Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw

Polands counterpart to the Paris tomb stands under the three surviving arcades of the former Saxon Palace on Pilsudski Square. Inaugurated in 1925 it honours the unknown Polish soldiers who fell for the countrys freedom — originally from the Polish-Soviet wars of 1918 to 1921 and now extended to all Polish conflicts. After the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 the Wehrmacht blew up the entire palace except for the arcade fragment that holds urns of soil from battlefields — a destructive act that gives the site its ruin-like character today. Soldiers of the Representative Honor Guard Regiment keep watch day and night, with the ceremonial changing of the guard at noon every Sunday. Foreign heads of state lay wreaths here and the square serves as Warsaws national memory centre. The view from the Saxon Garden behind is especially striking.