WARSAW 177The sombre Monument to the Warsaw Uprising
Monument to the
Warsaw Uprising 5
Pomnik Powstania
Warszawskiego
pl. Krasińskich. Map D2. @ 116,
178, 180, 222, 503, N44. @ 15, 18,
35, 36.
This monument, unveiled in
1989, commemorates the
heroes of the 1944 Warsaw
Uprising. It con sists of sculp-
tures by Wincenty Kućma
placed in an architec tural
setting by Jacek Budyń. The
sculptures show soldiers – one
group defend ing the barri-
cades, the other going down
into the sewers, which were
used by the insur gents to
move around during the upris-
ing. The entrance to one such
sewer can be seen nearby.
It was in front of this
monument, during the 50th
anni versary cele bra tions of the
event, that the then president
of Germany, Roman Herzog,
apologized to the Polish nation
for the Third Reich’s unleash-
ing of World War II and the
bloody sup pres sion of the
Warsaw Uprising.
St Hyacinth
Church^6
Kościół św Jacka
ul. Freta 10. Map D2. Tel (022) 635
- @ 116, 178, 180, 222, 503,
N44. # 7am–5pm daily. ¢ mass.
At the beginning of the 17th
century, while the Jesuits were
building a Baroque church in
the Old Town, the Dominicans
started work on a Gothic chan-
cel for St Hyacinth Church.
They returned to the Gothic
style partly because of the
Ulica Freta^7
Map D1 & D2. @ 116, 178,
180, 222, 503, N44. Maria
Skłodowska-Curie Museum Tel
(022) 831 8092. # 8:30am–4pm
Tue, 9:30am–4pm Wed–Fri, 10am–
4pm Sat, 10am–3pm Sun. & 8The main road in the New
Town, ulica Freta developed
along a section of the old
route leading from Old
Warsaw to Zakroczym, which
is to the northeast of the city.
At the end of the 1300s, build -
ings began to appear along it,
and in the 15th century it came
within the precincts of New
Warsaw (Nowa Warszawa).
Several antique shops and
cafés line this street. The house
at No. 15, where Marie Curie
was born, is now the Maria
Skłodowska-Curie Museum
(Maria Skłodowska-Curie
Muzeum) dedicated to her.
Films about her life and the
history of chemistry are pre-
sented to groups on request.- The largest monastery
in Warsaw was constructed
next to it. Features inside the
church, which was rebuilt after
World War II, include vaulting
above the aisles, a Gothic
chancel deco rated with
stuccowork of the Lublin type
and 17th-cen tury tomb stones.
The Baroque tomb of Adam
and Małgorzata Kotowski, by
the Dutch archi tect Tylman
van Gameren, is also note-
worthy. The domed chapel
in which it stands is decorated
with portraits of the donors,
who became pros perous and
were ennobled despite their
humble origins.
con servatism of Mazovian
build ings and partly in an
attempt to endow the church
with the appear ance of age.
This was done to create an
illusion of the age-old tradi-
tions of the order – which
had in fact only been set up
in Warsaw in 1603. When
work was interrupted by a
plague that raged in Warsaw
in 1625, the few remaining
monks lis tened to confessions
and gave com munion through
openings drilled in the doors.
The work was completed inMARIA SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE
(1867–1934)
Maria Skłodowska was 24 years old when
she left Warsaw to study in Paris. Within
a decade she had become famous as the
co-discoverer of radioactivity. Together
with her husband, Pierre Curie, she
discovered the elements radium and
polonium. She was awarded the Nobel
Prize twice: the first time in 1903,
when she won the prize for physics
jointly with her husband – becoming
the first woman Nobel laureate – and
the second in 1911 for chemistry.Façade of the St Hyacinth Church
seen from ulica FretaMarie Curie, the
famous physicist