Warsaw Arsenal

Warsaw Arsenal (Polish: Arsenał Królewski w Warszawie) is a building of a military arsenal in Warsaw, Poland. It is located at Długa street, in the proximity of the Warsaw's Old Town. Throughout the ages the building served a variety of roles. It was the scene of heavy fighting during the Warsaw Insurrection of 1794. Currently it houses the National Museum of Archaeology.

The building was constructed in the mid-16th century by order of King Stefan Batory, initially serving as the war veteran's hostel. During the reign of King Władysław IV of Poland, between 1638 and 1643 the building was thoroughly reconstructed by General of Engineers Paweł Grodzicki (who is also considered the main architect) to suit the needs of a city arsenal (cekhauz, as it was then called). It received a classicist finish and its walls were thickened in order to allow for its defence against direct attacks. Since then the building served as the main armoury of the Warsaw's garrison. In the 18th century it was twice rebuilt, the first time between 1752 and 1754 (by Jan Deybel and Joachim Rauch) and then between 1779 and 1782. The latter modernization of the arsenal was carried over by Szymon Zug and Stanisław Zawadzki, both being among the most renowned Polish architects at the time.

During the Warsaw Insurrection of 1794, the building was a scene of heavy fighting between the Polish Army and civilians, and the Russian units occupying Warsaw. Damaged during the fights, in 1817 it was rebuilt under the leadership of Wilhelm Minter. Following the November Uprising, until 1835 the building was being rebuilt to become a large tsarist prison. However, eventually the Russian authorities decided to build the huge Warsaw Citadel instead and the arsenal was then converted to a place of temporary detention of common criminals, rather than the political prisoners held in the citadel. After Poland regained her independence, the building continued to serve as a police precinct, but was in dire need of renovation. Between 1935 and 1938, during the presidency of Stefan Starzyński, the arsenal was once again converted to another purpose, this time to house the city archive. The main architects, Bruno Zborowski and Andrzej Węgrzecki, decided to restore much of the external design of the courtyard to its original, 17th century outlook.

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Wikipedia