The Palace of Culture

When asked by Uncle Joe what they wanted for Christmas, a metro or a palace, the People of Poland said, metro! So, 3 years later, in 1955, they got 400 million bricks, 3288 rooms and 42 floors worth of socio-realist Palace, modestly named after its benefactor: The Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science. (The metro is still being built today…) Whether this fable is actually how it happened or not does nothing to alter the fact that this gift was one of those most unfortunate of all gifts – unwanted and ungratefully received. Always controversial, as many things in Poland are, the building, even though it's had its owners name removed, still does not fail to provoke disparate reactions amongst its co-habitants.

On the day of the ‘magnificent gift’s’ announcement, Maria Dabrowska, a witness of the time, wrote: ‘All of Warsaw will now lie prostrate at the feet of this monster.’ Today, standing as Poland’s tallest building and occupying centre stage in the nation’s capital, there are those who still see it as a hideous manifestation of Soviet repression and dominance – a perpetual reminder of Poland’s dark Communist past. But others who grew up with it often have a nostalgic and affectionate relationship to its existence, remembering happy times at rock concerts (The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd played here once!), plays, sports events, and other fun and games held within its art-deco walls. They cannot imagine a Warsaw without it, which is just as well, seeing as it has become the city’s international symbol – Warsaw’s Eiffel Tower.

Today’s generation, not having the burden of historical memory, accepts the Palace, with its curious mix of theatres, cinemas, museums, galleries, cafes, night-clubs, restaurants, a swimming-pool, and probably a thousand other things that are yet to be discovered in its labyrinth of corridors and empty rooms, as a central element of their beloved city – a single point of stability and unchanging continuity around which the rest of Warsaw shifts and shapes itself, changes and adapts. Today, I see it as an impressive manifestation of Warsaw’s refusal to let its past dictate its future, and a stalwart determination to keep on re-building and recreating its own image. In any case, it can be seen from as far as 9 miles away, making it a useful orientation point for lost tourists and quasi-residents like myself.

Despite its usefulness, it remains the butt of many a Warsovian joke. Q: ‘Where can you find the best view of Warsaw?’ A: ‘At the top of the Palace of Culture, because then you can’t see it anymore….’ It is often referred to as ‘Pajac’ rather than ‘Palac’ – the Polish word for ‘clown’ and ‘palace’ are only one letter apart, making it a too easy target for derision. Others call it ‘Pekin’ – the Polish name for ‘Beijing’, because the Palace’s Polish acronym is PKiN. Enough said. The Poles love to mock the Palace for its communist heritage – but at the same time, it seems to have a permanent place here. Especially since it was accepted for protection under the city's list of heritage relics only a few months ago - a very controversial, as many things are in Poland, move... Many protested, but equally as many, maybe more, did not. Perhaps they have an affection for something that has witnessed and stood proud throughout so much change, as they have. Or perhaps they just find it funny that Stalin’s gift to Poland complements perfectly the other commercial skyscrapers and shopping centres that surround it – who would have thought it, eh?