Warsaw Citadel

Citadel

The Citadel is something unique in the world. Mainly for this reason, that one of the largest European fortresses (is bigger than the entire Old Town), situated almost in the city center, it is forgotten and not visited by tourists. The Citadel could be made one of the capital's greatest tourist attractions. Unfortunately, nobody thinks about it, and the object is decaying. A huge network of underground tunnels should be a great attraction of the facility.
The citadel was completed in 1836 year. Russian troops were stationed there. The Kingdom of Poland was a strategic place – it was located between Russia and Prussia. The changing international situation forced the tsarist authorities to further strengthen the fortress. It was at that time that a tunnel was allegedly built connecting the Citadel with the Modlin fortress. W 1909 a decision was made to liquidate the fortress.
Some of them were dismantled, the rest of the fortress suffered during World War I and in the interwar period. However this, what survived is still impressive. Unfortunately, the fortress, not counting a few places, it is not made available to visitors.
Sightseeing opportunities
You can walk the streets within the citadel and enter some of the forts and pavilions. The Museum of the 10th Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel has been prepared for tourists. Unfortunately, the level of exhibits in this museum is so poor, that you can excuse yourself from entering it.

Museum of the 10th Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel

Address: Warsaw, ul. Convicts 25 (Żoliborz)
Tel.: (0-22) 839 23 83

The most important information

Citadel – fortress built between 1832 – 1834 after the suppression of the November Uprising. It was to sow terror among rebellious Warsaw and was to be a symbol of the victorious tsarist regime. It was erected on the site of the demolished districts of Żoliborz and Fawory, erected in the 18th century and the royal guard barracks from the beginning of the 18th century.

Citadel in 1852 year was surrounded by an esplanade – space, on which it was forbidden to build houses. W 1870 in the year it was strengthened with forts.

There was an investigative prison in the Citadel (X Pavilion). Polish patriots were imprisoned and executed there, members of secret patriotic and revolutionary organizations. They died here, among others. members of the Secret National Government with 1863 year, revolutionary activists of the party “Proletariat” and the revolution 1905 – 07.

The entrance to the Citadel is from the Gdynia Coast, up the stairs to the Death Gate. There is a prisoners' cemetery in front of the Gate, on the right an obelisk with a fragment of the gallows, where political prisoners died. Behind the obelisk, there is a plaque in the wall in memory of members of the National Government 1863 year, parts of the Proletariat I and II, PPS i KPP.

The Execution Gate was the place of executions of political prisoners. There is a plaque in the gate in memory of the fighters for freedom and socialism. There is a prison ambulance, the so-called. kibitka (such fans were used to transport prisoners to Siberia) and foundations of the barracks of the Cossack sotnia and the forge, in which they were handcuffed.

The 10th Pavilion now houses a museum. The exhibition is devoted to the history of prisoners and organizations, to which they belonged. There are also reconstructed cells here, m.in. that Romualda Traugutta, the head of the Secret National Government z 1863 year, lost on the slopes of the Citadel of 1864 year, the court halls were also reconstructed. In the further rooms of the museum there are memorabilia of the insurgents of 1863 years and exiles to Siberia, paintings and drawings by A.. Sochaczewski, who was sent to Siberia for his political activities, where has he been 22 patch.

Opening hours:
wednesday-sunday: 9.00-16.00
MUSEUM OF THE 10TH PAVILION OF THE WARSAW CITADEL
ul. Convicts 25, tel. (0-22) 839-12-68 (center), (0-22) 839-23-83.
e-mail: xpawilon@muzeumniepodleglosci.art.pl
active: Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from. 9:00-16:00, free admission.
Guide for the group – do 25 people – 40,00 PLN, above 25 people – 60,00 PLN.

HISTORY OF THE WARSAW CITADEL AND THE 10TH PAVILION

The Museum of the 10th Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel is one of the most important martyrdom museums in Poland.
Located on the territory of the fortress built by Tsar Nicholas I in the 1832-1834 after the suppression of the November Uprising. The citadel has a strong garrison, equipped with several hundred cannons, strengthened in the following years by the system 5 of forts and a bridgehead in Praga, was to increase the control of the Russian authorities over rebellious Warsaw; at the same time, it became another link in the chain of fortresses protecting the western fringes of the Romanov Empire. It included, among others. existing since 1725 r. former barracks of the pedestrian crown guard of the last three rulers of the independent Republic of Poland, after 1815 r. renamed by the Russians into the Aleksandrów barracks.

In one of the buildings, so-called. The 10th Pavilion built in 1. 1826-1828 as part of the expansion of the aforementioned barracks, a central investigative prison for political prisoners was located. According to estimates by the Citadel, in which the investigative commission and the court of war was operating, passed around 40 thousand prisoners – fighters for national liberation and social change: members of secret independence organizations, participants of national uprisings (especially the January Uprising), activists of the Polish labor movement, participants of the revolution 1905-1907 r., participants of patriotic demonstrations, workers' strikes and many others. Several hundred of them were executed on the slopes of the fortress, thousands were deported from here to hard labor or Siberian exile. Among the prisoners of the 10th Pavilion were such outstanding figures of Polish history as Romuald Traugutt, Jozef Pilsudski, Roman Dmowski, Gustav Ehrenberg, pcs. Piotr Sciegienny, Stefan Okrzeja and many others.

