Belweder

For other uses, see Belvedere.

Belweder Palace.

Belweder ("Bel-VEH-der"; Polish: Pałac Belwederski, Belweder Palace, from the Italian bello and vedere — "beautiful" and "to see") is a palace in Warsaw, a few kilometers south of the Royal Castle. The present building is the latest of several that have stood on the site since 1659. Belweder once belonged to Poland's last king, Stanisław August Poniatowski, who used it as a porcelain-manufacturing plant.

From 1818 it was the residence of Russian Grand Duke Constantine, who fled it at the beginning of the November 1830 Uprising.

After the re-establisment of Poland's independence following World War I, it was (with a hiatus, 1922-26) the residence of Józef Piłsudski, who died there in 1935. (During the May 1926 coup d'etat, President Stanisław Wojciechowski had abandoned it ahead of Piłsudski's advancing forces.)

During World War II, the building was extensively remodeled for Hans Frank, Governor-General of the German-occupied "General Government" of Poland.

In 1945-52 it was the residence of Bolesław Bierut, and later of the president of the Council of State. From 1989 till July 1994, it was the official residence of Poland's president. Currently it serves ceremonial purposes, while the president resides at the "Governor's Palace" in the city center.

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