Czerniaków

The old village belonging to nobility had already been mentioned in the 14th century. In the mid 16th century a water mill stood in Czerniaków and the inhabitants were farmers and fishermen. In the mid 17th century Czerniaków was included in the Ujazdów royal estate, and at the end of the 17th century the lands in their entirety were given to the Grand Royal Marshal Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski. He built a Bernardine church and monastery by the road leading from the Ujazdów route by the Vistula banks to Wilanów and a wooden manor house by the Czerniakowski Lake. Tylman van Gameren was the main architect. The manor house was built directly by the water, on a rectangular projection with four corner alcoves and with a courtyard in front marked by side annexes. It was a meeting place and was designed for recreational purposes. The estate also had a rural character. There were vast farm buildings near the manor house. The village was spread between the manor house and the church. Czerniaków was joined to Wilanów by a linden tree avenue. King August II leased the estate from the Marshal’s heirs. In those days dances and court functions were held there, as well as military parades and maneuvers. The timber manor house was pulled down in about the mid-19th century and in the 1880s near the church, the Czerniaków fortress was built with earth embankments and moats as part of the Warsaw Citadel. A cemetery was established.

In the past Czerniaków’s rural areas supplied Warsaw with agricultural produce, fruit and vegetables. Fetes that attracted congregations of Varsovians were held on the Bernardine Square, in front of the St. Anthony Padewski Church. In the interwar period villa-style estates among greenery were built in the surrounding areas and were called the Czerniaków city-garden. In the 1970s the building of huge housing estates destroyed the remains of the old plan and the old Bernardyńska Street. All that has remained is the name of the street and the church complex, with its fantastic baroque architecture designed by Tylman van Gameren and the exceptionally rich interior that delights to this day.