Warsaw Old Town · A City Rebuilt from Paintings

After the failure of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, German forces destroyed the Old Town street by street; the market square and most of the brick walls were reduced to rubble.

After the war, residents and architects rebuilt the Old Town brick by brick from a set of pre-war landscape paintings and photographs. It is now a World Heritage Site, because of the rebuilding itself.

The square once held parades and executions, and was also a route for the insurgents. People in Warsaw say that every brick here is in its original place, and every brick is new.

Historical Mysteries / Warsaw · Poland / 1944