📰 Warsaw · page 5

Since May 1661 the first Polish newspaper, the Polish Ordinary Mercury, was printed in Warsaw.393 The city is also the printing capital of Poland with a wide variety of domestic and foreign periodicals expressing diverse views, and domestic newspapers are extremely competitive.394 Rzeczpospolita, Gazeta Wyborcza and Dziennik Polska-Europa-Świat, Poland's large nationwide daily newspapers,[170] have their headquarters in Warsaw.395

Since World War II, Warsaw has been the most important centre of film production in Poland.396 Among the movie companies are TOR, Czołówka, Zebra and Kadr which is behind several international movie productions.[171]397 The city itself has featured in numerous movies, both Polish and foreign, for example: Kanał and Korczak by Andrzej Wajda and The Decalogue by Krzysztof Kieślowski, also including Oscar winner The Pianist by Roman Polański.[172]398 It is also home to the National Film Archive, which, since 1955, has been collecting and preserving Polish film culture.[173]399

Education

Main article: Education in Warsaw

Warsaw holds some of the finest institutions of higher education in Poland.400 It is home to four major universities and over 62 smaller schools of higher education.[174]401 The overall number of students of all grades of education in Warsaw is almost 500,000 (29.2% of the city population; 2002).402 The number of university students is over 280,000.[175]403 Most of the reputable universities are public, but in recent years there has also been an upsurge in the number of private universities.404

The University of Warsaw was established in 1816, when the partitions of Poland separated Warsaw from the oldest and most influential Polish academic centre, in Kraków.[176]405 The university is the largest in the country, and often regarded as one of the most prestigious, with international recognition in mathematics and science.[177][178][179]406 Warsaw University of Technology is the second academic school of technology in the country, and one of the largest in East-Central Europe.[180]407 Other institutions for higher education include the Medical University of Warsaw, the largest medical school in Poland and one of the most prestigious; the National Defence University, the highest military academic institution in Poland; the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, the oldest and largest music school in Poland and one of the largest in Europe;[181] the Warsaw School of Economics, the oldest and most renowned economic university in the country;[182] the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, the largest agricultural university, founded in 1818;[183] and the SWPS University, the first private secular university in the country.408

Warsaw has numerous libraries, many of which contain vast collections of historic documents.409 The most important library in terms of historic document collections is the National Library of Poland.410 The library holds 8.2 million volumes in its collection.[184]411 Formed in 1928,[185] it sees itself as a successor to the Załuski Library, the biggest in Poland and one of the first and biggest libraries in the world.[185][186]412

Another important library – the University Library, founded in 1816,[187] is home to over two million items.[188]413 The building was designed by architects Marek Budzyński and Zbigniew Badowski and opened on 15 December 1999.[189]414 It is surrounded by green.415 The University Library garden, designed by Irena Bajerska, was opened on 12 June 2002.416 It is one of the largest roof gardens in Europe with an area of more than 10000 m², and plants covering 5111 m².[190]417 As the university garden, it is open to the public every day.[190]418

Transport

Main article: Transport in Warsaw, Infrastructure in Warsaw

Warsaw is a considerable transport hub linking Western, Central and Eastern Europe.419 The city has a good network of buses and a continuously expanding perpendicular metro running north to south and east to west.420 The tram system is one of the biggest in Europe, with a total length of 133 km.[191]421 As a result of increased foreign investment, economic growth and EU funding, the city has undertaken the construction of new roads, flyovers and bridges.[192]422 The supervising body is the City Roads Authority (ZDM – Zarząd Dróg Miejskich).423

Public transport

The first section of the Warsaw Metro was opened in 1995 initially with a total of 11 stations.[193]424 As of 2024, it has 39 stations running a distance of approximately 41 km.[194]425

Public transport also extends to light rail Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa line, urban railway Szybka Kolej Miejska, regional rail Masovian Railways,[195] and bicycle sharing systems (Veturilo).426 The buses, trams, urban railway and Metro are managed by the Public Transport Authority and are collectively known as Warsaw Public Transport.427

The table presents statistics on public transport in Warsaw.[196][191]428

Roads

Warsaw lacks a complete ring road system and most traffic goes directly through the city centre, leading to the eleventh highest level of congestion in Europe.[197]429 The Warsaw ring road has been planned to consist of four express roads: S2 (south), S8 (north-west) and S17 (east).430 S8, S2 and a small 3 km section of S17 are open.431 Additionally, the S2 and S8 have a concurrency with the S7 and the S2 has a short concurrency with the S8.432 A second ring road consisting of the A50 motorway (south) and S50 expressway (north) is also planned but it is unknown when construction will start.433

The A2 motorway opened in June 2012, stretches west from Warsaw and is a direct motorway connection with Łódź, Poznań and ultimately with Berlin.434

Aviation

The city has three international airports: Warsaw Chopin Airport, located just 10 km from the city centre, Warsaw-Radom Airport, located 90 km south of Warsaw, which serves mainly low-cost and charter operations and finally Warsaw-Modlin Airport, located 35 km to the north, opened in July 2012.435 Warsaw Chopin Airport is the busiest airport in Poland with 21.3 million passengers in 2024 handling approximately 40% of the country's total air passenger traffic.436 The airport is a central hub for LOT Polish Airlines as well as a base for Enter Air and Wizz Air.437 There are 50 air operations performed at the airport per hour.438 London corpus, Frankfurt, Paris corpus, and Amsterdam corpus are the busiest international connections, while Kraków, Wrocław, and Gdańsk are the most popular domestic ones.[198]439 The complex contains 45 passenger gates, 27 of which are equipped with jetways.440 A rail link has been added to connect the city with the airport in 2012.441

