Warsaw Warszawa
Capital City of Warsaw Miasto Stołeczne Warszawa
Left to right: Financial centre, Royal Castle, Old Town Market Place, Presidential Palace, Wilanów Palace.
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Semper invicta  (Latin "Ever Invincible")
Warsaw
Coordinates: 52°13′56.28″N 21°00′30.36″E / 52.2323°N 21.0084333°E / 52.2323; 21.0084333
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Masovian
County	city county
City rights	turn of the 12th to 13th century
Boroughs	18 dzielnicas Bemowo Białołęka Bielany Mokotów Ochota Praga North Praga South Rembertów Śródmieście Targówek Ursus Ursynów Wawer Wesoła Wilanów Włochy Wola Żoliborz
Government
• President	Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz (PO)
Area
• City	517,24 km2 (19,971 sq mi)
• Metro	6,100.43 km2 (2,355.39 sq mi)
Elevation	78–116 m (328 ft)
Population (31.03.2012.)
• City	1 720 398
• Density	3,326/km2 (8,610/sq mi)
• Metro	90,000,100
• Metro density	549.19/km2 (1,422.4/sq mi)
Demonym	Varsovian
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	00-001 to 04–999
Area code(s)	+48 22
Car plates	WA, WB, WD, WE, WF, WH, WI, WJ, WK, WN, WT, WU, WW, WX, WY
Website	warszawa.pl

Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa [varˈʂava] ( listen); see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly 260 kilometres (160 mi) from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most populous city proper in the European Union.^[1][2] The area of the city covers 516.9 square kilometres (199.6 sq mi), while the city's agglomeration covers 6,100.43 square kilometres (2,355.39 sq mi).^[3]

Warsaw is an Alpha- global city, a major international tourist destination and an important economic hub in Central Europe.^[4][5][6] It is also known as the "phoenix city" because it has survived many wars throughout its history. Most notably, the city had to be painstakingly rebuilt after the extensive damage it suffered from World War II, during which 80% of its buildings were destroyed.^[7][8] On 9 November 1940 the city was awarded Poland's highest military decoration for heroism, the Virtuti Militari, for the Siege of Warsaw (1939).^[9]

Warsaw is the source for naming entities such as Warsaw Confederation, the Warsaw Pact, the Duchy of Warsaw, the Warsaw Convention, the Treaty of Warsaw, the Warsaw Uprising, the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The Warszawianka is widely considered the unofficial anthem of the city.^[10]

Etymology and names[link]

Warsaw's name in the Polish language, Warszawa (also formerly spelled Warszewa and Warszowa), means "belonging to Warsz", Warsz being a shortened form of the masculine name of Slavic origin Warcisław; see also etymology of Wrocław.^[11] Folk etymology attributes the city name to a fisherman Wars and his wife Sawa. According to legend, Sawa was a mermaid living in the Vistula River who Wars fell in love with.^[12] Actually, Warsz was a 12th/13th century nobleman who owned a village located at the site of today's Mariensztat neighbourhood.^[13] The official city name in full is miasto stołeczne Warszawa (English: "The Capital City of Warsaw").^[14] A native or resident of Warsaw is known as a Varsovian.

Other names for Warsaw include Warschau (German and Dutch), Varsovia (Spanish and Latin), Varsovie (French), Varsavia (Italian), וואַרשע/Varshe (Yiddish), ורשה/Varsha (Hebrew), Варшава/Varshava (Bulgarian, Slavomacedonian, Russian and Serbian), Varšava (Slovak, Czech, Latvian, Slovenian, Serbian and Croatian), Varšuva (Lithuanian), Varsó (Hungarian), Huáshā 華沙 (Mandarin Chinese), and وارسو‎/فارسوفيا Wārsō/Fārsōfyā (Arabic).

