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Love it
or hate it you cannot ignore the Palace of Culture.
Standing at 238 metres the building dominates the
Warsaw skyline.
Donated
to Warsaw by Stalin it's not completely surprising
that this "gift" wasn't particularly welcomed by
many Poles who saw it as a symbol of Soviet
dominance (which was possibly it's intention).
This sense of rejection was heightened by the fact
that the building was constructed entirely by Soviet
workers with most of the materials coming from the
Soviet Union. Also, right after it's completion only
visitors with an authorised pass could enter the
building which only served to detach the general
public from the area.
However,
the negative feelings towards the building has
diminished somewhat and with other skyscrapers now
sharing the skyline the Palace of Culture has become
an accepted part of Warsaw.
Originally intended as a Communist party HQ the
Palace became a multi functional building with
museums, restaurants, conference halls, theatres and
libraries. Marlene Dietrich, Pavarotti, Eric Clapton
and Pavarotti have all performed here.
There is
a viewing terrace on the 30th floor with excellent
views of the city.
For
comprehensive information on the Palace please visit
their own website
here. You
may have to select the HTML option in order to
access the English language version. |
