Europe has many royal castles, but few have a history comparable to Warsaw's. Until the early 1970s, the site was occupied by a legally protected mound of ruins, the last remains of the castle destroyed by German forces after the Warsaw Uprising. The communist authorities viewed the reconstruction of a symbol of monarchy and the former state with suspicion, so the ruins remained even after the Old Town had been rebuilt.
The castle's fate changed in the early 1970s, when Edward Gierek, First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, approved reconstruction. The enormous project was financed largely through public donations. Behind the reconstructed façade are magnificent interiors created by Warsaw's conservators and craftspeople, with stucco, columns, gilding, frescoes, portals and elaborate parquet floors. Many works of art had been saved before 1939 or were carefully reconstructed. Only a small proportion of the present building survived the war, yet the result gives visitors the convincing experience of a historic royal residence.
For Polish society the castle was and remains a powerful symbol of statehood and national identity. Rebuilt from destruction, it now stands as a living emblem of Polish independence.
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