History[link]

Early history[link]

1411 St. Mary's Church in Warsaw New Town

The first fortified settlements on the site of today's Warsaw were Bródno (9th/10th century) and Jazdów (12th/13th century).^[16] After Jazdów was raided, a new similar settlement was established on the site of a small fishing village called Warszowa. The Płock prince Bolesław II of Masovia, established this settlement, the modern Warsaw, about 1300. In the beginning of the 14th century it became one of the seats of the Dukes of Masovia, becoming the capital of Masovia in 1413.^[16] 14th-century Warsaw's economy rested on crafts and trade. Upon the extinction of the local ducal line, the duchy was reincorporated into the Polish Crown in 1526.^[16]

16th to 18th centuries[link]

In 1529 Warsaw for the first time became the seat of the General Sejm, permanent from 1569.^[16] In 1573 the city gave its name to the Warsaw Confederation, formally establishing religious freedom in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Due to its central location between the Commonwealth's capitals of Kraków and Vilnius, Warsaw became the capital of the Commonwealth, and of the Polish Crown, in 1596, when King Sigismund III Vasa moved the court from Kraków to Warsaw.^[16]

Battle of Warsaw in 1656

In the following years the town expanded towards the suburbs. Several private independent districts were established, the property of aristocrats and the gentry, which were ruled by their own laws. Three times between 1655–1658 the city was under siege and three times it was taken and pillaged by the Swedish, Brandenburgian and Transylvanian forces.^[16][17]

In 1700, the Great Northern War broke out. The city was besieged several times and was obliged to pay heavy contributions.^[15] Warsaw turned into an early-capitalistic principal city.

Stanisław August Poniatowski, who remodelled the interior of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, also made Warsaw a centre of culture and the arts.^[18][19] This earned Warsaw the name of the Paris of the east.^[20]

19th and 20th centuries[link]

Warsaw remained the capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1795, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia to become the capital of the province of South Prussia. Liberated by Napoleon's army in 1806, Warsaw was made the capital of the newly created Duchy of Warsaw.^[16] Following the Congress of Vienna of 1815, Warsaw became the centre of the Congress Poland, a constitutional monarchy under a personal union with Imperial Russia.^[16] The Royal University of Warsaw was established in 1816.

German airship Schütte Lanz SL2 bombing Warsaw in 1914

Following the repeated violations of the Polish constitution by the Russians, the 1830 November Uprising broke out. However, the Polish-Russian war of 1831 ended in the uprising's defeat and in the curtailment of the Kingdom's autonomy.^[16] On 27 February 1861 a Warsaw crowd protesting against the Russian rule over Poland was fired upon by the Russian troops.^[21][22] Five people were killed. The Underground Polish National Government resided in Warsaw during January Uprising in 1863–64.^[22]

Warsaw flourished in the late 19th century under Mayor Sokrates Starynkiewicz (1875–92), a Russian-born general appointed by Tsar Alexander III. Under Starynkiewicz Warsaw saw its first water and sewer systems designed and built by the English engineer William Lindley and his son, William Heerlein Lindley, as well as the expansion and modernisation of trams, street lighting and gas works.^[16]

The Russian Empire Census of 1897 recorded 626,000 people living in Warsaw, making it the third-largest city of the Empire after St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Warsaw was occupied by Germany from the 4 August 1915 until 1918. It then became the capital of the newly independent Poland in 1918. In the course of the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920, the huge Battle of Warsaw was fought on the eastern outskirts of the city in which the capital was successfully defended and the Red Army defeated.^[24] Poland stopped by itself the full brunt of the Red Army and defeated an idea of the "export of the revolution".^[25][26]

World War II[link]

Sea of rubble^[27] – over eight out of every ten buildings in Warsaw were destroyed by the end of World War II. In left centre can be seen ruins of Old Town Market Square.

During World War II, central Poland, including Warsaw, came under the rule of the General Government, a German Nazi colonial administration. All higher education institutions were immediately closed and Warsaw's entire Jewish population – several hundred thousand, some 30% of the city – herded into the Warsaw Ghetto.^[28] The city would become the center of urban resistance to Nazi rule in occupied Europe.^[29] When the order came to annihilate the ghetto as part of Hitler's "Final Solution" on 19 April 1943, Jewish fighters launched the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.^[30] Despite being heavily outgunned and outnumbered, the Ghetto held out for almost a month.^[30] When the fighting ended, almost all survivors were massacred, only few managed to escape or hide.^[30][31]

