent Warsaw architects (especially Tylman Gamerski). After 1791, due to the tenets of the

Constitution of May 3, 1791 The Constitution of 3 May 1791,; lt, Gegužės trečiosios konstitucija titled the Governance Act, was a constitution adopted by the Great Sejm ("Four-Year Sejm", meeting in 1788–1792) for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a dual mo ...

, the New Town was incorporated into the city of Warsaw. That is why the Town Hall was pulled down in 1818. During the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...

(1 August – 2 October 1944) the New Town was completely destroyed due to the extensive

bombardment A bombardment is an attack by artillery fire or by dropping bombs from aircraft on fortifications, combatants, or towns and buildings. Prior to World War I, the term was only applied to the bombardment of defenseless or undefended objects, ...

of the insurgent positions by the Germans. Many historic edifices, that served as

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

s and

shelter Shelter is a small building giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger. Shelter may also refer to: Places * Port Shelter, Hong Kong * Shelter Bay (disambiguation), various locations * Shelter Cove (disambiguation), various locatio ...

s for the inhabitants were razed to the ground. The reconstruction of the New Town started in 1954, but some of the significant buildings were not restored by the Communist authorities (e.g.

Symbols

As a separate territorial entity, the New Town was using its own seal with a coat of arms. A version known from 1648 features a female figure with a

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

. It can be found in the Central Archive of Historical Records. The inscription in the rim is in Latin: SIGILLUM * NOVA * CIVITATIS * VARSCHOVIENSIS.https://www.srodmiescie.warszawa.pl/ulica-214.html In the Middle Ages, the image of a virgin with a unicorn on her knees was a frequent motif of Christian art as a symbol of the Blessed

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

, and the unicorn itself symbolized

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. After the incorporation of the New Town into Warsaw, the Warsaw Mermaid began to be used as the coat of arms. The image of a girl with a unicorn can still be found in the main square, it decorates the top of the well in front of the St. Kazimierz Church. An eclectic cast-iron well from the second half of the nineteenth century set up there around 1957.

Gallery

Historical images

Image:Bellotto New Town Market Square.jpg, ''The New Town by

Bernardo Bellotto Bernardo Bellotto (c. 1721/2 or 30 January 172117 November 1780), was an Italian urban landscape painter or ''vedutista'', and printmaker in etching famous for his ''vedute'' of European cities – Dresden, Vienna, Turin, and Warsaw. He was ...

'' Image:Ratusz New Town.jpg, ''The Nowe Miasto Town Hall in 1784'' Image:Norblin Warsaw New city Square.jpg, ''The New Town by

Jan Piotr Norblin Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine ( pl, Jan Piotr Norblin; 15 July 1745 – 23 February 1830) was a Polish- French painter, draughtsman, engraver and caricaturist. Born in France, from 1774 to 1804 he resided in the Crown of the Kingdom of ...

Churches

Image:VarsaviaVisitazioneSMariaDxViaPiesza.jpg, '' St. Mary's Church, 1411'' Image:Kościół św. Jacka w Warszawie 2020.jpg, '' St. Hyacinth's Church, 1603-1639'' Image:Kościól Świętego Benona w Warszawie.jpg, ''St. Benno Church, 1669'' Image:Saint Kazimierz Church in Warsaw - New Town.jpg, '' St. Kazimierz Church, 1688-1692'' Image:Kościół św. Ducha w Warszawie.jpg, ''Holy Spirit Church, 1717'' Image:Kosciol sw franciszka.jpg, ''St. Francis Church, 1733''

Others

Image:VarsaviaVecchiaPolveriera.jpg, '' Old Bridge Gate, 1582'' Image:Warszawa - Pałac Sapiehów 01.jpg, '' Sapieha Palace, 1731-36'' Image:Pałac Sierakowskiego w Warszawie 2019.jpg, ''Sierakowski Palace, 1784'' Image:Pałac Raczyńskich w Warszawie 2019.jpg, ''Raczyński Palace, 1786'' Image:Historyczne centrum warszawy.png, ''The historical center of Warsaw'' Well at Rynek Nowego Miasta.png, ''The unicorn well at the main square''

References

External links

The New Town
{{Neighbourhoods of Śródmieście, Warsaw Śródmieście, Warsaw Neighbourhoods of Warsaw Rebuilt buildings and structures in Poland