Upper Mokotów (, ) is an area in the city of Warsaw, Poland, forming the western side of the Mokotów district. It contains six out of its twelve City Information System areas, which are: Ksawerów, Old Mokotów, Służew, Służewiec, Wierzbno, and Wyględów. Upper Mokotów is a residential area which predominantly consists of mid- and high-rise housing estates with apartment buildings, with lesser presence of low-rise single-family housing. A portion in its central west also constitutes a financial district with office buildings, known colloquially as Mordor.
Among the historical structures, the area includes several neoclassical buildings, such as the Rabbit House built in 1786, the Mokotów Tollhouses built in 1818, the Ksawerów Manor House built in 1840, and the Fanshawe Palace from around 1850. It also includes the Szuster Palace, a Gothic Revival palace built in 1774, and the Church of the Ascension of the Lord, a Lutheran eclectic temple built in 1904. Upper Mokotów also features cultural institutions, including the Geological Museum of the State Institute of Geology, the Museum of the Cursed Soldiers and the Political Prisoners of the Polish People's Republic, and Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture, as well as several theatres, and the Iluzjon arthouse cinema. It also has campuses of the Łazarski University, the SGH Warsaw School of Economics, and the Warsaw University of Technology, as well as research institutions, such as the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Furthermore, the State Medical Institute of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, one of the most prominent hospitals and medical research institutions in Poland, is also present in the area. Upper Mokotów also has several public parks, including Arcadia Park, Dreszer Park, Eye of the Sea Park, and Służew Little Valley Park. It also features Plac Unii, a 90-metre-tall (295.28 ft) modernist office building and shopping centre, and Westfield Mokotów, one of the largest shopping malls in the city. The area is served by the M1 line of the Warsaw Metro underground rapid transit system, with the stations of Pole Mokotowskie, Racławicka, Służew, Wierzbno, and Wilanowska.
By the 13th century, the village of Służew was present in the area, forming a small farming community. In 1238, the St. Catherine Church was founded there, with its Roman Catholic parish becoming the oldest within the current boundaries of Warsaw. It was later rebuilt in the 19th century. In the 14th century, the villages of Mokotów and Służewiec were also recorded nearby, both later being granted the Kulm law privileges. The village of Szopy was also founded in the following century. The area was raided and devastated by the Swedish Imperial Army in 1656 during and following the siege of Warsaw in the Second Northern War. By the 16th century, the settlement of Wyględowo-Kościesze, the predecessor of the modern neighbourhood of Wyględów, was recorded in the area. In the 18th century Mokotów came to prosperity with the development of numerous manor houses, villas, and palaces for wealthy landowners and townspeople. The area was demolished and plundered by the soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army during the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794, and began to rebuild in the 1810s. In the 1770s, the hamlet of Wierzbno was founded to the south of the village Mokotów, with the hamlets of Henryków, Ksawerów, and Królikarnia also developing in the area in the 19th century. In said century, Mokotów and Wierzbno became popular holiday villages. On 13 January 1867, the village of Mokotów became the seat of government of the eponymous rural municipality of Mokotów. In the 1880s, several sets of fortifications of the Imperial Russian Army were developed across Upper Mokotów, being later decommissioned and partially demolished in the 1910s. In the 1890s, the narrow-gauge railway tracks were constructed crossing Upper Mokotów, being operated by the Grójec Commuter Railway and the Wilanów Railway, and operating until 1969.
At the turn of the 20th century, and continuing until the Second World War, the area of Mokotów and Wierzbno begun to develop into a suburbia of Warsaw with the construction of numerous tenements. On 8 April 1916, the municipality of Mokotów, which constituted most of Upper Mokotów, was incorporated into the city of Warsaw. In 1910, the Mokotów Aerodrome was established to the north of the village, featuring dirt runways. It became the city's first aerodrome and operated until 1947. In 1932, the neighbourhood of villas, known as Służew-Parcele, was developed to the northwest of Służew, and together with Służewiec, was incorporated into Warsaw in 1938. During the Warsaw Uprising in the Second World War, the German officers conducted a series of executions on local population, and displaced thousands of the residents from the area, with its large portions being devastated and destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising, and in its aftermath in the planned destruction of the city, especially affecting Ksawerów, Old Mokotów, Służewiec, and Wierzbno. After the conflict, the area of Służewiec was re-developed as a major industrial district in the 1950s, known as Służewiec Przemysłowy (Industrial Służewiec). The first major residential developments after the war included the construction of a housing estate of apartament buildings in Old Mokotów between 1947 and 1952, developed by the Warsaw Housing Cooperative. Later, between the 1950s and the 1970s, a series of major housing estates, predominantly consisting of pre-fabricated apartment buildings, were developed across Upper Mokotów, including in Ksawerów, Old Mokotów, Służew, Wierzbno, and Wyględów. In the 1990s, the industrial area in Służewiec was transformed into the largest financial district in Poland, colloquially referred to as Mordor. After 2019, the rented office spaces in the area began to decline, as it converted into a residential district. In the 1995, the M1 line of the Warsaw Metro was opened crossing Upper Mokotów.
