Until the 19th century , built in 1818. The
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 Old Mokotów. The oldest known records of Mokotów, originally known as
Mokotowo, date to 1367, when it was a small farming community paying
tithe to the town of
Zegrze. It was placed near the road connecting
Warsaw and
Czersk, now known as Czerska Street. Its farmlands stretched approximately between current Mokotowska, Polna, Rakowiecka, Odyńca, Żwirki i Wigury, Piaseczyńska, Sobieskiego, and Belwederska Streets, while the village centre was probably originally placed in the area of Boryszewska and Dolna Streets and the
Eye of the Sea pond. Some documents from 15th century suggest that a nearby settlement in modern
Wierzbno might have been deserted and incorporated into Mokotów. The village came back to prosperity again in the 18th century, with the development of numerous manor houses, villas, and palaces for wealthy landowners and townspeople. In around 1825, it became the cavalry drill site. In the first half of the 19th century, a
horce racecourse was built at the Mokotów War Field, thanks to the efforts of
Ivan Paskevich, the
Viceroy of Poland. The first race officially organised by the
Kingdom of Poland was held there in 1841. Various races and exhibitions were held at the venue in the following years, until were eventually outlawed in 1861. The ban was lifted in 1880. In 1887, a new venue, the Mokotów Field Racecourse, was built on Polna Street, and in 1895, it hosted the first annual
Great Warsaw Race, the most prestigious horse race in Poland. The venue was closed down in 1938, and its events were moved to the Służewiec Racecourse, at
Puławska Street. s in Fort M in 1926. The expansion of the village was halted in the 1880s, with the construction of sets of fortifications to its south, Fort M and
Fort M-Che, by the Imperial Russian Army, as part of the
Warsaw Fortress, in 1883 and 1892 respectively. They were decommissioned in 1909, and the latter was deconstructed in the 1920s, while Fort M was turned into a
broadcasting station of the
Polish Radio. The building is currently located within the neighbourhood of
Wyględów. Additionally, since 1875, the Kexholm Life Guard Regiment of the Imperial Russian Army had its barracks in Mokotów, next to the Union of Lublin Square. In 1904, an
Eastern Orthodox temple, known as the Sts. Peter and Paul Church, was built nearby for the use by the garrison. Both were abandoned in 1915, with the evacuation of the Russian military from the city, following its capture by the
Imperial German Army. In 1920, the temple was renamed to Church of the Ascension of the Lord, and adopted as a garrison church of the
Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession. Until 1923, it was also used by a parish of the
Evangelical Reformed Church. The building was destroyed in 1944 during the
Warsaw Uprising in the Second World War. It was rebuilt in 1947, and in 1950, it became seat of a civilian parish of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession. In 1881, a tramline connecting Mokotów and Wierzbno was opened with tracks built alongside Puławska Street. It was first operated by a
horsecar, and since 1909, by an electric tram. It was closed down in 1955, with the trams being moved to the Mokotów tram depot in
Służewiec. In 1892, the
Warsaw narrow-gauge station was opened next to the
Union of Lublin Square, between Puławska and Chocimska Streets. It was part of two lines operated by the Wilanów Railway. In 1898, a line of the
Grójec Commuter Railway was also added. In 1930, the station was renamed to
Warsaw Mokotów. It was closed in 1935, and moved further south, to the intersection of Puławska and Odyńca Streets in Wierzbno, where it operated until 1938. In 1935, the station was moved further south, to the intersection of Puławska and Odyńca Streets, where it operated until 1938. In 1897, the village of Mokotów had a population of 7,191 people. At the turn of the 20th century, the land of Mokotów was partitioned and sold for housing development, and numerous new streets were created. In the 1910s, following the decommissioning of the nearby fortifications, the area began rapidly developing with the construction of tenement houses, especially alongside Puławska Street and Topolowa Street (now Independence Avenue). In 1910, the Mokotów Aerodrome was established at the Mokotów War Field, featuring dirt runways. It became the city's first aerodrome, and until the outbreak of the
First World War, it was a popular civil and sports airfield. Following the beginning of the conflict in 1915, it began being used by the
Imperial Russian Air Service, which stationed there six fighter planes. In August of the same year, the aerodrome was captured and used by the
German Air Combat Forces. Its infrastructure was updated and expanded, and 21 new hangars were constructed, including those for the
Parseval airships. Following the end of the war, and the establishment of the
Second Polish Republic, in 1919, the aerodrome became a base for the growing military and civilian aviation industry. Since 1920, international passenger flights were chartered there. In 1929, it became the headquarters of the then-established national
