Staszic Palace (, ) is an edifice at ulica Nowy Świat 72,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland. It is the seat of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

History

Origin

The history of the Staszic Palace dates from 1620, when

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Sigismund III of Poland ordered the construction of a small

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

chapel, as an appropriate burial place for the former

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

Vasili IV of Russia and his brother, Dmitry Shuisky, who had died in Polish custody after having been captured several years earlier during the Polish-Muscovite War of 1605-18. As the Polish capital's population was mostly

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, there was little call for an Orthodox chapel, and in 1668 another Polish king, John II Casimir, transferred the chapel to the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

, who were caretakers of the building until 1808.

19th century

In 1818 the building was purchased by

Stanisław Staszic Stanisław Wawrzyniec Staszic (baptised 6 November 1755 – 20 January 1826) was a leading figure in the Polish Enlightenment: a Catholic priest, philosopher, geologist, writer, poet, translator and statesman. A physiocrat, monist, pan-Sla ...

, a leading figure of the

Polish Enlightenment The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in Western Europe, as the Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta (nobility) culture (Sarmatism) together with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth political system (Gol ...

, who commissioned its renovation. The architect in charge was

Antonio Corazzi Antonio Corazzi (1792-1877) was an Italian architect working in Poland from 1819 to 1847, mainly in Neoclassical style. Biography Antonio Corazzi was the son of an impresario of the Avalorati Theatre in Livorno. In 1811, after graduating fro ...

, who redesigned the palace in

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

. After the renovation (1820–23), Staszic donated the building to the Society of Friends of Science, the first Polish

learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to al ...

dedicated to Science, founded in 1800. On 11 May 1830 the diplomat and polymath, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, unveiled

Bertel Thorvaldsen Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen (; sometimes given as Thorwaldsen; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish-Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor and medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–183 ...

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

in front of the palace. After the November 1830 Uprising against the occupying

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, the Society was banned by the Russian authorities; they had controlled Warsaw for most of the time since the final

partition of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign ...

in 1795. For the following 26 years, the palace was used by the organisers of a lottery. In 1857–62 the palace was the seat of the Academy of Medical science, the first institution of higher learning re-established in the

Russian partition The Russian Partition (), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Poland. The Russian ac ...

(all institutions of higher learning having been banned following the 1830 Uprising); but the Academy was soon closed after yet another failed insurrection, the 1863-4 "

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

". Until the end of World War I, the building housed a '' gymnasium''. From 1890 it was the site of an Orthodox church. In 1892–93 the palace was renovated by the Russian authorities. In line with the ongoing

Russification Russification (), Russianisation or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians adopt Russian culture and Russian language either voluntarily or as a result of a deliberate state policy. Russification was at times ...

of Warsaw, architect Volodymyr Pokrovskyi remodelled the palace in Russo-Byzantine style.

20th century

After Poland regained independence in 1918, in 1924–26 the palace was brought back to a Polish neoclassical style by architect Marian Lalewicz, similar to its original design. In the

Interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

it hosted several scientific and scholarly organizations: the

Warsaw Scientific Society Warsaw Scientific Society (Polish: ''Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie''; TNW) is a Polish scientific society based in Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city o ...

, the Mianowski Fund, the National Meteorological Institute, the French Institute, and the Archeological Museum of Warsaw. The palace was damaged during the 1939 siege of Warsaw and nearly razed during the 1944

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

. In 1946–50 it was rebuilt in its original neoclassical form by Piotr Biegański who introduced minor modifications to the building's original design. Today it is the seat of the

Notes

External links