All registered participants and registered accompanying persons are invited to attend a sightseeing tour (the participation is included into registration fee).

We have prepared 4 tours for your choice. Please inform us on the tour you would like to attend sending an e-mail to ssi-18@firstclass.com.pl by 10th June, 2011 at the latest. The number of seats on some of the tours is limited so the seats will be designed on “first come, first served” basis. The Conference Secretariat will contact you if the tour of your choice is fully booked and propose you another tour. If you have other plans for the Wednesday afternoon and you do not attend the tour, please inform us about that as well.

4 HOUR-TOURS (bus tours with English speaking guide, high standard bus with air-conditioning, during the tour several stops to stroll)

1. HIGHLIGHTS of WARSAW
   
   Places to visit :
   

   ŁAZIENKI (The Royal Bath Park) - the most beautiful park in Warsaw with the Palace on the Water – summer residence of the last king of Poland and statue of Frederic Chopin in a rose garden.

   GOVERNMENTAL AREA with Houses of the Polish Parliament, the Office of the Polish Prime Minister and Warsaw Stock Exchange (former headquarters of the Communist Party).

   ROYAL ROUTE with the statue of Nicolas Copernicus, Holy Cross Church where the heart of Frederic Chopin is buried, Warsaw University Buildings and the Residence of the President of Poland in the Radziwill Palace.

   WAR MEMORIALS including The Unknown Soldiers Tomb, Monument to Warsaw Rising 1944, Ghetto Memorial and Monument to Victims of Katyn.

   THE OLD TOWN with the King Sigismund’s Column, The Royal Castle, St. John Baptist Cathedral, statue of mermaid (Warsaw coat of arms), barbican and Madame Maria Curie-Sklodowska House.

2. JEWISH WARSAW

   It is worth to know that Warsaw before the Second World War was the biggest Jewish agglomeration in Europe and the second one in the world (after New York)

   Places to visit:

   GHETTO MEMORIAL designed by Natan Rapaport,

   UMSCHLAGPLATZ, the place from which over 300 000 Jews were sent to Treblinka gas chambers

   MEMORY LINE between Ghetto Memorial and Umschlagplatz

   MILA 18 – the site of the bunker in which Mordechaj Anielewicz, the main commander of rising in Warsaw Ghetto committed suicide

   JERUSALEM AVENUE one of the main streets of Warsaw, named after settlement NEW JERUSALEM founded in that area 1771 by graf Potocki

   PROZNA STREET – remains of Jewish quarter, the place where festivals of Jewish culture named after Nobel prize winner Isaak Bashevis Singer are hold

   JEWISH THEATRE named after Ester Rachel Kamińska where performances are still in Yiddish language

   SYNAGOGUE at Twarda street, the only synagogue in Warsaw which survived the Second World War

   FRAGMENTS OF THE GHETTO WALL between Złota and Sienna streets (the only fragments which survived to our times)

   JEWISH CEMETERY at Okopowa street, where dr. Ludwik Zamenhof , the creator of international language Esperanto and many other eminent Jews are buried.

   THE ORPHANAGE founded by Janusz Korczk- famous Polish writer of Jewish origin.

   JEWISH HISTORICAL INSTITUTE named after Emanuel Ringenblum , former Judaic Library

3. THE WARSAW RISING MUSEUM

   It was opened on the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of fighting in Warsaw to commemorate heroic and tragic 63-day struggle (1 August – 2 Ocotber 1944) to liberate World War 2 Warsaw from Nazi occupation. The Museum is a tribute of Warsaw’s residents to those who fought and died for independent Poland and its free capital. The exhibition depicts fighting and everyday life during the Rising, keeping occupation terror in the background. Complexity of the international situation at the time of the Rising is portrayed, including the post-war years of the Communist regime and the fate of Insurgents in the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL). With the total area of more than 3000 m2, 800 exhibition items, approximately 1500 photographs, films and sound recordings, history of the days preceding the Rising is told. Visitors are guided through the subsequent stages of the Rising until the time when the Insurgents left Warsaw. Their further fate is also portrayed.

   The second part of the permanent exhibition presents the story of Allied airdrops. Its highlight is a replica of a Liberator B-24J bomber. Much of the exhibition has been devoted to the Germans and their allies, showing their actions in Warsaw as documented in official texts from the time of the Rising and in private notes. A movie theatre shows films about the Rising on a panoramic screen.

4. REMEMBERING FRYDERYK CHOPIN

   The tour includes the following places in Warsaw connected with the life of the outstanding Polish composer:

   FRYDERYK CHOPIN MUSEUM located in the Ostrogski Castle, which contains the richest collection of Chopinalia in the world: autographs and first editions of the works of Fryderyk Chopin with manuscript drafts of his notes, manuscripts and publications of composers of Chopin's circle, relatives and friends.

   SAINT CROSS CHURCH , where Chopin's heart was laid to rest

   CHOPIN FAMILY DRAWING ROOM housed in the apartment where the Chopins lived during the years 1827-1836/7. The interior was reconstructed from an original sketch made by Fryderyk's school-friend. The stylish period furniture help visitors to travel back in time.

   THE CHOPIN MONUMENT IN THE ROYAL BATHS PARK is among the most beautiful and best known in Poland. Unveiled in 1926, it stands on a pool, near the main gate to the park. In 1940 it was one of the first monuments to be destroyed by the Nazis. After the war the monument was faithfully reconstructed and replaced on its original spot. Since 1959, Chopin concerts have been held by the monument on Sundays from the beginning of May to the end of September.