Sielce () is a neighbourhood, and a City Information System area, in Warsaw, Poland, within the Mokotów district. The area is part of its eastern half, known as the Lower Mokotów. Sielce is a residential neighbourhood with mixed low- and high-rise housing. It features several green areas, including the Arcadia Park, Eye of the Sea Park, and Sielce Park. The historic buildings in the neighbourhood include the Sielce Manor House, a neoclassical two-storey palace built in the 18th century, as well as the St. Joseph the Betrothed Church and the St. Casimir Church, built 1926 and 1934 respectively. The oldest records of Sielce, then a small farming community, date to 1412. It was incorporated into the city in 1916.
Toponomy The name Sielce, is an evolution of its original form, Siedlce, coming from Polish term zasiedlony, meaning settled.Kwiryna Handke: Słownik nazewnictwa Warszawy. Warsaw: Slawistyczny Ośrodek Wydawniczy, p. 187, 1998. (in Polish)
History
The oldest records of Sielce, then known as Siedlce, date to 1412, when duke Janusz I the Old gave its ownership to the St. John Archcathedral.Kwiryna Handke: Dzieje Warszawy nazwami pisane. Warsaw: Museum of Warsaw, 2011, p. 291. ISBN 978-83-62189-08-3. (in Polish) It remained in its possession until it was confiscated by the Prussian government, following the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. Sielce was a small farming community, probably originating as a part of the village of Czerniaków. In 1628, its farming estate had an area of 5 lans, equivalent to around 90 ha.Barbara Petrozolin-Skowrońska (editor): Encyklopedia Warszawy. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1994, ISBN 83-01-08836-2. (in Polish)Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland, vol. 10. Warsaw: Kasa im. Józefa Mianowskiego, 1888, pp. 524–525. (in Polish)Adam Wolff, Kazimierz Pacuski: Słownik historyczno-geograficzny Ziemi Warszawskiej w średniowieczu. Warsaw: Instytut Historii PAN, 2013. ISBN 978-83-63352-17-2. (in Polish)
In 1680, nobleperson and politician Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski built his palace residence near the current Piaseczyńska Street, with a garden complex.A. Różańska: Parki warszawskie. Przemiany układów kompozycyjnych. Warsaw: Katedra Sztuki Krajobrazu Wydział Ogrodnictwa i Architektury Krajobrazu Szkoła Główna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego w Warszawie, 2012, p. 87–88. (in Polish) In 1720, the area was bought by Augustus III of Poland, monarch of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, to use its natural water springs, to feed the water features of the Royal Baths park complex, via Piaseczno Ditch, dug from the pond Arcadia.Maria Sołtys, Marek Kuciński. Archimapa. Dziedzictwo Architektury Warszawy lat 1939–1945. Warsaw: Warsaw Rising Museum, Stefan Starzyński Institute, 2014, ISBN 978-83-60142-93-6. (in Polish) In 1748, the land was acquired by nobleman, writer, and military officer Alois Friedrich von Brühl, who redeveloped it into a Baroque garden, named the Arcadia.Tatarkiewicz Władysław, Tokarz Władysław: Królikarnia. Analiza i dzieje autorstwa. Warsaw: Warsaw National Musuem, 2003. (in Polish)Longin Majdecki: Historia ogrodów. Tom 2. Od XVIII wieku do współczesności. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2022. ISBN 9788301225995 (in Polish) At the end of the first half of the 19th century, the gardens surrounding the Rabbit House were redeveloped as an English landscape garden.
