Destination Poland: Friday

If you outgrow referencing Warsaw’s recent history at every step, will there be anything left to admire?

For a Varsovian, yes. But ask what that may be – and we hesitate.

Consider these four major sights: the old wall that once surrounded the city, the buildings in the Old Town, the monument in front of the courthouse, and the Palace of Culture (all pictured below). Tell me, which one would you take a visitor to and speak only in the present, without mentioning the last sixty years? Not bring up the rubble? Or Stalinist architecture? Or the defense of Warsaw? None, of course. Is Warsaw beautiful, therefore, only if you carry her past in your pocket?