Warsaw: If you have more time...
Citadel, Warsaw / Shutterstock
Citadel
The Citadel was built after the November 1830 uprising by Tsar Nicholas 1 in order to aid his control over the city and as a place where the potential independence and revolutionary moods of Varsovians could be suppressed. Today, historians are sure that the Russians never had defence in mind when it was constructed. This is proven by the fact that there is no ammunition storage area and no long-range artillery. In times of peace 5000 soldiers were stationed here, but if necessary (like during the January uprising), this number could be tripled. In 1863, the Citadel was equipped with over 500 cannons capable of razing the Old and New Towns to the ground. There were also prison cells and places of execution of Polish nationalist activists. Around the fortifications there were 104 high security cells where almost 3000 prisoners could be kept. The architectural design, by Iwan Dehn, was based on the Antwerp citadel. Work started at the end of May 1832. The building site covered almost 36 hectares and was pentagon shaped with a longer side on the Vistula embankment. The citadel was built by workers from Russia. Russian peasants were also drafted in and, in all, about 2000 people were at work at any one time. To make place for the construction 75 buildings were demolished and 64 000 private plots were seized, displacing a total of 15 000 people. The fortifications were finally opened on 4th May 1834 but the finishing works took another 40 years. It cost 11 million roubles which at the time was equivalent to 8.5 tons of gold - giving a present-day cost of around 128 million Euro. The money came from the Polish treasury and was a further repression of Congress Poland (the Kingdom of Poland). After Poland gained independence the Citadel was taken over by the Polish Army which was stationed here until 1st September 1939. When World War II ended the Citadel was transformed into the headquarters of the Warsaw Military District.
Today the Citadel still belongs to the Polish Army, although some of the space is rented by civilian institutions like the European Academy of Arts. You can also find the Museum of Army Traditions. In the near future there is a plan to move the Army Historical Research Office, the Central Army Archives and the Polish Soldiers Centre here. The museum will gain about 40 000m2 and modernised infrastructure. The whole Citadel will be renovated in 2013.