In 1770, the fortification lines known as the Lubomirski Ramparts were developed around Warsaw, crossing land to the north of Mokotów. By the beginning of the 18th century, a set of tollhouses was established at the entrance alongside Belwederska Street (then Belweder Road), known as the Belweder Tollhouses. Between 1818 and 1823, they were replaced with two new neoclassical pavilions.Encyklopedia Warszawy. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1994, p. 732. ISBN 83-01-08836-2. (in Polish)Juliusz A. Chrościcki, Andrzej Rottermund: Atlas architektury Warszawy. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Arkady, 1977, p. 208. (in Polish)
In 1775, the village was leased to king Stanisław August Poniatowski, who founded there an English landscape garden centred around the Sielce Lake. In the second half of the 18th century the Sielce Manor House, a neoclassical two-storey palace, was built in the garden. Around 1860, a silkworm farm was established in the area.Barbara Petrozolin-Skowrońska (editor): Encyklopedia Warszawy. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1994, p. 619, ISBN 83-01-08836-2. (in Polish)Anna Różańska: Parki warszawskie. Przemiany układów kompozycyjnych. Warsaw: Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 2012, p. 78–80. (in Polish)
In 1774, the Szuster Palace, together with a garden complex, were built to the northwest of Sielce, as a residence of princess Elżbieta Izabela Lubomirska.Anna Pawlikowska-Piechotka: Turystyka i wypoczynek w zabytkowych parkach Warszawy. Gdynia: Wydawnictwo Novae Res, 2009, p. 89. ISBN 978-83-61194-88-0. (in Polish) In 1820, the estate became property of nobleperson Anna Tyszkiewicz, and in 1845, it was bought by Franciszek Szuster, who then opened a popular holiday village in the area, named the Promenade (Polish: Promenada), with the gardens becoming its recreational green area. The park also included the Promenade Ponds, two artificial lakes formed from flooded clay pits.Zdzisław Biernacki: IV. Geomorfologia i wody powierzchniowe. In: Wisła w Warszawie: Warsaw: Spacial Planning and Architecture Division of the Administration Office of the Capital City of Warsaw, Dom Wydawniczy ELIPSA, 2000, p. 57. ISBN 83-907333-7-4. (in Polish) At the end of the 19th century, the Promenade amusement park was opened, with a luxury restaurant, circus, and open-air theatre among other attractions. It operated until the outbreak of the First World War, and again from its end until the beginning of the Second World War.
In the second half of the 19th century, a portion of Sielce belonged to Konstantin Pavlovich, the commander-in-chief of the Army of Congress Poland, and a member of the House of Romanov. Following his and his wife's deaths in 1831, the possession was left in their last will to his brother, Nicholas I, the Emperor of Russia and King of Poland. As such, it became a property of the Russian government, and remained in its possession until the independence of Poland in 1918.Kwiryna Handke: Dzieje Warszawy nazwami pisane. Warsaw: Museum of Warsaw, 2011, p. 291. ISBN 978-83-62189-08-3. (in Polish)
In 1866, a portion of the lands of Sielce, which belonged to the estate of the Duchy of Łowicz, was partitioned and sold, leading to the formations of four new hamlets founded alongside Wilanów Road (now Jana III Sobieskiego Street). They were Jadzin, Marcelin, Stoczek, and Przylipie.Encyklopedia Warszawy. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1994. ISBN 83-01-08836-2. (in Polish)"Sielce", Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland, vol. X: Rukszenice – Sochaczew. Warsaw: Kasa im. Józefa Mianowskiego, 1889, p. 524. (in Polish) On 13 January 1867, the area became part of the rural municipality of Mokotów, established as part of the administrative reform in the Kingdom of Poland.Maria Nietyksza, Witold Pruss: Zmiany w układzie przestrzennym Warszawy. In Irena Pietrza-Pawłowska (editor): Wielkomiejski rozwój Warszawy do 1918 r.. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Książka i Wiedza. 1973. p. 43. (in Polish)Wojciech Trzebiński, Adam Borkiewicz: Podziały administracyjne Królestwa Polskiego w okresie 1815-1918 r.: Zarys historyczny. Dokumentacja Geograficzna 1956, vol. 4. Warsaw, 1956. (in Polish) The municipality was incorporated into the city of Warsaw on 8 April 1916.Maria Nietyksza, Witold Pruss: Zmiany w układzie przestrzennym Warszawy. In: Irena Pietrza-Pawłowska (editor): Wielkomiejski rozwój Warszawy do 1918 r.. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Książka i Wiedza. 1973. p. 43. (in Polish)