Toponymy The name Mokotów most likely comes from the name of its former owner Mokot or Mokoto, which with addition of the suffix -ów, translates to Mokot's place. A hypothesis proposes the person's name originates from a Middle High German word mocke, meaning "clumsy" and "uneducated". Originally used for the village, now in the neighbourhood of Old Mokotów, it became a name of the city district of Mokotów. It is traditionally divided into two areas, Upper Mokotów in the west, and Lower Mokotów in the east, divided by the peaks of the Warsaw Escarpment.Kwiryna Handke: Dzieje Warszawy nazwami pisane. Warszawa: Muzeum Historyczne m.st. Warszawy, 2011, s. 286. . (in Polish)Z. Klimek (editor): Słownik etymologiczno-motywacyjny staropolskich nazw osobowych, vol. 5, Kraków 1997, . (in Polish)
History Prehistory The signs of human settlements from the Stone Age (4000 BCE and 2000 BCE), Bronze Age (3300 BCE to 1200 BCE), and of the Lusatian culture (1300 BCE to 500 BCE) have been found in the area of Warsaw Escarpment and Służewiec Stream. Additionally, several hoes made from animal horns from the Linear Pottery culture, dating to around 2500 BCE, were discovered near Sobieskiego Street, within the area of the modern neighbourhood of Old Mokotów.Józef Kazimierski, Ryszard Kołodziejczyk, Żanna Kormanowa, Halina Rostowska: Dzieje Mokotowa. Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1972. (in Polish)
Middle Ages
By 1065, the area of Służew was inhabited by the Roman Catholic monks of the Order of Saint Benedict, who founded there their missionary centre. In 1238, the Roman Catholic Parish of St. Catherine was founded by duke Konrad I of Masovia, ruler of the Duchy of Masovia, and erected by bishop Paweł II of Bnin. It is the oldest parish within modern boundaries of Warsaw.Grzegorz Kalwarczyk: Przewodnik po parafiach i kościołach Archidiecezji warszawskiej, vol. 2: Parafie warszawskie. Warsaw: Oficyna Wydawniczo-Poligraficzna Adam, 2015, p. 364, , . (in Polish)A. Sołtan-Lipska (editor): Służew i jego kościół. Warsaw: Church of St. Catherine, 2013, p. 743. . (in Polish) At the same time, the Służew Old Cemetery was also founded nearby.Karol Mórawski: Warszawskie cmentarze. Przewodnik historyczny. Warsaw: PTTK Kraj, 1991, p. 87-90. . (in Polish) Archaeological findings suggest that before that, it was a place of worship of Slavic pagans, with signs of fire burning constantly for several hundred years.Maria Dąbrowska, Magdalena Bis, Wojciech Bis: "Badania archeologiczne kościoła św. Katarzyny i cmentarza na warszawskim Służewie", Ad Rem: Kwartalnik akademicki. Warsaw: University of Warsaw, Międzywydziałowe Towarzystwo Naukowe Badań i Ochrony Swiatowego Dziedzictwa Kulturowego HUMANICA, 2012. . (in Polish) It is unknown what the first church built there looked like. In the 13th century, a wooden church was built in its place, and was later replaced with a brick structure in the 16th century.Ewa Korpysz: "Przemiany w architekturze kościoła św. Katarzyny na Służewie", Ad Rem: kwartalnik akademicki. Warsaw: University of Warsaw, Międzywydziałowe Towarzystwo Naukowe Badań i Ochrony Swiatowego Dziedzictwa Kulturowego HUMANICA, 2012. . (in Polish) Currently, both the church and the cemetery are located within the Ursynów district.
By 1238, the village of Służew (until the 16th century known as Służewo), was placed near Sadurka stream, and owned by the Roman Catholic Order of Canon Regulars of St. Augustin from Czerwińsk nad Wisłą. In 1240, it was acquired by duke Konrad I of Masovia, who then gifted it to his knight and count, Gotard of Służew, on 27 April 1245.Marta Piber-Zbieranowska: Służew średniowieczny. Warsaw: Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie, 2001, p. 145–150. (in Polish) His descendants formed the Służewiecki family of the Radwan heraldic clan, which owned this land until the 17th century.Józef Kazimierski, Ryszard Kołodziejczyk, Żanna Kormanowa, Halina Rostowska: Dzieje Mokotow. Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1972, p. 25–26.Marta Piber-Zbieranowska: Służew średniowieczny. Warsaw: Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie, 2001, p. 232–233. (in Polish) The village came into prosperity in the 16th century thanks to selling its grain to Gdańsk. By 1378, the village of Służewiec was also present in the area, being settled alongside the Sadurka stream. It formed a part of the agricultural estate of Służew.Weseła Wojnarowicz, Paweł Gnieszawa-Słodkowski: Dzielnica Włochy. Parki, zieleńce, zabytki.... Warsaw: Włochy Municipal Office. 2012. p. 18. . (in Polish)Monika Oksiuta: Przemiany sieci hydrograficznej i zagospodarowania terenu na obszarze miejskim (zlewnia Potoku Służewieckiego, Warszawa). In: Prace Geograficzne, issue 120, 2008. Kraków: Institute of Geography and Spatial Management of Jagiellonian University. . (in Polish).