Warsaw'44 Warsaw Uprising was a struggle by the Polish Home Army to liberate Warsaw from German occupation before the Red Army could "liberate" it.[32]

By July 1944, the Red Army was deep into Polish territory and pursuing the Germans toward Warsaw.^[33] Knowing that Stalin was hostile to the idea of an independent Poland, the Polish government-in-exile in London gave orders to the underground Home Army (AK) to try to seize control of Warsaw from the Germans before the Red Army arrived. Thus, on 1 August 1944, as the Red Army was nearing the city, the Warsaw Uprising began.^[33] The armed struggle, planned to last 48 hours, went on for 63 days. Stalin gave orders to his troops to wait outside of Warsaw.^[34] Eventually the Home Army fighters and civilians assisting them were forced to capitulate.^[33] They were transported to PoW camps in Germany, while the entire civilian population was expelled.^[33] Polish civilian deaths are estimated at between 150,000 and 200,000.^[35]

The Germans then razed Warsaw to the ground. Hitler, ignoring the agreed terms of the capitulation, ordered the entire city to be razed to the ground and the library and museum collections taken to Germany or burned.^[33] Monuments and government buildings were blown up by special German troops known as Verbrennungs- und Vernichtungskommando ("Burning and Destruction Detachments").^[33] About 85% of the city had been destroyed, including the historic Old Town and the Royal Castle.^[36]

On 17 January 1945 – after the beginning of the Vistula–Oder Offensive of the Red Army – Soviet troops entered the ruins of Warsaw, and liberated Warsaw's suburbs from German occupation. The city was swiftly taken by the Soviet Army, which rapidly advanced towards Łódź, as German forces regrouped at a more westward position.

Modern times[link]

John Paul II's Mass in Victory Square, 1979

In 1945, after the bombing, the revolts, the fighting, and the demolition had ended, most of Warsaw lay in ruins.

After the war, under a Communist regime set up by the conquering Soviets, large prefabricated housing projects were erected in Warsaw to address the housing shortage, along with other typical buildings of an Eastern Bloc city, such as the Palace of Culture and Science. The city resumed its role as the capital of Poland and the country's centre of political and economic life. Many of the historic streets, buildings, and churches were restored to their original form. In 1980, Warsaw's historic Old Town was inscribed onto UNESCO's World Heritage list.^[37]

John Paul II's visits to his native country in 1979 and 1983 brought support to the budding solidarity movement and encouraged the growing anti-communist fervor there.^[38] In 1979, less than a year after becoming pope, John Paul celebrated Mass in Victory Square in Warsaw and ended his sermon with a call to "renew the face" of Poland: Let Thy Spirit descend! Let Thy Spirit descend and renew the face of the land! This land!^[38] These words were very meaningful for the Polish citizens who understood them as the incentive for the democratic changes.^[38]

In 1995, the Warsaw Metro opened. With the entry of Poland into the European Union in 2004, Warsaw is currently experiencing the biggest economic boom of its history.^[39] The opening match of UEFA Euro 2012 is scheduled to take place in Warsaw.^[40]

Geography[link]

Location and topography[link]

Warsaw seen from SPOT satellite

Warsaw lies in east-central Poland about 300 km (190 mi) from the Carpathian Mountains and about 260 km (160 mi) from the Baltic Sea, 523 km (325 mi) east of Berlin, Germany.^[41] The city straddles the Vistula River. It is located in the heartland of the Masovian Plain, and its average elevation is 100 metres (330 ft) above sea level. The highest point on the left side of the city lies at a height of 115.7 metres (379.6 ft) (“Redutowa” bus depot, district of Wola), on the right side – 122.1 metres (400.6 ft) (“Groszówka” estate, district of Wesoła, by the eastern border). The lowest point lies at a height 75.6 metres (248.0 ft) (at the right bank of the Vistula, by the eastern border of Warsaw). There are some hills (mostly artificial) located within the confines of the city – e.g. Warsaw Uprising Hill (121 metres (397.0 ft)), Szczęśliwice hill (138 metres (452.8 ft) – the highest point of Warsaw in general).

