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The compact Old Town Square, Rynek Starego Miasta , is one of the most remarkable bits of postwar reconstruction anywhere in Europe. Flattened during the Warsaw Uprising, the three-storey merchants' houses surrounding the square have been scrupulously rebuilt to their seventeenth- and eighteenth-century designs, multicoloured facades included. By day the buzzing Rynek teems with visitors, who are catered for by buskers, artists, cafes, moneychangers and doroski , the traditional horse-drawn carts that clatter tourists around Stare Miasto for a sizeable fee. Plumb in the centre are two nineteenth-century water pumps; for years the only creatures capable of stomaching their offerings were the doroski horses, but now following the installation of a filter system, the one that works is a good alternative to the overpriced drinks in the square's cafes. The Muzeum Historyczne Starej Warszawy (Warsaw Historical Museum; Tues & Thurs 11am-6pm, Wed & Fri 10am-3.30pm, Sat & Sun 10.30am-4pm; 5zl, free on Sun) takes up a large part of Strona Dekerta, the north side of the square; entrance is through a house called the Pod Murzynkiem ("Under the Negro"), a reference to the inn sign that used to hang above the doorway. Exhibitions here cover every aspect of Warsaw's life from its beginnings to the present day, crammed tightly into a warren of rooms on three floors - there are excellent views over the parasol-crowded Rynek from the upper storeys. The early history of the city is told in didactic words-and-pictures style, but things improve the further on into the museum you get. Daily life in prewar Warsaw is evocatively recalled with a display of old photographs, theatre posters and fashion magazines, and there's a particularly moving chronicle of everyday resistance to the Nazis - an uplifting complement to the wartime horrors documented in the film shown in Polish on the hour, but in English at 3pm only. On the square's east side, Strona Barssa, the Muzeum Mickiewicza (Mickiewicz Museum; Mon, Tues & Fri 10am-3pm, Wed & Thurs 11am-6pm, Sun 11am-5pm; 5zl, free on Thurs) is a temple to the national Romantic poet. Among a stack of first editions, contemporary newspapers and family memorabilia, there's actually a shrine room, with portrait and crucifix enveloped in church-like gloom. The west side of the Rynek, Strona Hugo-Kollataja , named after the co-author of the 1791 Constitution, features a number of fine reconstructed residences, notably the Dom Fukiera (Fukier House) at no. 27, longtime home of one of the city's best-known winiarnia or wine cellar and still going strong, and the Klucznikowska mansion at no. 21, which includes a carefully reconstructed Gothic doorway among its features. West of the Rynek, the narrow cobbled streets and alleyways bring you out to a long section of the old city walls , split-level fortifications with ramparts, rebuilt watchtowers and apple trees lining their grassy approaches (but currently undergoing renovation). Along Podwale, the open path surrounding the walls and a favourite with evening strollers, an array of plaques commemorates foreigners who supported the Polish cause, including the French poet Alfred de Vigny. Here, as in many places around the city, the fresh flowers laid on the ground mark places where the Nazis carried out wartime executions. The most poignant of the memorials, however, is the Maly Powstaniec (Little Insurgent), a bronze figure of a small boy with an oversized helmet carrying an automatic rifle - a solitary figure commemorating the children and young people killed fighting in the Warsaw Uprising, personifying all that was heroic and singularly tragic in the city's resistance to the Nazis. During term-time it is usually thronged by schoolchildren on class outings. From the Rynek, ul. Nowomiejska runs north towards the sixteenth-century Barbakan , 200m beyond, which formerly guarded the Nowomiejska Gate, the northern entrance to the city. The fortress is part of the Stare Miasto defences, running all the way round from plac Zamkowy to the northeastern edge of the district. In summer, the Barbakan attracts street artists, buskers and hawkers of kitsch souvenir jewellery - credit cards accepted. Walk east along the walls to the Marshal's Tower, and you have a good view over the river to the Praga district. Conversely, some of the best views of Stare Miasto itself are from the Praga waterfront : take any tram over Most Slasko-Dabrowski, the bridge immediately south of Stare Miasto, get off at the first stop and cross into Praski Park , then down to the riverbank.
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