Also the German occupiers in 1915-1918 they used the Citadel for military purposes; The 10th Pavilion also served as a prison, and executions took place on the slopes.

After regaining independence, in 1918 r., when the Citadel was taken over by the Polish army, Initially, the 10th Pavilion housed a detention facility for persons subject to military courts, later it was allocated to housing for soldiers from the local garrison, and in the eastern wing, memorabilia of prisoners are on display.

During the German occupation 1939-1945 Citadel, manned by Wehrmacht and SS troops, it was a strong support for the German authorities.

After World War II, the Citadel fell into the hands of the military. The 10th Pavilion was separated with the immediate surroundings and made available to visitors in 1963 r., on the 100th anniversary of the January Uprising, as the Museum of the 10th Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel (constituting from 1990. branch of the Museum of Independence in Warsaw).

PERMANENT EXHIBITIONS IN THE 10TH PAVILION MUSEUM

“Prisoners of the 10th Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel”

Organized in the reconstructed prison interiors, it shows, against the background of the history of the facility, the history of Poles' struggles for national liberation and social changes during the period of partitions by presenting the profiles of people imprisoned here, as well as events and organizations., in which they operated, starting from the independence conspiracies of the 1830s until regaining independence in 1918 r. It consists of the files of the tsarist repressive authorities: prison documents, investigative and judicial, press and leaflets of individual organizations, photographs of leading prisoners, personal mementoes left after them, the realities and works of art as well as the personal goals of many outstanding Poles imprisoned here. Pavilion X as a place, in which the fate of many later convicts and exiles was decided, it also exposes the martyrdom of Poles in Siberia in the era of partitions, shown, among others. in the collection of the painter's works – Aleksander Sochaczewski's siberian, also a prisoner of the 10th Pavilion.
Z ww. the exhibition is also related to the surroundings of the 10th Pavilion – the former prison courtyard which is a place for prisoners' walks, the way of executions and the Gate of Executions, through which the condemned were led to the place of execution, and two memorial sites of execution: on the slopes of the Vistula River, the place of execution of activists of the Polish labor movement, especially participants of the revolution 1905-1907 r. along with the symbolic graveyard of the lost, and the execution site of the January insurgents to the south of the Citadel, m.in. members of the National Government from R.. Traugutt at the helm.

“Józef Piłsudski in the X Pavilion”

(constituting a separate part of the above exhibition)
It shows a fragment of the biography of J.. Piłsudski associated with the 10th Pavilion: his stay here, when as a leading PPS leader and editor “Worker” he was imprisoned here with his wife Maria 18 IV 1900 after the printing house of this magazine was discovered in his apartment in Łódź at the time. Documents and photos illustrate his arrest, stay in the 10th Pavilion, the course of the investigation, the circumstances of his simulating a mental illness in order to get out of here, finally transporting him 15 XII t.r.. on “treatment” to a hospital in St. Petersburg and a successful escape from there 14 V 1901.

SYBIRATES 1940 – 1956

Exhibition “Siberians 1940-1956” commemorates the fate of Poles repressed in the East. Its multithreaded subject matter focuses on two fundamental problems – the realities of life on the so-called. free settlement and certificates of residence of citizens of the Republic of Poland in Soviet camps. The exhibition also presents selected aspects of Polish emigration from the USSR during World War II and today's activities documenting Stalinist repressions.

All the objects presented at the exhibition come from the Siberian Collection of the Museum of Independence, currently numbering approx 1400 units. The most interesting are the realities made and used in exile or in camps, such as everyday objects or souvenirs of a patriotic and religious nature. Archival materials and photographs documenting the fate of Poles in the East are also of great cognitive value. In addition to the museum pieces commemorating the deportations, the exhibition also includes paintings and drawings created by talented Siberians after their return to the country. They are not only an illustration of real events, but also an artistic vision of the inner experiences of people subjected to repressions.

The exhibition is aimed primarily at young people, for whom the deportation of citizens of the Second Republic of Poland to the USSR is quite a distant history, generally known only from textbooks. It should be assumed, that contact with material testimonies of exile will allow them to better understand the problem of Polish experiences in the East.

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated publication “Siberian Collection – Collection catalog” (2002).
MUSEUM LESSONS – CITADEL

(MUSEUM OF THE 10TH PAVILION OF THE WARSAW CITADEL, BRANCH OF THE MUSEUM OF INDEPENDENCE IN WARSAW)
1. January Uprising
2. The fight of Poles for independence on the example of prisoners of the 10th Pavilion
Lessons are conducted at the exhibitions of the 10th Pavilion, located in the Warsaw Citadel.
Price: do 25 people – 40 PLN, above 25 people – 60 PLN Orders for museum lessons at the Museum of the 10th Pavilion of the C.W.. should be ordered at tel: 839 12 68
3. Józef Piłsudski in the X Pavilion. They include: preface, recitation of passages “Prisoner psychology” Józef Piłsudski by actor Jerzy Molga and a guided tour of the exhibition “Józef Piłsudski in the X Pavilion”. Price – 150 PLN.