The Palace of Culture was built in 1955, during the Communist era. At the time it was the tallest building in Poland, at 276 metres; nowadays other tall skyscrapers have risen around it, but this building still appears so enormous and massive as to raise astonishment and admiration. The Poles don’t like it because of the sad memories it evokes, and voices arise from time to time asking for its demolition; but demolition would be nonsensical because this building has in the meantime become the iconic landmark of Warsaw, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In fact you can spot it from nearly everywhere in town, even from kilometres of distance and, if you arrive by plane from the north, before landing you can clearly see its silhouette dominating the centre of the city. During your visit to Warsaw you will often pass by it, and you would do well to spend half an hour to take a look at this extraordinary example of architecture promoted by the regime.
The Palace of Culture looks in many ways similar to the famous State University of Moscow. Actually it was designed by the same architect (Lev Rudnev) and was offered to Poland by the Soviet Union on the occasion of the meeting which led to the foundation of the “Warsaw pact”, the eastern military organization which opposed the western “NATO” during the “cold war”.
The building is so massive that it resembles a megalithic construction, so much so that one cannot discard the idea that it was designed to withstand bombing or shelling in case of war. The adjectives that better describe it are: “colossal”, “imposing” and even “disquieting”, like the castle of the ogre in the children’s novels.
Seen from a distance, the building appears like an isolated skyscraper within a vast and empty esplanade; but as you get closer you discover that the skyscraper is inextricably connected with an immense block of lower buildings that surround its base and presumably measures 300 meters in length and 200 in width. This block is so large that you have to walk about 1 kilometre to go around it; the buildings that are part of it have a very bombastic aspect and are gigantic in all their parts; they house a large number of cultural institutions, including three theatres, a library, an auditorium for 3000 people, a multiplex cinema, some museums and others.
The style of the skyscraper has been defined as “socialist realism with art-deco components" but if you explore the complex surrounding its base you will come across other styles; the prevailing is the “neoclassic", with a great abundance of colonnades, Corinthian capitals, semicircular apses and triangular tympanums, all elements borrowed from the Roman architecture of the imperial period. Of course you may wonder why you should waste your time in looking at such bizarre architecture, but in my opinion the effort is worth because this is a very telling example of the “monstruosities” that were created in Europe during the 20th century by the authoritarian regimes, be they right or left. It was an architecture characterized by magniloquence and obsessive recourse to gigantism, aimed at exhibiting the magnificence of the regime and arouse a reverential awe in the crowds: you can find other conspicuous examples of it in Nuremberg (at the former headquarters of the nazi party), in Rome (at the EUR) and in Bucharest (in the former presidential palace). As might be expected, when artistic creation is not supported by inspiration but merely complies with the instructions given by the regime, bombast and gigantism can easily degenerate into grotesque: it can be seen in this complex, where the columns are a bit too "fat", and the colossal statues - far from appearing solemn and hieratic as they should be - appear instead as lost and lifeless characters.
After making a tour around this architectural mammoth you can also ascend to the 30th floor of the tower, where there is a lookout terrace and a really unsurpassable panorama. Entrance is from the “Defilade” square. You will pay 20 Zloty (a bit more than 4 €), and you may possibly face endless queues to buy the tickets, to take the lift up and then to take the lift down, especially during the summer weekends. At the entrance of the building there is no reception counter and it is not clear how to proceed. There are toilets in the basement but, when I was there, they were in pitiful conditions.
The building is located right in the centre of the city, near the Central Railway Station. It raises in the middle of an immense esplanade and is fronted by an equally immense square called “Defilade” which, as the name says, was intended to serve as a theatre for the parades of the Communist regime.