Warsaw is located on two main geomorphologic forms: the plain moraine plateau and the Vistula Valley with its asymmetrical pattern of different terraces. The Vistula River is the specific axis of Warsaw, which divides the city into two parts, left and right. The left one is situated both on the moraine plateau (10 to 25 m (32.81 to 82.02 ft) above Vistula level) and on the Vistula terraces (max. 6.5 m (21.33 ft) above Vistula level). The significant element of the relief, in this part of Warsaw, is the edge of moraine plateau called Warsaw Escarpment. It is 20 to 25 m (65.62 to 82.02 ft) high in the Old Town and Central district and about 10 m (32.81 ft) in the north and south of Warsaw. It goes through the city and plays an important role as a landmark.

The plain moraine plateau has only a few natural and artificial ponds and also groups of clay pits. The pattern of the Vistula terraces is asymmetrical. The left side consist mainly of two levels: the highest one contains former flooded terraces and the lowest one the flood plain terrace. The contemporary flooded terrace still has visible valleys and ground depressions with water systems coming from the Vistula old – riverbed. They consist of still quite natural streams and lakes as well as the pattern of drainage ditches. The right side of Warsaw has a different pattern of geomorfological forms. There are several levels of the plain Vistula terraces (flooded as well as former flooded once) and only small part and not so visible moraine escarpment. Aeolian sand with a number of dunes parted by peat swamps or small ponds cover the highest terrace. These are mainly forested areas (pine forest).

Climate[link]

Warsaw's climate is humid continental (Koppen Dfb) with cold winters and mild summers. The average temperature is −3 °C (27 °F) in January and 19.3 °C (66.7 °F) in July. Temperatures may often reach 30 °C (86 °F) in the summer. Yearly rainfall averages 495 millimetres (19.5 in), wettest month being July. Spring and Autumn are usually beautiful seasons, the former crisp and sunny and full of blooms and the latter alternately sunny and misty, and cool but not cold.

Districts[link]

Until 1994, there were 7 districts in Warsaw: Śródmieście, Praga Północ, Praga Południe, Żoliborz, Wola, Ochota, Mokotów. Between 1994 and 2002, there were 11 districts: Centrum, Białołęka, Targówek, Rembertów, Wawer, Wilanów, Ursynów, Włochy, Ursus, Bemowo, Bielany. In 2002, the town Wesoła was incorporated and the territorial division of Warsaw was established as follows:

Warsaw is a powiat (county), and is further divided into 18 boroughs, each one known as a dzielnica (districts – see map), each one with its own administrative body.^[43] Each of the boroughs includes several neighbourhoods which have no legal or administrative status. Warsaw has two historic districts, called Old Town (Stare Miasto) and New Town (Nowe Miasto) in the borough of Śródmieście.^[44]

Cityscape[link]

Overview[link]

Warsaw's mixture of architectural styles reflects the turbulent history of the city and country. During WWII, Warsaw was razed to the ground by bombing raids and planned destruction.^[33] After liberation, rebuilding began as in other cities of the communist-ruled PRL. Most of the historical buildings were thoroughly reconstructed. However, some of the buildings from the 19th century that had been preserved in reasonably reconstructible form were nonetheless eradicated in the 1950s and 1960s (e.g. Leopold Kronenberg Palace).^[45] Mass residential blocks were erected, with basic design typical of Eastern bloc countries.

Public spaces attract heavy investment, so that the city has gained entirely new squares, parks and monuments. Warsaw's current urban landscape is one of modern and contemporary architecture. 

Architecture[link]

Warsaw's palaces, churches and mansions display a richness of color and architectural details. Buildings are representatives of nearly every European architectural style and historical period. The city has wonderful examples of architecture from the gothic, renaissance, baroque and neoclassical periods, all of which are located within easy walking distance of the town centre.

Łazienki Palace, also called the Palace on the Water

Gothic architecture is represented in the majestic churches but also at the burgher houses and fortifications. The most significant buildings are St. John's Cathedral (14th century), the temple is a typical example of the so-called Masovian gothic style, St. Mary's Church (1411), a town house of Burbach family (14th century),^[46] Gunpowder Tower (after 1379) and the Royal Castle Curia Maior (1407–1410). The most notable examples of Renaissance architecture in the city are the house of Baryczko merchant family (1562), building called "The Negro" (early 17th century) and Salwator tenement (1632). The most interesting examples of mannerist architecture are the Royal Castle (1596–1619) and the Jesuit Church (1609–1626) at Old Town. Among the first structures of the early baroque the most important are St. Hyacinth's Church (1603–1639) and Zygmunt's Column (1644).

