Grzybów Square

Grzybowski Square - is a triangular square in the Śródmieście (downtown) district of Warsaw, between Twardą, Bagno, Grzybowską and Królewską streets.

History

XVII - XIX century

Its history goes back to the early seventeenth century, when it was an undeveloped space at a crossroads leading to the Ujazdów Castle, the village of Służewiec and the Old Town. From the mid-seventeenth century it became the market square then assumed Jurydyka status named after the owner Jana Grzybowskiego Grzybowem. From 1786-1787, a town hall designed by Karol Schütz was built on the site. In 1791 it became part of the the Warsaw area. The town hall building housed a prison from 1809 to 1830. After the demolition of the town hall, a grain market was created at the site, which ran until the end of the nineteenth century. Also from 1815 the square was gradually built up with neoclassical buildings, some designed by famous architects such as Antonio Corazzi and Fryderyk Albert Lessel. Overlooking the square, the streets also received a uniform, neoclassical buildings, and since 1830 the market was called Grzybowski.

The appearance of the square took on a new character in the second half of the nineteenth century, when in 1861 a new church, the All Saint's Church designed by Enrico Marconi (also known as Henryk Marconi), started construction. The construction lasted over 30 years, finally opening in 1895.

On 29 October 1863, during the January uprising Russians executed the following insurgents in the square: Franciszka Trzaskę, Górskiego, Filkiewicza, Chojnackiego.

During this period, Jewish people lived in the area and it was famous for its many small shops offering articles of ironwork.

From 1866, there was a loop line running through the square to Warsaw, which were replaced by double decker buses in 1880, then horse trams, and after 1908 electric trams. Even earlier, in 1855, the new aqueduct Warsaw, built and designed by Henryk Marconi, was brought through the square. Electric lighting came to the square in 1907. In 1897 the market was moved out to Witkowski Square which no longer exists and the square was paved in cobblestones. The interwar period brought no significant changes.