Warsaw was once called the "Paris of the North." But in the last 70 years, it has survived almost complete destruction in World War II, the stranglehold of the Soviet occupation of Poland and the upheaval of capitalism.
The city has monuments documenting wartime atrocities and memorializing acts of resistance. Now, its palaces and churches, neighborhoods and streets have been or are being rebuilt. Warsaw has moved into a new phase of economic structuring with the European Union. It continues to rebuild and reinvent itself, demonstrating a beautiful balance of preservation and resilient renewal.