LOT Polish Airlines. In 1934, the passenger traffic was moved to the
Warsaw Chopin Airport in
Okęcie. Following this, Independence Avenue was built between 1934 and 1938, crossing the cleared eastern side of the aerodrome. It formed a major
arterial road connecting Mokotów with Downtown. It partially incorporated the former Topolowa Street in Mokotów. The aerodrome was closed down in 1947. In 1918, the National Institute of Public Health was founded at 24 Chocimska Street, operating as a state research institute for
hygiene,
epidemiology,
bacteriology,
immunology, and
parasitology. , opened in 1925. In 1925, a new building of the
SGH Warsaw School of Economics was opened at 24 Rakowiecka Street, and in 1931 it was joined with the library at 22 Rakowiecka Street. The campus was expanded in 1955 with another building at 162 Independence Avenue. Around 1925, a campus of the
Warsaw University of Life Sciences was opened at 26 and 30 Rakowiecka Street. It also included a small closed garden with an area of around 1.5 ha, which since 2003, has the status of a
protected landscape park. During the Second World War, the school was officially closed, and continued
teaching students in secret. It was reopened in 1945, after the end of the conflict. In the 1960s, the school begun developing a new campus on Nowoursynowska Street in
Stary Służew. In 2003, all remaining faculties and institutions of the university were moved to the new campus. In 1927, the tram tracks were built alongside Rakowiecka Street, connecting it with the network on Puławska Street. It ended with a
turning loop at the intersection with Łowiecka Street. In 1930, the new headquarters of the Polish Geological Institute were opened at 4 Rakowiecka Street. The building also begun housing its museum of geology. In 1934, a new campus of two buildings of the Hipolit Wawelberg and Stanisław Rotwand State Higher School of Machine Construction and Electrical Engineering was opened at 85 Nurbutta Street. Its main building, located at 4 and 6
Mokotowska Street in Downtown was destroyed in 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising in the Second World War. The school reopened after the war in 1945 in the new campus, under the name Hipolit Wawelberg and Stanisław Rotwand School of Engineering. In 1951, it was merged with the
Warsaw University of Technology, which uses its campus to the present day. In 1948, two new buildings were added to the campus, located at 84 and 86 Nurbutta Street, as the headquarters of the Faculty of Automotive and Construction Machinery Engineering, and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, respectively. In 1936, the Wedel House, a
International Style tenement house of businessperson Jan Wedel, was built at 28 Puławska Street. In 1939, the new headquarters building of the
General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces was opened at 4A Rakowiecka Street.
Second World War , built in 1904. During the Second World War, it was used by the German regime to hold political prisoners, and was a location of a
massacre in 1944. On 1 September 1939,
Nazi Germany began the
invasion into Poland, starting the Second World War, with their forces arriving at the outskirts of Warsaw on 8 September, beginning the
siege. Polish positions in Mokotów were mainly defended by the 4th battalion of the 21st Infantry Regiment, and one battery of 75 mm guns. On 9 September, the German forces began an attack on the city, supported by an aerial and artillery bombardment. On the next day, German forces launched a series of small diversion attacks on Mokotów, Ochota, and
Wola. On 25 September, the Fort M, which housed a Polish radio station, was attacked by the
10th Infantry Division of the
German Armed Forces, and was captured the next day. On 26 September, the German 10th Tank Division also attacked Mokotów from the south, with heavy fighting taking place at the intersections of Ursynowska Street with Independence Avenue, and with Puławska Street, before being pushed back to its positions at the
Rabbit House palace, losing 3 tanks and several other vehicles and numerous soldiers. The next day, they repelled a Polish counteroffensive, suffering huge casualties. The city eventually capitulated on 28 September. While under occupation, Mokotów housed strong garrison of German units, including a
grenadier battalion of the
Protection Squadron in barracks at 4A Rakowiecka Street, in the former building of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, and barracks at Kazimierzowa and Woronicza Streets. The Fort M housed the headquarters of the Warsaw Airport Command of the
German Air Force, with a staff of 500 people, and the barracks. The air force also stationed
anti-aircraft artillery at the Mokotów Aerodrome, while the operations of the airport were limited to minimum, with barracks for its operators on Puławska Street. The nieghbourhood also featured the headquarters of the local branch of the
Gendarmerie of the
Order Police on Dworkowa Street. It was constantly overcrowded, with the peak number of inmates recorded at 2,505 in November 1941. Around 30% of the prisoners were released in July 1944. On 6 February 1943, the
