However, uneasy neighbours conspired to break Poland's revival and for the majority of the next century Warsaw lived under Russian rule. The transmission of Enlightenment values, coupled with an elegant programme of public building, propelled Warsaw's status to amongst the finest of European capitals. Revival was impeded by a general stagnation of life in the Commonwealth, yet a renaissance did come with the reign of Poland's last king, the enlightened Stanislas Poniatowski (1764-1795).ĭuring Poniatowski's reign, Warsaw's population grew from 30,000 to 150,000. Growth was quick, yet disaster came in 1648 when the Swedes ransacked the capital. The great magnates, who were the real powermongers, set up their own private districts in the city, with magnificent palaces to match. The renovation of the castle for His Highness, followed by the arrival of a smattering of palaces for the nobility, brought splendour to Warsaw, and in 1596 it was officially declared the capital. This in itself served as a major trigger for the small city on the River Vistula, which had numbered only 4,000 inhabitants in 1400. The entire mass of the gentry were enfranchised by this system (an early example of democracy in Europe), and this meant that some 50,000 rumbustious souls descended on the city for each interregnum. Poland's union with Lithuania in 1569 rendered Cracow somewhat out on a limb, and it was hence decreed that Royal elections were to be held at Warsaw, which lay at the centre of the two realms. Rather, like the Spanish capital of Madrid, it owes its ascendancy to geographical location. Warsaw's was not a gradual rise to prominence. But rise it did - and Warsaw is again the bold and energetic capital of a resurgent Poland. The worst blow to the city, however, was reserved for the last World War, and there was little left but ruins on its liberation in January 1945. There can be few mottos more fitting than that of Poland's capital, 'contemnit procellas' - 'it defies the storms.' Although ransacked by invading armies on many occasions, the city has always risen, phoenix-like from the ashes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |