1st Armoured Division of the Polish Armed Forces Square

The 1st Armoured Division of the Polish Armed Forces Square () is a garden square in Warsaw, Poland, located within the New Town neighbourhood of Downtown district, between Boleść, Rybaki, Kościelna, and Wybrzeże Gdańskie Streets. It contains the Multimedia Fountain Park, a large complex of four fountains, used for show performances combining sound, water movement, light, and lasers. The area was opened in 1971, as the northern part of the Castle Foreground Park (), which was developed in place of housing and infrastructure demolished in 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising in the Second World War. The park was divided in 1988, with its northern portion forming the current garden square. The Multimedia Fountain Park was unveiled at it centre in 2011.

Toponymy The garden square was named in 1988, after the 1st Armoured Division of the Polish Armed Forces in the West, which fought at the Western Front of the Second World War, participating in the Allied liberation of Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Prior to this, the area was part of the Castle Foreground Park (), named after the nearby Royal Castle.

History

In the 14th century, a guard fort on the Warsaw Escarpment, located to the south-east of the current garden square, was developed into the Royal Castle made form bricks, which originally housed the dukes of Masovia, and later, the kings of Poland and the grand dukes of Lithuania. The complex had been expanded numerous times throughout the centuries. Beginning in the Middle Ages, a castle garden complex had been developed on the escarpment, later being expanded and redeveloped in the Renaissance style in the 16th century. They underwent further modifications in 17th and 18th centuries to increase their ornamental values. The area below the escarpment was incorporated into the castle complex in the second half of the 18th century, under the rule of king Stanisław August Poniatowski. A new large park complex, designed by Jakub Kubicki, was developed from the gardens between 1816 and 1818, combining areas below and on the escarpment.Aleksander Król: Zamek Królewski w Warszawie. Od końca XIII wieku do roku 1944. Warsaw: PIW, 1971. (in Polish)Andrzej Rottermund: Zamek Królewski w Warszawie. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2002, ISBN 83-221-0746-3. (in Polish) The Kubicki Arcades, a long building featuring seventeen Openwork arcades on its frontal wall, was constructed between 1818 and 1821, being imbedded into the side the escarpment. It provided a passageway bypassing the gardens, and was connected with staricasses connecting the both sides of the parkland.Jerzy S. Majewski: Warszawa na starych pocztówkach. Warsaw: Agora, 2013, p. 7. ISBN 978-83-268-1238-5. (in Polish) Following the fall of the January Uprising in 1863, the Imperial Russian Army demolished the lower portion of the gardens, replacing them with a military training area, and building several barracks and horse stables. Between 1915 and 1939, the castle underwent substantial renovations, during which the gardens were restored, in a form of a Baroque Revival French formal garden. The majorioty of the castle complex was destroyed in September 1944 in the Second World War, by the officers of the German Army, following the fall of the Warsaw Uprising. It was rebuilt between 1971 and 1973. The gardens, which survived the destruction, fell into deterioration and dilapidation from the neglect. The lower portion of the gardens was restored between 2017 and 2019.Jerzy S. Majewski: "Ogrody Zamkowe jak dawniej", Stolica, p. 6, Warsaw, May 2019. (in Polish)

In 1411, the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Gothic Roman Catholic parish church, was built to the east of the current garden square, at 2 Przyrynek Street. According to historical writtings, it was erected in place of a former Slavic pagan shrine.Franciszek Galiński: Gawędy o Warszawie. Warsaw: Instytut Wydawniczy Biblioteka Polska, 1939, pp. 24, 260. (in Polish)Ilustrowany przewodnik po Warszawie wraz z treściwym opisem okolic miasta (wydanie I na podstawie wydania z 1893 roku). Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Ciekawe Miejsca.net, 2012, p. 136. ISBN 978-83-928349-8-4. (in Polish) The building was expanded in the second half of the 15th century.Maria Kałamejska-Saeed (editor): Katalog Zabytków Sztuki. Tom XI. Miasto Warszawa. Część 2. Nowe Miasto. Warsaw: Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 2001, p. 2, 8. ISBN 83-85938-44-3. (in Polish) It was burned down in 1656 by the Swedish Imperial Army after the siege of Warsaw during the Second Northern War, and was rebuilt around 1690. It was expanded several times throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, losing its original design.Ewa Korpysz: "Czy pierwsza była św. Katarzyna?", [in:] Stolica, p. 17, Warsaw, March 2016. (in Polish) It was demolished in 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising in the Second World War. It was rebuilt between 1947 and 1952, being restored to its original design.Władysław Bartoszewski: 1859 dni Warszawy. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Znak, 2008, p. 763. ISBN 978-83-240-1057-8. (in Polish)