Warsaw University of Technology building courtyard

Building activity occurred in numerous noble palaces and churches during the later decades of the 17th century. One of the best examples of this architecture are Krasiński Palace (1677–1683), Wilanów Palace (1677–1696) and St. Kazimierz Church (1688–1692). The most impressive examples of rococo architecture are Czapski Palace (1712–1721), Palace of the Four Winds (1730s) and Visitationist Church (façade 1728–1761). The neoclassical architecture in Warsaw can be described by the simplicity of the geometrical forms teamed with a great inspiration from the Roman period. Some of the best examples of the neoclassical style are the Palace on the Water (rebuilt 1775–1795), Królikarnia (1782–1786), Carmelite Church (façade 1761–1783) and Evangelical Holy Trinity Church (1777–1782). The economic growth during the first years of Congress Poland caused a rapid rise architecture. The Neoclassical revival affected all aspects of architecture, the most notable are the Great Theater (1825–1833) and buildings located at Bank Square (1825–1828).

Bas-relief of an iron forger at MDM neighbourhood, one of prime examples of socialist realism in Polish architecture.

Exceptional examples of the bourgeois architecture of the later periods were not restored by the communist authorities after the war (like mentioned Kronenberg Palace and Insurance Company Rosja building) or they were rebuilt in socialist realism style (like Warsaw Philharmony edifice originally inspired by Palais Garnier in Paris). Despite that the Warsaw University of Technology building (1899–1902)^[47] is the most interesting of the late 19th century architecture. Lot of the 19th century buildings is restored in Praga (Vistula’s right bank), though they are in a pretty bad condition. Warsaw’s municipal government authorities have decided to rebuild the Saxon Palace and the Brühl Palace, the most distinctive buildings in prewar Warsaw.^[48]

Notable examples of contemporary architecture include the Palace of Culture and Science (1952–1955), a Soc-realist skyscraper located in the city centre, and the Constitution Square with its monumental Socialist realism architecture (MDM estate).^[49] The central part of the right-bank (east) Praga borough it is a place where very run-down houses stand right next to modern apartment buildings and shopping malls.

Modern architecture in Warsaw is represented by the Metropolitan Office Building at Pilsudski Square by Lord Foster,^[50] Warsaw University Library (BUW) by Marek Budzyński and Zbigniew Badowski, featuring a garden on its roof and view of the Vistula River, Rondo 1 office building by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and Golden Terraces, consisting of seven overlapping domes retail and business centre.

It has been said that Warsaw, together with Frankfurt, London, Paris, Moscow, Istanbul and Rotterdam is one of the tallest cities in Europe.^[51] Of the 21 tallest skyscrapers in Poland, 18 are situated in Warsaw (the first of the list which is not in Warsaw, is the 9th – the Sea Tower in Gdynia).

Flora and fauna[link]

Greenspace covers 40% of the surface area of Warsaw,^[52] including a broad range of greenstructures, from small neighborhood parks, green spaces along streets and in courtyards, trees and avenues to large historic parks, nature conservation areas and the urban forests at the fringe of the city.

Peacocks – one of a number of animal species in the Royal Baths Park.

There are as many as 82 parks in the city which cover 8% of its area.^[53] The oldest ones, once parts of representative palaces, are Saxon Garden, the Krasiński Palace Garden, the Royal Baths Park, the Wilanów Palace Park and the Królikarnia Palace Park (See also: Greenery in the city).

