The Canaletto Room

The Second World War hit the Polish capital exceptionally hard, leaving roughly 90 percent of the buildings in Warsaw damaged or destroyed. Instead of choosing to modernize after the war like some other European cities, the government decided to rebuild the city according to how it looked during its golden age in the late 18th century.

This reconstruction of historic Warsaw was a way to hand down the city’s lost monuments to future generations, even if they were not the originals. And interestingly, many of the blueprints for the recreated Old Town were based on a series of paintings created by the Venetian urban landscape artist Bernardo Bellotto. As Poland suffered at the hands of both Russia and Germany, the project was motivated by an urge to reclaim a sense of national honor.