Between 1568 and 1573, the Sigismund Augustus Bridge, a 500-metre-long (1640.42 ft.) wooden crossing over the Vistula river, was built, with one of its ends located at the current intersection of Boleść, Bugaj, and Rybaki Street. It partially crossed through the area of the current garden square, which at the time formed a part of the riverbed.Bolesław Orłowski: Nie tylko szablą i piórem. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Komunikacji i Łączności, 1985, p. 77-78. ISBN 83-206-0509-1. (in Polish) In 1582, the Bridge Gate, a small Late Gothic guard gate, was built at the entrance to the bridge. After the bridge collapsed in 1603, the gate was turned into a gunpowder magazine. It was rebuilt and remodeled in the 18th century, and in 1767, it was transformed into a prison. In 1770, a neoclassical building was built to its west. The prison was closed down in 1833, with the structure being transformed into a residential building. It was burned down and severely damaged in 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising in the Second World War, and rebuilt in 1965.Maria Kałamejska-Saeed (editor): Katalog Zabytków Sztuki. Tom XI. Miasto Warszawa. Część 2. Nowe Miasto. Warsaw: Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 2001. pp. 79–80. ISBN 83-85938-44-3. (in Polish)Juliusz A. Chrościcki, Andrzej Rottermund: Atlas architektury Warszawy. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Arkady, 1977, p. 188. (in Polish)Olgierd Puciata, Hanna Szwankowska, Edward Szwankowski, Stanisław Żaryn (editors): Szkice staromiejskie. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Sztuka, 1955, p. 81–82. (in Polish)

In 1669, the St. Benno Church was built on the current 1 Piesza Street, next to the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and near the eastern entrance to the current garden square on Kościelna Street. The Roman Catholic temple was originally used by the Confraternity of St. Benno, and at the end of the 17th century, it was transferred to a Redemptionist congregation. Following the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1907, which formed a client state of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars, the local Redemptorists were deemed hostile to the state government and Napoleon Bonaparte, and removed from the city in 1808. The former church building was subsequently used as barracks, a school, military magazine, housing, and eventually, a factory. It was demolished in 1944. Afterwards, it was given back to the Redemptorists, who had it rebuild in 1958.Jan Stanisław Bystroń: Warszawa. Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1977, p. 46. (in Polish)Lech Dunin: Przewodnik po kościołach Starego i Nowego Miasta Warszawy. Warsaw: Rada Prymasowska Budowy Kościołów Warszawy, 1979, p. 22. (in Polish)

Until the 16th century, the area of the current garden square was occupied by the village of Rybaki, placed alongside the current Rybaki Street, which now forms the main park alley. It was burned down in 1656 by the Swedish Imperial Army, following the siege of Warsaw during the Second Northern War.Eugeniusz Szwankowski: Warszawa. Rozwój urbanistyczny i architektoniczny. Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwa Techniczne, 1952, p. 134. (in Polish)Kwiryna Handke: Dzieje Warszawy nazwami pisane. Warsaw: Muzeum Historyczne m.st. Warszawy, 2011, p. 178. ISBN 978-83-62189-08-3. (in Polish)

In the 15th century, several granaries and tenements begun developing alongside Bugaj Street, which currently crosses alongside the garden square, and at the time, lied near the coast of the Vistula river. Beginning in 1790, tenements were developed alongside Boleść Street.Jarosław Zieliński: Atlas dawnej architektury ulic i placów Warszawy, tom 1. Warsaw: Towarzystwo Opieki nad Zabytkami, 1995, p. 195. ISBN 83-902793-5-5. (in Polish)Maria Irena Kwiatkowska, Marek Kwiatkowski: Historia Warszawy XVI-XX wieku: zabytki mówią. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1998. ISBN 83-01-12708-2. (in Polish) At the end of the end of the 18th century, and continuing through the 19th century, tenement were developed alongside the street, including on its right side, after the riverbed moved further to the northeast.Jarosław Zieliński: Atlas dawnej architektury ulic i placów Warszawy, tom 1. Warsaw: Towarzystwo Opieki nad Zabytkami, 1995, p. 237. ISBN 83-902793-5-5. (in Polish) Between 1733 and 1760, a wooden manor house, owned by nobleman Jan Baptysta Chrzciciel Czempiński, was built in the area of the modern garden square, at the current 8 and 10 Rybaki Street. Before 1784, it was replaced by a two-storey tavern building, with two wings on its sides, with large gates. In 1815, the main part of the building was expanded with another storey. It was destroyed during the Second World War, with its ruins being removed in 1955.Gazeta Wyborcza, 28 March 2002, Warsaw: Wyborcza sp. z o.o. (in Polish)Marek Kwiatkowski: Architektura mieszkaniowa Warszawy. Warsaw: PIW, 1989, p. 245. (in Polish)