Dzielnica Śródmieście m. st. Warszawy

Śródmiescie is the central district of the city. It is a district of enormous potential and of numerous advantages. It can be certainly stated that the history of Śródmieście District is the history of the whole Warsaw as the city's territory for centuries has been limited to the current district's boundaries. The beginnings of Warsaw in the 13th century are related to the castle-town of Mazovian princes in Jazdów which was situated near today's Royal Baths Park. Next, near the close of the 13th century, because of strategic reasons, a new castle-town was built near today's Royal Castle. In the later period, that is from the time of Mazovian Princes reign in the 15th century, through the reign of the kings of Poland in the 16th and the 17th century, the city was developing itself dynamically. The golden age of Warsaw, that is of today's Śródmieście, was broken by the Swedish invasion in 1655. Only in the 19th century, under the Russian rule, new squares and streets, which were gradually becoming service and commercial centres, gained in significance. Next, after regaining by Poland its independence in 1918, Śródmieście became a seat of most of offices and the state authorities. As a result of war and Nazi occupation, Śródmieście has been razed to the ground. The District has changed its character and architecture. The Old Town (50s) and the Royal Castle (80s) were admittedly rebuilt, but vast and socialist realist housing estates came into existence in the place of tenements. After the change of political system in 1989 the image of Śródmieście started changing, the present, modern centre of Warsaw may stand as a sign of the process. 

Nowadays Śródmieście District covers the area of 1 557 ha and is situated in the most representative part of Warsaw - it encompasses the centre of the capital, including the Old Town. Within Śródmieście's boundaries there is a beautiful Warsaw park - the Royal Baths Park and a picturesque street of Nowy Świat. There are also the best known buildings: the Palace of Culture and Science, the Royal Castle, or the building of Teatr Wielki (the Grand Theatre). Śródmieście may be also perceived as modern office blocks, hotels, malls, museums, the most popular Warsaw theatres, and the best schools in the capital. It is the seat of the Sejm, the Senate, of the President and the Prime Minister of Poland, of central offices, of courts, of the most important political, economic, and financial institutions, of embassies, of prestigious international and non-governmental organizations. The region is not only the history of Warsaw, today it is also a housing complex which counts about 120,000 inhabitants.