Old Warsaw: Old Town streets

Warsaw Old Town is cut by many picturesque lines. Many of tenement houses built by the streets were destroyed to the ground during II World War. Nowadays the buildings are reconstructed and the old, narrow lines look nicly again. See some of them.

Ul. Świętojańska, Old Town Warsaw / Phot. Aktron / CC / Wikimedia

Warsaw Old Town street - ul. Świętojańska, main line

For various reasons, ul. Świętojańska can be regarded as the main street of old Warsaw. Laid out around the time when the town was established, it follows the ancient Czersk-Zakroczym road. During the Warsaw Uprising, the street was almost razed to the ground. Its reconstruction was completed by 1958.

The finest houses along ul. Świętojańska include the 15th-century Mansjonaria (no. 2), which retains almost its original shape; the 16th-century Royal Surveyor's House (no. 21), destroyed in 1944 (the top storey has never been reconstructed) and the 1642 Ship House (no. 31) whose 17th-century late Renaissance doorway was adorned with a ship emblem during alteration work in the 18th century. At no. 10, the Jesuit Church of St. Mary of Grace stands out - inside, the most important item is the miraculous image of St. Mary of Grace who is considered the patron saint of Warsaw.

Metropolitan Church of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (no. 8) The cathedral is the principal church of the Warsaw diocese. The first church standing here in 14th century was made of wooden and later repleaced with a huge Gothic brick construction. The Cathedral was destroyed during a hurricane in 1602 and II World War. Today it is a Gothic five-bay basilica with a three-bay presbytery closed on three sides. Almost all furnishings and chapels are reconstructions. Some of them imitate the original ones. The late baroque Chapel of the Miraculous Jesus, commonly referred to as the Baryczka Chapel, was built in the early 18th century for one of the most sacred items in Warsaw, the so-called Black Crucifix, widely attributed with miraculous powers. There are many crypts and tombs in the Cathedral belonged to Mazovian dukes, Gabriel Narutowicz (polish president) or Henryk Sienkiewicz (polish writer).