index
The rest of the city
The Warsaw Old Town was reconstructed, but it is not the only area of the city that was rebuilt to look as it did before. Still, it feels different being in the Old Town and being outside it. One contrast is style; the buildings outside the Old Town belong more to the Renaissance and the monumental eighteenth century. Another difference is the purposes the buildings serve. Notable restored buildings outside the Old Town contain the university, government agencies, and church activities. What is going on in the restored buildings is learning, or administering, or managing a charitable organization. Inside the Old Town there is selling in the service of memory: souvenirs, period knickknacks, folk crafts. The cafes and restaurants in the Old Town benefit from the ambience; everyone is trading for memory and experiences. Yet there are restaurants with ambience in other areas of the city. What's the difference between a restaurant on the Old Town square and a restaurant in a basement elsewhere with an internal ambience? One could say that the Old Town restaurant didn't construct the square, whereas the other had to create its ambience. The Old Town restaurant is more like one with a view on a forest or a canyon.