alderman of Warsaw signed the law establishing the German Residencial District, with the area of the neighbourhood of Mokotów, to the east of Puławska Street, becoming its part. It was envisioned as an area exclusive to
German residents, although it was not separated physically by walls and other boundaries from the rest of the city. While it had large population of German residents, including immigrants from Germany and people from Poland who were given the
Volksdeutsche status, it also housed
Russian and
Ukrainian collaborators, and Poles who were given exemption from being relocated to other parts of the cities. In May 1944, some parts of the German Residencial District were separated by the authorities with
barbed wire fences. soldiers of the Baszta Regiment Group, which fought in Old Mokotów during the
Warsaw Uprising. On 1 August 1944, at 17:00, with the beginning of the
Warsaw Uprising, the soldiers of the
Mokotów Subdistrict of the
Home Army underground resistance attacked the German forces in targets across the neighbourhood. They suffered heavy casualties while attacking German defensive positions on Rakowiecka and Puławska Street. They also failed to capture German barracks on Kazimierzowa and Woronicza Streets, as well as the Fort M, which was subsequently used to organise counterattacks on the insurgents. As such, majority of the Polish units retreated from the area to the
Kabaty Woods. Five companies of the Baszta Regiment Group, commanded by Stanisław Kamiński "Daniel", fortified themselves in the apartment buildings in a rectangular area marked by Odyńca Street, Goszczyńskiego Street, Puławska Street, and Independance Avenue. They captured more land in the following days, forming a strong resistance movement in the area of
Upper Mokotów. This included all officers captured during the attack on Rakowiecka Street, and around 19 wounded soldiers from the Olza Batalion, captured in an attack on Fort M. The German officers refused to treat the captured insurgents with accordance to the international law about the
prisoners of war, not granting them the status of
protected persons. The German command also ordered the
destruction of the city and mass killings and deportation of all its residents, which lead to the series of war crimes, committed on the civilaisn in neighborhood, known as the
suppression of Mokotów. At night, the German officers also committed first mass murders on the civilian population of Mokotów. After pushing back Polish attack, officers of the garrison of the
Okęcie Airport forcibly gathered around 500 civilians at Fort M, sporadicly executing people while removing them from their houses. This included numerouns residents on Bochmacka, Baboszewska, and Syryńska Streets. On 1 August, the Mokotów Prison held 794 inmates, of which 41 were under the age of 18. On that day, it was attacked by 80 soldiers of the Baszta Regiment Group, lead by Antony Figura "Kot". The regiment managed to capture the administration building but could not gain control over the buildings with cells, and retreated the next day. During the fighting, the German officers
interned Polish prison guards. On 3 August, a unit of the Protection Squadron arrived to the prison, with orders to execute all of its inmates and interned guards. A group of 60 inmates were ordered to dig two rows of graves at the courtyard, being executed by machine gun fire afterwards. Having observed the courtyard
massacre from their cells, some inmates decided to break out from the prison. They killed a few soldiers, set fire to the prison, freed other inmates and barricaded the second floor. The soldiers and guards retreated from the building to the front gate, assuming the prisoners would have to cross it to escape. Instead, the inmates climbed onto the roof at night, and descended the prison wall with ladders provided by nearby residents. Between 200 and 300 inmates escaped to the area controlled by the Home Army insurgents. during the
Warsaw Uprising. In the first days of the uprising, the German officers from the Protection Squadron, the Order Police, and the German Armed Forces repeatedly carried out raids aimed at terrorizing the Polish civilian population in Old Mokotów. During those actions, they commited
summary execution, burned down houses, and raped women. On 2 August, several dozen civilians, including women and children, were executed on Madalińskiego and Kazimierzowska Streets. Among them, ten men were locked in a small room, and burned alive. On 3 August, officers of the Order Police, backed by several tanks and
Ukrainian collaborators, committed series of summary executions alongside Puławska Street and adjusted cross streets, killing several hundreds civilians, including women and children. Over 150 residents of houses at 49 and 51 Puławska Street, mostly women and children, were rounded up and taken to the vicinity of the headquarters of the Gendarmerie of the Order Police on Dworkowa Street. When arriving at the nearby staircase leading down an escarpment to a park area, now known as the
