Warsaw. Elizeum. Renovation of the king's underground salon

In Elizeum, comprehensive works related to securing the facility and preparing it for further conservation works will soon begin. The historic cave has already been officially handed over to the contractor.

In the first stage, drying is foreseen, which will run very slowly. Dry air underground will get due to the lighting of the ventilation ducts and installing electric fans in them.

Over the next six months, the coordinating team will monitor the drainage degree. The ventilation of the building must be carried out in a controlled manner. Too quickly dry the brick. Only in the second stage of work will the target isolation of the object using the original material, i.e. clay.

The capital's management board of city expansion together with the capital conservator of monuments is responsible for work in Elizeum. The completion date of the work is mid -2028, and the planned investment cost is PLN 4.9 million.

The investment received funding from the government's monument reconstruction program. The contractor is RENEWAL ART Sp. z o. o. Designers are a festival, it is an architectural and conservator studio.

This is another renovation that will undergo Elizeum. In 2021, the upper entrance was started, which ensured better ventilation of the historic object. Elizeum is located in the archaeological area, which is why the works will be carried out in accordance with conservation permits and under the supervision of the capital's conservator of monuments.

New home for bats

In Elizeum, Natterer's bats have been hibernation for years. The last inspection carried out in January 2025 showed that 23 individuals winter. Their continued in Elizeum is impossible, which is why a replacement habitat (hibernakulum) will be made for them – a chamber in the form of a concrete prefabricated person in a slope in a close proximity of the historic building.

Elizeum is one of the most mysterious monuments of Warsaw

The underground building was erected at the end of the 18th century. A two -storey underground rotunda made of brick was ordered to build Prince Kazimierz Poniatowski (brother of King Stanisław August) on the embankment. It was an underground party and play. The construction was created according to the design of Szymon Bogumił Zug. The facility is located in the slope of the Warsaw Skarpa in the Park at the prince (currently the Rydz-Śmigły Park at Książęca Street).

The building was named after the mythical Elysees fields. The rotunda height is 8 m, and the diameter 7.5 m. The object, covering over 200 sq m. Originally he performed entertainment functions, being a kind of underground park cave. Elizeum consists of five functional and utility zones: entrance zone, representative and recreation zone, main room under the dome, economic zone, music choir zone and communication zone-staircase.

Elizeum originally had three entrances: one by an artificial grotto (no longer exists), the other went out on the pond (today the only entrance), the third, through the internal staircase and the underground corridor, led to the Imam house (currently non -existent). The Imam House, 60 meters away from the main cave, played the role of a kitchen, in which dishes for parties organized in Elizeum by Prince Poniatowski were prepared.

In Elizeum there were probably social meetings of Prince Kazimierz known from the lavish lifestyle. Musicians hidden in the upper corridor, which provided good acoustics. Elizeum, according to some messages, was also to be a place of tryst and even meetings of the Masonic lodge.

After the death of the prince in 1800, Elizeum ceased to act as the place of the prince's salon and became a warehouse used for beer barrels, then as the ice room of the hospital of St. Lazarus. The transition from the upper corridor operated in the 1920s, and then it was walled up and partially buried. They have now been restored.

The interior of the cave was once richly decorated with frescoes, columns, sculptures and stucco. However, as a result of improper use of the object after the death of the prince in 1800 there was a significant destruction of the interior. Over the past two hundred years, as a result of growing the roots of trees and shrubs, a layer of clay insulation, which the grotto was covered from the outside, has been destroyed almost completely. This eventually led to the destruction of the historical decor.

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