Event: Poland - Warsaw

Royal Castle

When:	Daily; not Mon
Where:	Royal Castle
Costs:	Zl12-20, children Zl6-Zl13. Prices depend on route taken
Opening Hours:	Tue-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 11am-4pm

Rebuilt on the edge of the Old Town the Royal Castle offers a prescribed route through its immaculately reconstructed chambers. Of note are the Canaletto room, the throne room, royal chapel and the cellars - home to recently excavated treasures.

Incredibly, Warsaw's Zamek Krolewski, the Royal Castle, is one of the city's newest buildings - built between 1971 and 1984. After the Old Town's complete destruction during the Second World War, it was decided to rebuild the whole area as it originally was, dating back to medieval times, when the castle was the original seat of the Polish kings. It is now a museum, displaying the former wealth and power of the Polish monarchy and government.

The castle, situated on a plateau overlooking the Vistula River, dominates the reconstructed Old Town. It was built for the Dukes of Mazovia and extended when King Sigismund III Vasa moved the capital to Warsaw in 1596. It subsequently housed the Seym (Parliament) of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations (Poland and Lithuania).

Tapestries, period furniture, coffin portraits (paintings made to remind the living of the dead) and collections of the decorative arts adorn the interiors. Particularly spectacular are the Marble Room (created during the rule of Ladislaus IV in 1640-1642) and the Throne Room - of the 86 eagles embroidered on the backdrop of the throne, only one escaped plundering by Nazi officers in October 1939.

Important state celebrations take place in this grand symbol of Warsaw's post-war recovery, as well as major annual festivals.