Eye of the Sea Park, the German officers lifted barbed wire, suggesting they were letting captured civilians escape to the area controlled by the Home Army. After a portion of the group descended down the staircase, the officers opened fire, killing around 80 people. In the morning of 4 August, two companies of the Baszta Group Regiment conducted an unsuccessful attack on the headquarters of the Gendarmerie of the Order Police. In the retaliation, its officers, together with a group of Ukrainian collaborators, targeted residents of tenements at 5 and 7 Olesińska Street. They rounded up somewhere between 100 and 200 people were rounded up in the basement and murdered with grenades, with survivors being executed with machine guns. The event became one of the largest singular mass killings in Mokotów during the uprising. The German officers continued to sporadically enact another executions in the following days. They killed around 20 residents of a tenement at 132 and 136 Independance Avenue on 11 August, and around 30 residents of a tenement at 39 and 43 Madalińskiego Street. Some witnesses also recounted execution of around 60 people near Rakowiecka Street, sometime at turn of August and September 1944. , which during the
Second World War served as the barracks of the
Protection Squadron, and later an
interment camp for Polish civilians during the
Warsaw Uprising. On 2 August, the officers of the Protection Squadron, forcibly removed residents of tenements at several streets in Mokotów, and gathered them at their
barracks, located the former building of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces at 4A Rakowiecka Street. The building was turned into a provisionary prison, with inmates being held as hostages, with the threat of being executed if the insurgent would not capitulate within three days. A majority of women and children were freed the next day. In the following days, as the German officers began systematically and forcibly expelling Polish population from Mokotów, the facility was turned into a permanent internment camp for the displaced population. At least 100 people were executed in the facility. According to some sources, it took place the next day instead. Another group of 45 men were killed the next day. Some of the male inmates were also transported by the
Gestapo in the cars to an unknown destination, with their fate unknown. They were most likely
executed in the Police District, in the former building of the
General Inspector of the Armed Forces, or near the headquarters of the Secret Police on Szuch Avenue. The prison operated until the second half of September, though many inmates were held there until the beginning of October. As the attackers gained overwhelming advantage, the commander of insurgents forces in district, lieutenant colonel Józef Rokicki "Karol", ordered a retreat on 26 September. The troops had to travel via the
sewerage network to
Downtown. Several hours later, brigadier general
Antoni Chruściel "Monter", the commander of all insurgents forces, gave orders to return to Mokotów and continue fighting. By that point, around 800 already arrived at their destination, and around 400 were still in the canals. German officers barricaded some of the entrances to the canals, and through granades and pumped the
calcium carbide gas, causing casualties among the insurgents. Amit the chaos, a group of soldiers got lost in the canals, and mistakenly went to the entrance near the headquarters of the Gendarmerie of the Order Police on Dworkowa Street. After being discovered, they were forced to resurface by its officers and taken captive around 10:00 on 27 September. The German officers separated civilians and a portion of women nurses and
runners from the rest of the group. The soldiers were then forced to kneel on an edge of an escarpment of the Eye of the Sea Park. After one of the soldiers made an unsuccessful attempt to take a weapon from a guard, the entire group of around 140 captives was executed. Another group of 98 soldiers captured in the canals, was executed the same day near Chocimska Street. During the fighting, the German officers conducted series of summary executions of wounded soldiers and medical stuff in the
field hospitals across the city, including in Mokotów. On 26 September, several patients were killed on field hospitals at 17 and 19 Czeczota Street, and at 117 and 119 Independence Avenue. In the evening of 27 September, the last insurgent troops in Mokotów agreed to capitulate, in exchange of having their rights as
combatants recognised, including having the statues of the
protected persons. Around 1,000 soldiers were taken captive. Despite this, on that day, the German officers executed an unknown number of wounded soldiers on Szustra Street, and set a field hospital on fire at 91 Puławska Street, killing over 20 people. The civilian population was systematically expelled from captured territory, with soldiers plundering and setting the buildings on fire. Over 70 men, suspected of participating in the uprising, were executed on Kazimierzowska Street. The expelled civilains were rounded up at the Służewiec Racecourse at 266 Puławska Street, from where they were transported to the transit camp no. 121 in Pruszków. The area, together with the rest of Warsaw, was captured by the
Red Army of the
Soviet Union on 17 January 1945.