In 1891, the narrow-gauge tracks of the Wilanów Railway were built crossing the area along the current Chełmska Street, with a station in Marcelin. In 1894, the horsecars were replaced with steam locomotives. Amid the protest from the residents of Sielce against the noise caused by the trains, the route was altered to omit the village. In 1914, a tram line was briefly operated crossing the village, however, due to low demand, it was closed shortly after, and the tracks were removed.Bogdan Pokropiński: Kolej wilanowska. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Komunikacji i Łączności, 2017, pp. 12, 64. ISBN 978-83-206-1405-3. (in Polish) In 1921, Sielce was connected to the municipal transit system via a bus line, which was replaced with a tram line on Czerniakowska Street a year later. The line ended at the Bernardine Square in Czerniaków.Warszawskie tramwaje elektryczne 1908−1998. Tom II. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Komunikacji i Łączności, 1998, pp. 15–16. ISBN 83-907574-00. (in Polish)
In the interwar period, the area around Belwederska Street began to develop into a modern suburb.Lesław M. Bartelski: Mokotów 1944. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, 1986, p. 493. ISBN 83-11-07078-4. (in Polish) At the time, two Catholic churches were constructed in the area. This included the St. Joseph the Betrothed Church built at 137 Czerniakowska Street in 1926, and the St. Casimir Church, built at 21A Chełmska Street in 1934.Marta Leśniakowska: Architektura w Warszawie. Warsaw: Arkada Pracownia Historii Sztuki, 2005, p. 250. ISBN 83-908950-8-0. (in Polish) In 1944, the neighbourhood became a battleground during the Warsaw Uprising. At night from 15 to 16 September, the Polish resistance partisans were pushed out of Sielce by the German soldiers, retreating to Upper Mokotów.
In 1949, Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych (), one of the oldest continuously-operated film studios in Poland, was founded at 21 Chełmska Street.Encyklopedia Warszawy. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1994, p. 987. ISBN 83-01-08836-2. (in Polish)
Between 1953 and 1967, a series of housing estates were developed in the area. They were centred around Chełmska, Gagarina, and Sobieskiego Streets, and featured apartment buildings constructed with the large panel system technology. This included neighbourhoods of Chełmska, Dolna-Belwederska, Dolna-Piaseczyńska, Dolna-Sobieskiego, and Sielce, among others.Barbara Petrozolin-Skowrońska (editor): Encyklopedia Warszawy. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1994, p. 141, ISBN 83-01-08836-2. (In Polish)Lech Chmielewski: Przewodnik warszawski. Gawęda o nowej Warszawie. Warsaw: Agencja Omnipress i Państwowe Przedsiębiorstwo Wydawnicze Rzeczpospolita, 1987, p. 70. ISBN 83-85028-56-0. (in Polish)
In 1956, the Czerniaków Hospital, featuring 8 wards, was opened at 19 and 25 Stępińska Street.
In 1960, the Chełmska bus depot was opened at the corner of Chełmska and Czerniakowska Streets. As the only one of the city, it stored the trolleybuses, until they were phazed out in 1973. The depot operated until 2006 when it was demolished.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the historic gardens in the area were redeveloped into the Arcadia Park, the Sielce Park, and the Eye of the Sea Park.Barbara Petrozolin-Skowrońska (editor): Encyklopedia Warszawy. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1994, p. 619, ISBN 83-01-08836-2. (in Polish)Anna Pawlikowska-Piechotka: Turystyka i wypoczynek w zabytkowych parkach Warszawy. Gdynia: Wydawnictwo Novae Res, 2009, p. 89. ISBN 978-83-61194-88-0. (in Polish)