BEAUTY OR BEAST?

The Museum of Modern Art isn’t the only building or installation that’s divided the city. Join us as we run the rule over some of the more contentious…

Temple of Divine Providence

Rising above Miasteczko Wilanów, you don’t need a particularly high level of intelligence to understand why locals have nicknamed the Temple of Divine Providence ‘the lemon squeezer’ (Wyciskarka do Cytryn). Also sometimes dubbed ‘Poland’s first spaceship’, such is the horrifying impact of this humongous religious landmark that it was awarded the title of Poland’s worst building back in 2016.

Insider Verdict: get this – the idea for a Temple of Divine Providence was born in 1791. After all that time, this is what we got… Repeat after us: WTF.

The Rainbow

No landmark has scandalized modern Warsaw more than the artificial rainbow that once straddled Plac Zbawiciela. Composed of 22,300 artificial flowers, and topping out at a height of nine meters, Julita Wójcik’s work proved an immediate source of conflict. Set on fire on seven separate occasions – most famously during the 2013 Independence Day riots – it was finally dismantled in 2015. Still, not a year goes by without rumors swirling concerning its return.

Insider Verdict: perceived by conservatives as a symbol of deviancy, for others it embodied the fun-loving spirit of more liberal times. That its brief existence coincided with Zbawiciela’s hipster heyday was by no means coincidental. Staggering in its impact, it earns top marks for controversy alone.

The Palm Tree

Celebrating its twentieth anniversary this December just gone, Joanna Rajkowska’s installation was inspired by her desire to provide an artistic link bridging Warsaw’s Jewish past to modern day Israel – hence it’s official name, Greetings From Jerusalem Avenue. Reaching 15-meters in height, it instantly split the country. “It divided people dramatically,” Rajkowska tells the Insider. “I even heard about one family in Kielce that couldn’t finish their Christmas dinner because they were arguing about it.”

Insider Verdict: more than just becoming an embedded feature of the city, the artificial palm helped kickstart the city’s mania for creative public art. Where we’re concerned, it’s an absolute hit!

TVP Headquarters

For a whopping example of what not to do when designing a new office block, then make haste to Woronicza 17 to marvel in disbelief at the TVP HQ. Completed in 2009 at a staggering cost of PLN 190 million, it quickly found itself christened The Tower of Babel. A gargantuan glass vulgarity, others simply know it as the most monstrous block in Warsaw.

Insider Verdict: hated by many, it’s hard to defend this piece of architectural madness – at the same time, who wouldn’t love to see it transformed into a massive amusement park or playing the role of OCP’s headquarters in a Robocop movie. It’s definitely different, we’ll give it that.

Złota 44

When news first broke that ‘starchitect’ Daniel Liebskind would construct in Warsaw, a hush fell over the city – anticipation built yet further when the first renderings were revealed. Alas, the reality proved a little different from the slender, cosmic form we were originally promised. With construction delayed for so long due to the credit crunch, the disappointment was peaked on the final reveal with many expressing horrified surprise at the building’s strange cladding.

Insider Verdict: though at odds with the rest of the skyline, Europe’s tallest residential tower has done something unique, and in the process itself become something of an icon. With residents including Robert Lewandowski, this luxury skyscraper has given modern Warsaw an added sense of bling!

Novotel Centrum

Opened on January 24th, 1974, what was then the Forum Hotel was marketed as “the first Western style tower in the city.” Designed by Swedish architect Sten Samuelson, not everyone liked it, and its sandy-brown façade saw it quickly dubbed ‘the chocolate bar’ by unimpressed locals. Measuring in as the second tallest building in the country when it debuted, one critic even argued that it was Sweden’s revenge for their defeat at the The Battle of Częstochowa in 1656.

Insider Verdict: modernized this millennium, it’s new silvery skin has done wonders and it truly feels like a natural element on the capital’s skyline. Besides, ABBA enjoyed their stay here in 1976, and you can’t argue with that!

The Blue Tower

If Pl. Bankowy looks unsynchronized then the primary culprit is ‘the Blue Tower’. One hundred and twenty meters in height, construction began during the ’60s, though work was suspended once the bottom fell out of the Polish economy; in all, it took a staggering 26-years to finish before being officially opened in 1992 – and only then after a rabbi had lifted a curse. Formerly the site of Warsaw’s most famous synagogue, that was dynamited after the Germans quashed the Ghetto Uprising reputedly prompting a rabbi to cast a hex to ensure nothing else would ever occupy this plot. Curiously, one of the building’s adjoining glass blocks was supposedly designed to evoke the form of the destroyed house of worship.

Insider Verdict: looking top-heavy given its wider architectural context, it’s come to typify Warsaw’s clashing mix of styles. Add to that its history, and you have a building that merits a deeper look.