Warsaw was obliterated with nine out of every ten buildings crumbled in ruins. At the end of World War II the city was completely destroyed and virtually uninhabited, yet with a tremendous reconstruction effort, most of the city was rebuilt and managed to lift itself from the ashes as early as the 1950s.

The Communist era (1945-1989) has significantly contributed to the city architecture, with the most noticeable landmark, the Palace of Culture and Science, a "personal gift" from Joseph Stalin, dominating the Warsaw landscape.

Since the fall of communism, Warsaw has been developing rapidly, even chaotically at times. Certainly, the harmonisation of urban landscape was of little importance to the country's first entrepreneurs, as they were busy plugging gaps in supply by selling various items on a provisional basis.

Warsaw's all about change now. In the next ten years, it'll be a completely different place again so now's the time to see some of the Warsaw's peculiarities before they disappear forever.