Picture the sandy dunes. Imagine this area before the 1970s. Mostly undeveloped land. This is Piaski. We stand in Piaski a Warsaw neighbourhood. Its name means sands in Polish a nod to its past.
Before Piaski existed there was Młociny B. A small village. This was in 1888. Later in 1892 the Imperial Russian Army built barracks here. Around 120 buildings. Wooden and brick structures. A military training ground too. This was long before Piaski as we know it today.
In 1916 this area became part of Warsaw. After World War I Młociny B was renamed Piaski. The Polish army then used the barracks. A railway training centre was added in the 1930s. Some believe this hid secret intelligence operations.
During World War II the Germans took over. Piaski housed an Abwehr training centre. Later a military hospital treated soldiers injured on the Eastern Front. A Soviet prisoner-of-war camp existed here until 1949. It held almost 300 prisoners.
The 1970s brought major change. Piaski became a residential neighbourhood. Apartment buildings rose around Broniewskiego Street. More construction followed along Zegrzyńska Street. Architect Józef Zbigniew Polak designed buildings on Sybiraków Avenue. They were shaped like four stars honouring General Wojciech Jaruzelski. He was Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief.
An amphitheatre appeared in the 1980s. It became a local landmark. Sadly it was abandoned later and demolished to make way for a Kaufland supermarket. A Police Training Centre opened in 1990. A Church of St Christopher a Roman Catholic parish church was built in 2002 at 4 Niedzielskiego Street.
Today Piaski continues to evolve. A nine-story apartment building is rising. It’s Piaski’s first skyscraper. This replaces a building nicknamed Okrąglak a former PKO Bank Polski branch. It’s a significant transformation. So we are standing on layers of history in Piaski. From sandy dunes to a modern neighbourhood.