Kazimierz Palace

The Kazimierz Palace stands at Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28 in the middle of Warsaw's Royal Route and houses the rectorate of the University of Warsaw. King Wladyslaw IV Vasa had it built as a suburban villa in 1641; his brother John Casimir later gave it the name. After several rebuilds the palace became the seat of the newly founded University of Warsaw in 1816, and its great hall was the intellectual starting point of the 1830 November Uprising against Russian rule. The building burned out in World War II; postwar reconstruction followed Tylman van Gameren's baroque facade. Visitors can enter the courtyard and parts of the assembly hall; just opposite stands Holy Cross Church, where Chopin's heart is interred.