Rail

Long distance and intercity trains are operated by Polish State Railways (PKP).442 There are also some suburban bus lines run by private operators.[199]443 Bus service covers the entire city, with approximately 256 routes totalling above 3000 km, and with some 1,700 vehicles.444

The main railway station is Warszawa Centralna serving both domestic traffic to almost every major city in Poland, and international connections.445 There are also five other major railway stations and a number of smaller suburban stations.446

Culture

Music and theatre

Thanks to numerous musical venues, including the Teatr Wielki, the Polish National Opera, the Chamber Opera, the National Philharmonic Hall and the National Theatre, as well as the Roma and Buffo music theatres and the Congress Hall in the Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw hosts many events and festivals.447 Among the events worth particular attention are: the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition, the International Contemporary Music Festival Warsaw Autumn, the Jazz Jamboree, Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, the International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition, the Mozart Festival, and the Festival of Old Music.[200]448

Warsaw is also considered a European hub of underground electronic music, with a large house and techno music scene.[201]449

Warsaw is home to over 30 major theatres spread throughout the city, including the National Theatre (founded in 1765) and the Grand Theatre (established 1778).[202]450

Warsaw also attracts many young and off-stream directors and performers who add to the city's theatrical culture.451 Their productions may be viewed mostly in smaller theatres and Houses of Culture (Domy Kultury), mostly outside Śródmieście (Central Warsaw).452 Warsaw hosts the International Theatrical Meetings.453

From 1833 to the outbreak of World War II, Plac Teatralny (Theatre Square) was the country's cultural hub and home to the various theatres.[203]454 Plac Teatralny and its environs was the venue for numerous parades, celebrations of state holidays, carnival balls and concerts.455

The main building housed the Great Theatre from 1833 to 1834, the Rozmaitości Theatre from 1836 to 1924 and then the National Theatre, the Reduta Theatre from 1919 to 1924, and from 1928 to 1939 – the Nowy Theatre, which staged productions of contemporary poetical drama, including those directed by Leon Schiller.[203]456

Nearby, in Ogród Saski (the Saxon Garden), the Summer Theatre was in operation from 1870 to 1939,[204] and in the inter-war period, the theatre complex also included Momus, Warsaw's first literary cabaret, and Leon Schiller's musical theatre Melodram.457 The Wojciech Bogusławski Theatre (1922–26) was the best example of "Polish monumental theatre".458 From the mid-1930s, the Great Theatre building housed the Upati Institute of Dramatic Arts – the first state-run academy of dramatic art, with an acting department and a stage directing department.[203]459

Museums and art galleries

There are over 60 museums and galleries in Warsaw which are accessible to the public.[205]460 Among the positions are the world's first Museum of Posters boasting one of the largest collections of art posters in the world,[206] and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.461 Among the most prestigious ones are the National Museum with a collection of works whose origin ranges in time from antiquity until the present epoch as well as one of the best collections of paintings in the country including some paintings from Adolf Hitler's private collection,[207] and the Museum of the Polish Army whose set portrays the history of arms.462

The collections of Łazienki and Wilanów palaces focus on the paintings of the "old masters", as do those of the Royal Castle which displays the Lanckoroński Collection including two paintings by Rembrandt.[208]463 The Palace in Natolin, a former rural residence of Duke Czartoryski, is another venue with its interiors and park accessible to tourists.464

The famous Copernicus Science Centre is an interactive science museum containing over 450 exhibits, enabling visitors to carry out experiments and discover the laws of science for themselves.465 Warsaw does not have a natural history museum.466 Yet, it hosts small museums of Evolution and the Earth, which play a similar role.467

Holding Poland's largest private collection of art, the Carroll Porczyński Collection Museum[209] displays works from such varied artists as Paris Bordone, Cornelis van Haarlem, José de Ribera, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Vincent van Gogh[210] along with some copies of masterpieces of European painting.468

A fine tribute to the fall of Warsaw and history of Poland can be found in the Warsaw Uprising Museum and in the Katyń Museum which preserves the memory of that crime.[211]469 The Warsaw Uprising Museum also operates a rare preserved and operating historic stereoscopic theatre, the Warsaw Fotoplastikon.470 The Museum of Independence preserves patriotic and political objects connected with Poland's struggles for independence.471 Dating back to 1936 the Warsaw Historical Museum contains 60 rooms which host a permanent exhibition of the history of Warsaw from its origins until today.472

The 17th century Royal Ujazdów Castle houses the Centre for Contemporary Art, with some permanent and temporary exhibitions, concerts, shows and creative workshops.473 The Centre realizes about 500 projects a year.474 The Zachęta National Gallery of Art, the oldest exhibition site in Warsaw, with a tradition stretching back to the mid-19th century organises exhibitions of modern art by Polish and International Artists and promotes art in many other ways.475 Since 2011, Warsaw Gallery Weekend is held on the last weekend of September.476