Square of shame

Plac Defilad (Parade Square) came into being in 1955, when the Palace of Culture was completed. At the time it was one of the largest projects of its kind in Central Europe, and during the era of the People's Republic of Poland the square was regularly thronged with parades and marches. Today it is just an empty, wind-swept space in the centre of the capital city, loomed over by the "palace" designed by Lev Rudnev. Since the end of the communist era, the city has struggled unsuccessfully to come up with an appropriate way of utilising the square.
However, in the early days after democratisation the signs had been more promising. An international architectural competition was held in 1992, which was won by two architects: Bartłomiej Biełyszew and Andrzej Skopiński. The vision they conceived, in an attempt to erase the embarrassment of this "great gift from the Soviet nation", was to conceal the palace in a forest of high-rise buildings. But the plan remained just that - a plan. In 2006 a more moderate plan was approved, entailing the construction of smaller buildings. Once again, the project never came to fruition, as subsequently elected councillors rejected the plan. Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, who was elected mayor of Warsaw in 2007, declared that: "Skyscrapers symbolise a strong, modern economy." A new vision was finally adopted in 2010 for the construction of several tall buildings, some even bigger than the palace itself.
These endless changes in planning have yet to yield any results. The urban concepts have constantly changed, leaving the main questions still unresolved: Who is going to finance the infrastructure? How is the selling off of public property going to proceed? Pl. Defilad is indeed the perfect location for investment, but, paradoxically, serious investors are steering well clear of the place. Those who in the past have tried to buy plots in the square have lost out to speculators. And the losers have not only been commercial investors. The city council itself has been unable to ensure the successful realisation of their plans for the development of the Museum of Modern Art. Christian Kerez's vision for the museum, originally selected via a contest, has now been scrapped, having fallen victim to the pointless horse-trading and lack of cooperation between the city council and the architect. The dispute is to be settled in the courts, and so a highly original building will probably never be built.
Pl. Defilad remains the site of makeshift schemes. The square has already been the location of the Cricoland theme park and one of the biggest and ugliest bazaars in Europe. For years it was the location of shabby MarcPol and Universal supermarkets, as well as the unsightly Kupieckie Domy Towarowe indoor market - all of which were eventually demolished. In their place, a huge metal shed has now been assembled, serving as the warehouse for the constructors of Warsaw's second underground line. Have I missed the silver lining in all this?
Apparently, a silver lining does exist! Around the Palace of Culture and Science a fan area is being marked out - a place where football lovers will be able to watch the matches during Euro 2012. For their exclusive use, close to what had been the intended location of the Museum of Modern Art, a huge temporary McDonalds is to be assembled out of wooden planks and fibreboard. And that's not all. Around the palace a number of large screens are to be erected, as well as beer tents and mobile toilets. One might say that this sort of development is typical for a modern capital city - especially as the entire area will be fenced off with barbed-wire and concrete piles for the duration of the tournament.
What conclusion can be drawn from all this? The likeliest outcome is that once the championships are over the fan area will be dismantled, the litter will eventually be blown away, and Pl. Defilad will once again become a big car park surrounded by tenements and high-rise buildings covered in advertisements - all of which is to our considerable shame.