Warsaw [antikvár]

Town History This city lies in the midst of the sprawling Mazovian plain, on either side of Poland's greatest river, the Vistula. One of the more unusual cities of its kind, it was once called »Little Paris«. Rebuilt after wartime destruction and restored to life, it is referred to in literature as the »City of the Phoenix«. Legend has it that a fisherman and his wife, called Wars and Sawa, once came to settle by the shores of the Vistula. Before their eyes, a creature, half-fish, half-woman - the Mermaid - surfaced from beneath the waves of the Vistula. She persuaded Wars and Sawa to found a city, later to be called Warszawa. Archeologists have ascertained that by the mid-11th century a fortress built of wood and earth existed in Brodno, where one of Warsaw's housing estates is now situated. On both banks of the Vistula, burial grounds from the palaeolithic age were discovered. The first ever mention of the trading post, Kamion, on the right bank of the river dates back to 1065. A settlement on the left bank was named Solec. Meanwhile, in the vicinity of present-day Lazienki Park, the citadel of Jazdow was created. Right near today's Sl^sko-D^browskiego Bridge, around Mariensztat, a settlement initially called Warszowa, later renamed Warszawa, was founded. Colonization of this area may be explained by its favorable location along the river, at the crossroads of several trading routes. In the year 1289, during the period of Poland's division into separate principalities, the settlement was raised to the rank of chief town of a district in the Duchy of Mazovia. At that time, a fortress existed on the site where Warsaw's Royal Castle now stands. Eighteen years later, the castellan established his offices here. The settlement grew quickly. Its importance at the time is manifested by the fact that it was in this very place that King Kazimierz the Great signed a pact with the Order of the Teutonic Knights. In the mid-14th century, the capital of the Duchy of Mazovia was moved to Warsaw from Czersk, which was then a city in decline. It was in this period that the first seal featuring a picture of the Mermaid - now Warsaw's coat of arms - originated. 11