The Royal Castle in Warsaw is the royal palace and official residence of the Polish monarchs Zamek Krolewski or Royal Castle with its Red Baroque Tower drew me back time after time. The Castle is a prime monument of national history and culture. Each year hundreds of thousands of visitors enrich their knowledge of history and deepen their aesthetic appreciation within its walls. It provides the setting for cultural events and official state ceremonies, as well as visits.

Royal Castle was built in the years 1589-1619 for the King Sigmund III Vasa, ruling Poland at the time. Italian architects Giovanni Trevano, Giacomo Rodondo, Paolo del Corte, Mateo Castelli incorporated the old gothic castle of the Mazovian Princes into a new early baroque structure, imposing itself upon the bank of the river Vistula. Royal Castle was further rebuilt by the Kings – August III Strong from the Saxon dynasty and Stanislaw August Poniatowski in the 18th century. It is also here, that during the November Uprising, in 1831 Polish Sejm removed Tsar of Russia Nicholas I from the Polish throne. Russians rebuilt the castle in the years afterwards, demolishing Sejm halls, trying to uproot all traces of Polish democracy. The building that visitors enter today is thus a remarkable reconstruction, carried out in the 1970s, with only a few parts of the interior salvaged from the ruins. Neo-Baroque rooms are filled with museum pieces, including period furniture, porcelain, tapestries, and Oriental rugs.

The largest and most impressive room in the Royal Castle is the Ballroom, with its enormous ceiling painting, The Dissolution of Chaos. Originally built in the 1740s, this room was of course rebuilt after World War II, complete with the meticulous recreation of Marcello Bacciarelli’s
orginal painting. The Jagiellonian Rooms – These rooms, which belonged to the residence of Augustus , are now host to a number of portraits of the Jagiello family, a royal dynasty originating in Lihuania that reigned in some Central European countries between the 14th and 16th century. The most august of the Zamek’s locations, where Court and State ceremony met- the center of Royal Power. It allowed a forceful demonstration of the idea of authority: through the hall’s size, the rich materials employed and the fine works of art displayed. The King sought plans for it from a variety of architects. Eventually a plan by Merlini was adopted as a starting point but its final form is attributable to Kamsetzer. Broad mirrors, statues in deep niches, plain columns and round upper level windows appeared all to increase the size of the Hall. Beyond the Great Hall.

To the side of the Throne Room is the small Chamber of the European Monarchs (14). Here hang portraits of George III, Pope Pius VI, Joseph II of Austria, Louis XVI, Gustav III of Sweden, Frederick II of Prussia, and Catherine II of Russia. The paintings of the monarchs are first class; that of George III, for instance, is by Gainsbourough. The whole chamber is an extraordinary work of art devoted by the King to monarchs who were either hostile or indifferent to his country and His reign. Nowadays, the Royal Castle performs a representative function and serves as a scenery for state ceremonies and national cultural events.