Warsaw Citadel

Warsaw Citadel
Warsaw, Poland
Citadel walls, seen from outside
Warsaw Citadel
Coordinates	52°15′53″N 21°00′01″E / 52.26459°N 21.00034°E / 52.26459; 21.00034
Type	citadel
Site information
Controlled by	Imperial Russia (until 1918) Poland
Site history
Built	1834
In use	?
Garrison information
Garrison	3rd Rocket Anti-Air Artillery Brigade

Warsaw Citadel (Polish: Cytadela Warszawska) is a 19th-century fortress in Warsaw, Poland. It was built by order of Tsar Nicholas I after the suppression of the 1830 November Uprising in order to bolster imperial Russian control of the city. It served as a prison into the late 1930s, especially the dreaded Tenth Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel (X Pawilon Cytadeli Warszawskiej); the latter has been a museum since 1963.

The Citadel was built by personal order of Tsar Nicholas I after the 1830 November Uprising. Its chief architect, Major General Johan Jakob von Daehn (Ivan Dehn), used the plan of the citadel in Antwerp as the basis for his own plan (the same that was demolished by the French later that year). The cornerstone was laid by Field Marshal Ivan Paskevich, de facto viceroy of Congress Poland.

The fortress is a pentagon-shaped brick structure with high outer walls, enclosing an area of 36 hectares. Its construction required the demolition of 76 residential buildings and the forcible resettlement of 15,000 inhabitants.

Work on it commenced May 31, 1832, on the site of a demolished monastery and of the estate of Fawory. Officially it ended May 4, 1834, to mark the 18th birthday of Russian Crown Prince Alexander, for whom it was named. In reality, however, the fortress was not completed until 1874. The cost of construction came to 11 million rubles (roughly 8.5 tonnes of pure gold or 128 million euro at today's' prices), a colossal sum by 19th-century standards, and was borne entirely by the city of Warsaw and the Bank of Poland, as yet another punishment for the failed uprising.