The Saxon Garden, covering the area of 15.5 ha, was formally a royal garden. There are over 100 different species of trees and the avenues are a place to sit and relax. At the east end of the park, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is situated. In the 19th century the Krasiński Palace Garden was remodelled by Franciszek Szanior. Within the central area of the park one can still find old trees dating from that period: maidenhair tree, black walnut, Turkish hazel and Caucasian wingnut trees. With its benches, flower carpets, a pond with ducks on and a playground for kids, the Krasiński Palace Garden is a popular strolling destination for the Varsovians. The Monument of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is also situated here. The Royal Baths Park covers the area of 76 ha. The unique character and history of the park is reflected in its landscape architecture (pavilions, sculptures, bridges, cascades, ponds) and vegetation (domestic and foreign species of trees and bushes). What makes this park different from other green spaces in Warsaw is the presence of peacocks and pheasants, which can be seen here walking around freely, and royal carps in the pond. The Wilanów Palace Park, dates back to the second half of the 17th century. It covers the area of 43 ha. Its central French-styled area corresponds to the ancient, baroque forms of the palace. The eastern section of the park, closest to the Palace, is the two-level garden with a terrace facing the pond. The park around the Królikarnia Palace is situated on the old escarpment of the Vistula. The park has lanes running on a few levels deep into the ravines on both sides of the palace.

19th century New Orangery houses a palm house.

Other green spaces in the city include the Botanic Garden and the University Library garden. They have extensive botanical collection of rare domestic and foreign plants, while a palm house in the New Orangery displays plants of subtropics from all over the world.^[54] Besides, within the city borders, there are also: Pole Mokotowskie (a big park in the northern Mokotów, where was the first horse racetrack and then the airport), Park Ujazdowski (close to the Sejm and John Lennon street), Park of Culture and Rest in Powsin, by the southern city border, Park Skaryszewski by the right Vistula bank, in Praga. The oldest park in Praga, the Praga Park, was established in 1865–1871 and designed by Jan Dobrowolski.^[55] In 1927 a zoological garden (Ogród Zoologiczny) was established on the park grounds,^[56] and in 1952 a bear run, still open today.

The flora of the city may be considered very rich in species. The species richness is mainly due to the location of Warsaw within the border region of several big floral regions comprising substantial proportions of close-to-wilderness areas (natural forests, wetlands along the Vistula) as well as arable land, meadows and forests. Bielany Forest, located within the borders of Warsaw, is the remaining part of the Masovian Primeval Forest. Bielany Forest nature reserve is connected with Kampinos Forest.^[57] It is home to rich fauna and flora. Within the forest there are three cycling and walking trails. Other big forest area is Kabaty Forest by the southern city border. Warsaw has also two botanic gardens: by the Łazienki park (a didactic-research unit of the University of Warsaw) as well as by the Park of Culture and Rest in Powsin (a unit of the Polish Academy of Science).

There is 13 nature reserves in Warsaw – among others, Bielany Forest, Kabaty Woods, Czerniaków Lake. About 15 km from Warsaw, the Vistula river's environment changes strikingly and features a perfectly preserved ecosystem, with a habitat of animals that includes the otter, beaver and hundreds of bird species.^[58] There is also several lakes in Warsaw – mainly the oxbow lakes, like Czerniaków Lake, the lakes in the Łazienki or Wilanów Parks, Kamionek Lake. There are lot of small lakes in the parks, but only part of them is permanent – the most of them is being emptied before winter to clean them of plants and sediments.

The Warsaw Zoo covers an area of 40 hectares (99 acres).^[59] There are about 5,000 animals representing nearly 500 species.^[59] Although officially created in 1928,^[59] it traces back its roots to 17th century private menageries, often open to the public.^[60][61]

Demographics[link]

Historically, Warsaw has been a destination for internal and foreign immigration, especially from Central and Eastern Europe. For nearly 300 years it was known as the "Paris of the North" or "Second Paris".^[27] It was always a centre of European culture, existed as a major European city, and was a destination for many Europeans. Demographically it was the most diverse city in Poland, with a significant numbers of foreign-born inhabitants. In addition to the Polish majority, there was a significant Jewish minority in Warsaw. According to Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 638,000, Jews constituted 219,000 (around 34% percent).^[63] Warsaw's prewar Jewish population of more than 350,000 constituted about 30 percent of the city's total population.^[64] In 1933 out of 1,178,914 inhabitants 833,500 were of Polish mother tongue.^[65] World War II changed all of this, and to this day there is much less ethnic diversity than in the previous 300 years of the city's history.^[64] Most of the modern day population growth is based on internal migration and urbanisation.

