Miodowa is a street

Street

A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable...

 in Warsaw's Old Town

Warsaw Old Town

Warsaw's Old Town is the oldest historic district of the city. It is bounded by Wybrzeże Gdańskie, along the bank of the Vistula, and by Grodzka, Mostowa and Podwale Streets. It is one of Warsaw's most prominent tourist attractions....

. More precisely, it links the Freta

Freta

Freta may refer to:* Freta Street , in Warsaw Old Town, Poland* de Fretas, a Portuguese surname...

 Street in the New Town

Warsaw New Town

Warsaw's New Town is a neighbourhood dating from the 15th century. It lies just north of the Old Town and is connected to it by ulica Freta , which begins at the Barbican...

, with the Krasiński Square

Krasiński Square

Krasiński Square is a square in the Śródmieście district of Warsaw, Poland.It was formed at the end of the 18th century from the former courtyard of the Krasiński Palace. During the Congress Poland era, it served as a market place for wool. As a result, two iron wells were built in 1823. In 1838...

. It is also a street in the Kazimierz

Kazimierz

Kazimierz is a historical district of Kraków , best known for being home to a Jewish community from the 14th century until the Second World War.-Early history:...

 district in Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

.

History

In the 16th century Miodowa Street was famous for its gingerbread

Gingerbread

Gingerbread is a term used to describe a variety of sweet food products, which can range from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger biscuit. What they have in common are the predominant flavors of ginger and a tendency to use honey or molasses rather than just sugar...

 shops; hence its name. During the 18th century the Italian painter Bernardo Bellotto

Bernardo Bellotto

Bernardo Bellotto was a Venitian urban landscape painter or vedutista, and printmaker in etching famous for his vedutes of European cities . He was the pupil and nephew of Canaletto and sometimes used the latter's illustrious name, signing himself as Bernardo Canaletto...

, better known as il Canaletto, the court painter for Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

's last king Stanisław August Poniatowski, painted with meticulous details the streets and architecture of 18th century Warsaw.

Canaletto painted a view of the street with all the hustle and bustle of its traffic. The buildings are, on the right, the palace of Crown Marshal Jan Klemens Branicki

Jan Klemens Branicki

Count Jan Klemens Branicki was a Polish nobleman, magnate and Hetman, Field Crown Hetman of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1735 and 1752, and Great Crown Hetman between 1752 and 1771....

 (built in 1740) and, on the left, the palace of the Bishops of Cracow (built in 1622, rebuilt between 1760-1762 by Jakub Fontana) and the mansion of the Warsaw banker, Piotr Tepper (built in 1774 according to design by Efraim Szreger, destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising

Warsaw Uprising

The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...

 and not rebuilt after the war). Further back can be scen the roof of the 17th-century church of the Capuchins, founded by King John III Sobieski

John III Sobieski

John III Sobieski was one of the most notable monarchs of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, from 1674 until his death King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Sobieski's 22-year-reign was marked by a period of the Commonwealth's stabilization, much needed after the turmoil of the Deluge and...

 (built between 1683-1694 by Tylman van Gameren

Tylman van Gameren

Tylman van Gameren was a Dutch-born Polish architect and engineer who, at the age of 28, settled in Poland and worked for Queen Maria Kazimiera, wife of Poland's King Jan III Sobieski...

), which bas a chapel containing the urn with his heart. Behind the chapel partially in front of the Krasiński Palace in the far distance can be seen on the left side the Lelewel Palace

Lelewel Palace

Lelewel Palace was a rococo palace on the Miodowa Street in the Warsaw Old Town, which was also unofficially named "Palace Street" because of its gorgeous palaces. Lelewel Palace was built in 1755 by Efraim Szreger on an estate documented to have been property of King John III Sobieski and...

, another work of Efraim Szreger.

External links

• Miodowa in 19th century (see Plac Krasińskich)