Warsaw beyond the rebuild: a neon museum and a roof garden

Hidden Warsaw is what the rebuilt Old Town is not: the University Library roof garden, the Powązki cemetery and the courtyards of Praga with shrines put up under the occupation. Five of the seven places charge nothing, and the Neon Museum, one of the two that do, is now on the fourth floor of the Palace of Culture.

The Neon Museum

A collection of neon signs from socialist Poland, now on the fourth floor of the Palace of Culture and Science: you go in from Marszałkowska street and take the side lifts from level −1. At the end of the fifties the state announced a plan for the 'neonisation' of its cities, and most of the signs date from the sixties and seventies, made for shops, cinemas and hotels. The collection began in 2005, when the photographer Ilona Karwińska saved the neon of the 'Berlin' shop from the scrapheap — on the same street where the museum now stands.

The University Library roof garden

Above the library in Powiśle there are two gardens: the lower one, about a hectare and a half, with a pond and sculptures, and the upper one on the roof itself, looking out over the Vistula and the city. The library describes it as one of the largest roof gardens in Europe. Entry is free and it opens at eight; from May to October it stays open until 20, and from November to the end of March only until 15, with no access to the roof.

Powązki

The old Catholic cemetery north-west of the centre, laid out in 1790, with avenues and tombs that are architecture in themselves. Eleven graves of the Chopin family lie here. Entry is free.

2 daysWhere these seven fit into the two-day plan:Warsaw in 2 days →

Four more

• The courtyards of Praga — on and around Ząbkowska street stand pre-war houses with inner courtyards holding shrines, put up during the war and tended ever since. You enter quietly and do not photograph through windows.
• Koneser — a distillery on the same street, its brick buildings dating from 1895–1897; spirits were made here until the start of this century, and since 2018 the rectification building has housed the museum of Polish vodka.
• Hala Koszyki — a 1909 market hall in Śródmieście, now a row of counters under a glass roof. You walk in freely and pay only for what you eat.
• Saska Kępa — a quarter of 1930s villas on the right bank, with Francuska street as its spine. This is where you see what pre-war middle-class Warsaw looked like.

BudgetMilk bar or food hall — what a day in Warsaw costs:What Warsaw costs →

Where to stayWhich area to sleep in:Where to stay in Warsaw →

MistakesWhat not to do:Mistakes everyone makes in Warsaw →

FoodWhat to eat, and where:What to eat in Warsaw →

When to goWhich month to pick:The best time to visit Warsaw →

Getting aroundGetting in and around:Getting around Warsaw →

MuseumsWhich museum on which day:Museums in Warsaw →

One hack

If you are in Warsaw from 1 to 3 November, keep Powązki for those days. Actors, musicians and writers stand at the gates collecting for the restoration of the old tombs — a tradition Jerzy Waldorff started in 1975, which has since restored more than 1,700 graves and chapels. The cemetery is crowded on those days.