Comparison of Warsaw's city boundaries today and in 1939

In 1939, ca. 1,300,000 people lived in Warsaw,^[66] but in 1945 – only 420,000. During the first years after the war, the population growth was ca. 6%, so shortly the city started to suffer from the lack of flats and of areas for new houses. The first remedial measure was the Warsaw area enlargement (1951) – but the city authorities were still forced to introduce registration limitations: only the spouses and children of permanent residents as well as some exceptional persons (like good and famous specialists) were allowed to get registration. These limitations caused that the population growth decreased ca. twofold, but aroused among other Poles some kind of belief that the Varsovians feel themselves as somebody better than others only because they live in the capital. This belief unfortunately still lives in Poland (in much lower intensity) – even though there are not registration limitations anymore (since 1990).^[67][68]

Municipal government[link]

The municipal government existed in Warsaw until World War II and was restored in 1990 (during the communist times, the National City Council – Miejska Rada Narodowa – governed in Warsaw). Since 1990, the system of city administration has been changed several times – also as the result of the reform which restored powiats, cancelled in 1975. Finally, according the Warsaw Act, the city is divided into 18 districts and forms one city powiat with a unified municipal government.^[69]

Commission Palace, a neoclassical palace at the Bank Square, the house of the city's government.

The basic unit of territorial division in Poland is a commune (gmina).^[70] A city is also a commune – but with the city charter.^[70] Both cities and communes are being governed by a mayor – but in the communes the mayor is vogt (wójt in Polish), however in the cities – burmistrz. Some bigger cities obtain the entitlements, i.e. tasks and privileges, which are possessed by the units of the second level of the territorial division – counties or powiats. An example of such entitlement is a car registration: a gmina cannot register cars, this is a powiat's task (i.e. a registration number depends on what powiat a car had been registered, not gmina). In this case we say about city county or powiat grodzki. Such cities are for example Kraków, Gdańsk, Poznań. In Warsaw, its districts additionally have some of powiat's entitlements – like already mentioned car registration. For example, the district Wola has its own evidence and the district Ursynów – its own (and the cars from Wola have another type of registration number than these from Ursynów). But for instance the districts in Kraków do not have entitlements of powiat, so the registration numbers in Kraków are of the same type for all districts.

Legislative power in Warsaw is vested in a unicameral Warsaw City Council (Rada Miasta), which comprises 60 members.^[69] Council members are elected directly every four years. Like most legislative bodies, the City Council divides itself into committees which have the oversight of various functions of the city government.^[69] Bills passed by a simple majority are sent to the mayor (the President of Warsaw), who may sign them into law. If the mayor vetoes a bill, the Council has 30 days to override the veto by a two-thirds majority vote.

Each of the 18 separate city districts has its own council (Rada dzielnicy).^[69] Their duties are focused on aiding the President and the City Council, as well as supervising various municipal companies, city-owned property and schools. The head of each of the District Councils is named the Mayor (Burmistrz) and is elected by the local council from the candidates proposed by the President of Warsaw.

The rococo Branicki Palace houses the city's council.

The mayor of Warsaw is called President. Generally, in Poland, the mayors of bigger cities are called presidents – i.e. such cities, which have over 100,000 people or these, where already was president before 1990. The first Warsaw President was Jan Andrzej Menich (1695–1696).^[71] Between 1975 and 1990 the Warsaw Presidents was simultaneously the Warsaw Voivode. Since 1990 the President of Warsaw had been elected by the City council.^[72] In the years of 1994–1999 the mayor of the district Centrum automatically was designed as the President of Warsaw: the mayor of Centrum was elected by the district council of Centrum and the council was elected only by the Centrum residents. Since 2002 the President of Warsaw is elected by all of the citizens of Warsaw.^[72]

The current President of Warsaw is Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz (since 2006-12-02) – the former president of the National Bank of Poland.^[73] The first president elected according these rules was Lech Kaczyński. When he was elected on the President of Polish Republic (December 2005), there was not an additional election in Warsaw, hence formally he was simultaneously the President of Poland and the President of Warsaw.