Warsaw became one of the principal cities in Poland comparatively late in history, but its central position favored rapid development, which even the many wars could not prevent. A mermaid (Syrena) holding a sword above her head in one hand and a shield in the other is the city's symbol. According to the legend, Warsaw was founded when the Mermaid ordered two fishermen Wars and Sawa, to form a city.
In the second half of the 15thcentury the town was surrounded by a double ring of fortified walls with towers and a deep moat. The turn of the 15thand 16thcentury was a period of its great economic development. In the 1596 King Sigismundus III Vasa changed the capital of Poland from Cracow to Warsaw.
On the 1st September 1939 the Second World War broke out. It was the most terrifying period in the history of this town. After the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 the town was almost completely destroyed - 85% of its buildings were in ruins.
Warsaw, the capital of Poland is a phenomenon on the European scale. It has been destroyed many times, burnt down and razed to the ground but it has always revived itself stronger and more beautiful. This fact should be remembered when one visits Warsaw.