CENTRAL SQUARE (PLAC CENTRALNY)

The central square was the heart of the city. From here, five wide avenues radiated out in the shape of a pentagon, leading to residential areas known as sectors and indicated by letters of the alphabet. It was to be surrounded by housing estates, party buildings, a theater to the south and the town hall to the north. But the project could not be fully realized, due to its staggering cost and Stalin's death in 1953, which put a stop to the architectural madness. As a result, City Hall, which was supposed to rival the Empire State Building, never saw the light of day (although the City Hall gardens do exist), and plans for an obelisk worthy of the one in Washington remained forever on the drawing board. In its place, on the adjacent Rue des Roses, stood a 7-t statue of Stalin, the subject of numerous riots during the socialist era. In reality, Nowa Huta exudes a real charm, that of the utopia of the perfect city, and a kind of melancholy towards the failed socialist dream.

If you walk from Centralny Square along Solidarności Avenue all the way to the end, you'll come to the Sendzimir steelworks (Huta im. Sendzimira, ul. Ujastek 1). The visit is forbidden to the public, but it's worth going there to see its huge sign and the steelworks' Administrative Center building. It is the best example of social realist architecture in Poland. Because of its architectural appearance, the Center is nicknamed the Vatican and the Doge's Palace.