Michael Hardenfelt (E-mail: m@hardenfelt.pl) – Tour guide in Warsaw and the rest of Poland. Phone: +48 600 43 53 83

Dansk version

Communism in Warsaw – 2 hour walk with English speaking guide

English speaking tour guide in Warsaw – The tour gives a sense of communist architecture and urban planning as well as living conditions under communism.

#Guide in Warsaw #Local tour guide in Warszawa #Private tour guide in Warsaw #local guide in Warszawa #tourist guide in Warsaw

Tour 9 ### Walking tour – 2 hours. Price: 350 zloty

You will be picked up at your hotel if it is nearby. Otherwise, we meet at Rondo de Gaulle. It is the intersection of Aleje Jerozolimskie and ulica Nowy Świat. The exact address is Nowy Świat 8. Here we meet under the statue of General de Gaulle.

1. Party House – Centre of truth under communism

We start by looking at the Party House or White House, which was the headquarters of the Communist Party after World War II and up until 1989. Here we talk about how the Soviet Union came to dominate Poland after WWII. I also talk about the first referendums and the Polish model, which anticipated a certain pluralism.

Communism in Warsaw will take You to the communist head quarters
Have a beer in the former communist head quarters

2. The New World – the road to Old Town: Socialism & polishness

We continue down Nowy Świat Street (New World), where we talk about how efforts were made to combine national Polishness with socialism in architecture.

3. Music conservatory with singing shapes

We continue down a side street and see a concrete house from the 1970s. Then the Conservatory of Music, an intriguing building built after Stalin’s death that would not have been to his liking. Along the way, we can’t help but talk about Chopin, who was also embraced by the communists.

The university of music was built under communism in Warsaw
The University of music would not have been to the liking of Stalin

4. Palace of Culture – a palace in honour of the working people or a temple in honour of Stalin?

Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. The Palace of Culture was Stalin’s ‘gift’ to the Polish people, but in reality it symbolised the dominance of the Soviet Union. We walk around the building and look inside, where I talk about living conditions during the different periods of communism.

The building is almost just as wide, as it is tall - a symbol of Communism in Warsaw
A building that symbolizes Soviet domination in Poland

5. Cars in the communist era – this is a Cucumber

When leaving the Palace of Culture we look at cars and buses from the Polish People’s Republic.

Communism in Warsaw with a tour guide in Warsaw in an old bus for PRL
The bus takes tourists around in Warsaw

6. History of the destruction and surviving buildings in Warsaw

Across the street, we look at surviving buildings from before  World War II, that the communists wanted to demolish, but which the residents began to restore themselves. With an extreme housing shortage, it was impossible to prevent them from doing so.

Communism in Warsaw tried to destroy the pre-war buildings
Many buildings were destroyed, but many could also be repaired

7. Three communist gems – Architecture of power

Next, we look at three gems from the first years after WWII. The first seat of government after 1945, the Warsaw City Centre District Court and finally the palatial Ministry of Agriculture.

The first government building during communism in Warsaw
With your Tour Guide at Ufficio Primo

8. Constitution Square – palaces for working people

We walk a short distance to Constitution Square (Pl. Konstytucji), which was the prestige project of socialist architecture. Here I explain the idea behind the construction, we look at the reliefs in the wall and talk about how they got the building materials for the projects.

Your tour guide takes You through Marszalkowska street
Stalinist buildings with carvings in the walls

9. Museum of Life in the Polish People’s Republic = empty shops and censorship

We end the tour at a cosy little museum of the Polish People’s Republic. Here you have the opportunity to continue exploring communist Poland on your own. The ticket costs 28 zlotys per person or 20 zlotys if there are at least 11 participants. As I said, it’s not a big museum and it won’t take you more than an hour to see it all. Part of the exhibition is about the oppression and resistance, while part is actually a retro tour where older visitors will remember the same vacuum cleaners, radios and televisions from their childhood.

The result of Communism in Warsaw was glasses tied to the machine
A glass of fizzy water from a communist vending machine
END

You have the option to continue the communist tour on your own with a visit to the museum.

Write to me at m@hardenfelt.pl to arrange a guided tour in Warsaw