A Week of Street Photography in Warsaw, Poland

At the end of last month (November 2024) I had a week off work and naturally wished to devote it to street photography. In September I had a great time in Budapest, so I was keen to continue the Central and Eastern European theme by visiting another major city in the region. The question was therefore where to go and in the end I opted for the Polish capital, Warsaw.

What I didn’t give enough thought to, however, was the likely weather conditions; Warsaw being pretty far north and so at the end of November it was cold, prone to rain and dark by 3.30-4pm – hardly ideal for street photography, particularly my kind which relies on striking light and colour! But on the other hand, that was a challenge, and in all other respects Warsaw was wonderful. 

View towards the financial district, Warsaw, Nov 2024.

Warsaw basics

The city is large, home to just under 2 million people residing in numerous districts, separated by the wide Vistula river coursing through the middle. Warsaw is therefore divided into left and right banks, with an excellent transport system, including picturesque yellow trams, connecting all areas. 

The left bank, from a business and travel perspective, is much busier as it hosts the city centre, including the UNESCO-listed Old Town (actually a new town, but I’ll come to that) and the eye-catchingly modern financial zone, which is studded with skyscrapers that wouldn’t look out of place in New York or London.  

In addition, Warsaw has a compelling history and a seemingly fantastic culinary scene. I didn’t know much about it prior to visiting, but learnt an enormous amount while there by simply wandering around, as well as voraciously reading online articles, plus I had brought a copy of Adam Zamoyski’s Poland: A History, and visiting some of Warsaw’s magnificent museums, particularly of a historical nature.

Swietokrzyska Street, Warsaw, Nov 2024.

A brief history

Now, judging by Zamoyski’s book, Poland has an incredibly eventful, surprising and often tragic history. Formerly a massive power covering much of Eastern Europe under the combined Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a loosely bound union existing between 1569 and 1795 and inhabited by a mishmash of different peoples (chiefly Germans, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews and Ruthenians, besides Poles), Poland then weakened and was partitioned three times (in 1772, 1792 and 1795) by the greater neighbouring empires of Prussia, Russia and Austria, which greedily gobbled up huge swathes of its territory, rendering Poland practically non-existent until 1918. 

Then, following World War I and with the Germans and Austrians defeated and the Russians busy with their Bolshevik revolution, Poland enjoyed a few decades of independence, shifting from a democratic to a more authoritarian form of government under Józef Piłsudski, until tragedy struck again during World War II. Famously, in 1939 Hitler and Stalin agreed to once again partition Poland between themselves and the country was subsequently invaded by their massive armies from either side. 

While the Russians committed atrocities such as the Katyn Massacre of some 22,000 Polish military officers and members of the intelligentsia, the Nazis set up a brutal occupation regime with concentration camps constructed around the country, where 3 million of Poland’s 3.3 million Jews were murdered. Poland had hitherto been home to by far the largest population of Jews in Europe, and their heritage in the country is most brilliantly unravelled at the superb POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which I spent several hours browsing.

Museum of Life in Communist Poland Museum, Warsaw, Nov 2024.

But Poland nevertheless continued to put up a stiff resistance during WWII, as epitomised by the Warsaw Rising, which saw ordinary Poles conduct a valiant attempt to beat off their Nazi occupiers in August-October 1944, while the Nazis were being pummelled on all fronts by the allied powers and on the retreat in Europe. Although the Nazis managed to brutally suppress it after 63 days of close-quarter fighting, the Warsaw Rising became a defining episode in the city’s history which is kept alive at the equally brilliant Warsaw Rising Museum. 

Another insightful historical museum I perused was the Museum of Life in the Polish People’s Republic (PPR). Much smaller than the Jewish and Warsaw Rising museums, it nevertheless offered an enlightening glimpse of life in the initially Stalin-styled state established in Poland following its liberation by the Soviet Red Army in 1945. In short, the PPR was a typical authoritarian communist polity with a planned economy, repressive security services and immense shortages of basic everyday goods.

Underpass at Centrum metro station, Warsaw, Nov 2024.

Tips for street photographers

Anyway, I’ve perhaps digressed too far into history! But from a street photography perspective, I suppose the main thing to note from Poland’s World War II travails is that following the Warsaw Rising the city was almost totally levelled by the Nazis, with 85% of buildings on the left bank being destroyed. This means that most of the architecture is of the large and imposing socialist sort, which in places is grim and characterless, but in others is impressive and monumental. Meanwhile, the modern financial area provides a remarkable contrast, and in between are a host of lovely parks, such as the Royal Łazienki Park, which are relaxing to stroll through.

Based on my wanderings, I predictably found the most fruitful area for street photography to be the city centre, by which I mean the large area on the left bank between the architectural behemoth of the Palace of Science and Culture and Nowy Świat (New World) Street leading north to the Old Town, which is in fact a reconstruction of the original Old Town blitzed by the Nazis but is nevertheless the tourist centre of Warsaw.

Jana Pawła II Street, Warsaw, Nov 2024.

Incidentally, the Palace of Science and Culture is an iconic, and almost omnipresent, structure in central Warsaw. Reportedly gifted by Stalin to the city, nowadays it arouses very contradictory impressions, as both a monumental piece of architecture worthy of preserving for its historical value, but also as a reminder of a painful period in Poland’s history under the PPR. Apparently it is locally known as “Stalin’s syringe” and there has been much debate as to whether it should be torn down.

The other area I particularly enjoyed wandering around, especially with lights on in the evening, was the financial district beginning just west of the Palace of Culture and Science. I had one sunny evening in Warsaw and loved how the light reflected off the glassy buildings here.

Elsewhere I walked at length through laidback but somewhat lethargic residential districts such as Mokotow, Moranow, and even Praga over on the right bank – said to be an up-and-coming area, though in grim weather I didn’t find much of interest, beyond one building that was seemingly still peppered with bullet holes from a World War II battle, the Warsaw Rising perhaps. 

All this being said, I’m sure that in late spring, summer and early autumn (probably much better for street photography in Warsaw) other areas would come to life, above all along the Vistula riverside, whose banks were understandably lifeless in late November, and the parks.

Flower Market on Jana Pawła II Street, Warsaw, Nov 2024.

Overall impressions

Even despite the poor weather and lack of light, I enjoyed Warsaw and its agreeably laidback feel for a major European city. In between photographing, there are lots of things to do, including many nice cafes and restaurants to refuel and rest your feet in. I was also impressed by the number of book shops, signalling a cultured population, and indeed the locals did seem like nice people. 

Food and drink was certainly another strong side to Warsaw, and on that note I’ll end by highlighting another of my top finds in the Polish capital – the phenomenon of the milk bar. Milk bars, so named because they typically served dairy-based dishes, were a staple in the PPR, offering workers low-cost, state-subsided but delicious and healthy meals. And the concept is so great that the tradition continues today, long after the fall of the communist regime in 1989, with even tourists such as myself ending up in one after a few hours of street photography in Warsaw. Moreover, their old-fashioned utilitarian decor makes them too picture-worthy.