Hotel Victoria (Warsaw)
The Hotel Victoria is a modern 5-star hotel in downtown Warsaw . After its construction in the mid-1970s, it was Warsaw's most luxurious hotel. In 1981 there was an assassination attempt on a Palestinian terrorist here. Today the hotel belongs to the Accor Group and is known as Sofitel Warsaw Victoria .
location
The hotel is located at 11 Królewska Street, which is on the south side of Piłsudski Square . To the east of the building is Wacław Niżyński Passage and to the west is Stanisław Małachowski Square with the Zachęta Gallery and the Holy Trinity Church . In the immediate vicinity are the "House without Edges" , the Warsaw Art Academy and (behind the hotel) the Krasiński residential building, which borders the still partially built-up area on Romuald-Traugutt-Straße to the south.
history
Between 1866 and 1944 there was already a hotel with the name Victoria or Viktorja ; it was located at 26 Jasna Street.
In addition to the Forum and Solec Hotels , the new Victoria Hotel was another large hotel from the Edward Gierek era in Warsaw. It was built by the Swedish construction company Skanska for the state tourism company Orbis between 1974 and 1976 on what was then Victoria Square. Until its demolition in 1962, the Kronenberg Palace , facing today's Stanisław Małachowski Square, stood on the western part of the newly built area . The hotel was designed by the architect Zbigniew Pawelski in the Swedish architectural style of the 1970s. It was equipped with a conference hall - a novelty in Polish hotels - which could also be divided into smaller units. The “Canaletto” restaurant was on the ground floor and the “Opera” café was upstairs; there was a Pewex store and a swimming pool. In the 1970s and 1980s, the hotel - as a symbol of luxury - often featured in Polish films.
In the 1990s, the hotel was operated by the InterContinental Hotel Group and was called the Victoria Intercontinental . Since 2001, as part of the Orbis takeover, it has belonged to the Accor hotel group and is listed under the Sofitel category. The hotel has 290 rooms, 52 apartments and the “ Presidential Suite ”. The usable conference area is 1,500 square meters. From April 28th to 30th, 2004 the hotel hosted the guests of the European Economic Forum .
The assassination
On August 1, 1981, Abu Daoud (checked in under a false name as Tahar Sharlik Mahdi), who was sitting in the “Opera” café, was shot five or six times by an assassin; a present German tourist was injured in the hand by a bullet splinter. The perpetrator left the hotel unhindered after the shooting. Although badly wounded, Daoud was able to get up and go down to the lobby, where he collapsed. Daoud was rushed to hospital and survived. The origin of the perpetrator could not be clarified, Daoud himself attributed the attack to the Mossad .
Daoud wasn't the only terrorist staying at the Victoria. Abu Nidal and Ilich Ramírez Sánchez ("Carlos") were able to hide here for weeks. The arms dealer Monzer Al-Kassar was a regular guest in the 1980s .
architecture
The building consists of two long, parallel west-east wings, which are connected in the middle by a flat and short north-south wing. The two large wings consist of a two-story podium and five storeys on top of it, on which the hotel rooms are located. The podium facing Piłsudski Square is generously glazed in the lobby and reception area and offers guests an unrestricted view of the square, the tomb of the unknown soldier and the development on the edge of the square in the north and east (Metropolitan office building and Hotel Europejski ). The lobby, reception and bar area can be seen from the outside. This spacious lobby, open to the outside through the glass facade, was a specialty among the Polish hotels of the time. The floors on the pedestal were made from prefabricated concrete elements. The concrete parts are white and the windows used contain golden, sunbeam-reflecting glass panes.
Views
Front facade from Piłsudski Square
Driveway to the main entrance
West facade, in the background the Metropolitan building
half-rear view of the Zachęta Galeria
References and comments
- ↑ "Wielka Majówka" (1981, Krzysztof Rogulski); “Co mi zrobicz, jak mnie złapiesz?”; "Wielki Szu" (1982, Sylwester Chęciński); "Kingsajz" (1987)
See also
literature
- Jerzy S. Majewski, Spacerownik. Warszawa Sladami PRL-u, Books of Walks. Landmarks of People's Poland in Warsaw . from the series: Biblioteka Gazety Wyborczej . Agora SA, Warsaw 2010, ISBN 978-83-932220-0-1 , pp. 212-217.
Web links
- Hotel website
Coordinates: 52 ° 14 '23.4 " N , 21 ° 0' 47.8" E