Communist period In 1945, the
People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union begun using the Mokotów Prison to held
political prisoners. In 1948, its administration was given to the
Ministry of Public Security of Poland. The inmates were tortured and executed. The number of the victims remains unknown. It was closed in 2017. Since then, it houses the Museum of the Cursed Soldiers and the Political Prisoners of the Polish People's Republic. In 1945, the Stanisław Konopka Central Medical Library was founded at 22 Chocimska Street, as a
cultural institution of the
Ministry of Health. It operates as a reassert library aiming to collect all Polish literature in the field of medicine and related sciences, as well as the most important works of world medical literature. In 1947, the New Theatre was founded in a venue at 39 Puławska Street, later renamed to the State New Theatre in 1949, introducing musical and comedy acts. In 1954, it was transformed into the Warsaw State Operetta, a comedy theatre group, was founded at 39 Puławska Street. In 1966, it moved to 49 Nowogrodzka Street in Downtown, and was reorganised into the Roma Musical Theatre in 1994. From 1966 to 1974, the building was used as one of two venues of the People's Theatre. In 1974, the New Theatre was reestablished at the venue, operating until 2005. In 1950, the Moskwa cinema was opened at 19 Puławska Street, becoming the largest of its kind in the city. It was closed down and demolished in 1996. In 1951, as Warsaw was divided into 11 city districts, the neighbourhood became the namesake of the
Mokotów district, which encompassed the Upper Mokotów and the western part of the modern
Ursynów, mostly to the west of Puławska Street. On 1 January 1960, it was combined with the
Wilanów district, keeping the former name. On 2 April 1990, the district was transformed into the municipality of Warsaw-Mokotów. On 19 June 1994, it was disestablished, with its northern portion being incorporated into the municipality of Warsaw-Centre, becoming its subdivision as the Mokotów district. The municipality was disestablished on 27 October 2002, with Mokotów becoming again a city district of Warsaw. In 1952, the Institute of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine (known until 1992 as the
Institute of Haematology), a state research facility of
haematology and
transfusion medicine was founded at 5 Chocimska Street. In 2006, its headquarters were moved to 14 Indiry Gandhi Street in
Ursynów, with its old building still remaining operational. In 1953, the Holy Family Specialist Hospital was also opened at 25 Madalińskiego Street. In 1955, the National Film Archive was founded as the organisation of the
Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, with the headquarters at 61 Puławska Street. In 2017, it was joined with the National Film Archive, forming the National Film Archive and Audiovisual Institute, which is one of the largest archives of film and audio in Europe. The new organisation moved to the headquarters at 3 and 5 Wałbrzyska Street in
Służew. In 1956, the tram tracks were opened alongside Independence Avenue, connecting with network on Rakowiecka Street. In 1961, the tracks were also built alongside Wołoska Street. In 1969, the tracks were removed from Rakowiecka Street, between the intersections with Independence Avenue and Puławska Street. , the first
supermarket store in Poland, opened in 1962, and demolished in 2006. In 1962,
Supersam, the first
supermarket store in Poland, was opened at 2 Puławska Street, next to the Union of Lublin Square. It was considered an notable example of the modernist architecture in Poland. The building was demolished in 2006. Between 1962 and 1968, the housing estate known as Osiedle Batorego, was developed between Stefana Batorego Street, Wiśniową Street, Rakowiecka Street, and Św. Andrzeja Boboli Street, with an area of 8.8 m2. Its centered on Independence Avenue, and consists of high-rise apartment buildings, constructed in the
large-panel-system technique. It was designed for around 6,500 residents. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the area of the former Mokotów Aerodrome was developed into a large urban park, known as the
Mokotów Field. Its construction begun in 1977, and it was opened in sections, that were finished in 1983, 1986, and 1991. Currently, it is part of the City Information System areas of
Filtry,
South Downtown, and
Wyględów. Between 1980 and 1989, the St. Andrew Bobola Sanctuary was constructed at 61 Rakowiecka Street, as the seat of
Roman Catholic parish, operated by the
Jesuit Order. It was built in a former location of a Jesuit chapel built there in 1935, and destroyed in 1944 during the Second World War. The building also begun housing one of two campuses of the Catholic Academy of Warsaw, a university of
theology. In 1970, the Guliwer Puppet Theatre moved in to the building at 16 Różana Street.
Democratic period office building and shopping mall, opened in 2013. On 7 April 1995, two stations of the
M1 line of the
Warsaw Metro underground rapid transit system, were opened in Old Mokotów. They were the
Racławicka station located at the intersection of Independence Avenue, Racławicka Street, Wiktorska Street, and the
Pole Mokotowskie station located at the intersection of Independence Avenue and Racławicka Street. The same year, the
University of Technology and Arts in Applied Sciences, until 2024 known as the
University of Ecology and Management, was opened at 12 Olszewska Street, as a private university. On 4 October 1996, the Mokotów district was subdivided into twelve City Information System areas, with Old Mokotów becoming one of them. The St. Stephen Church was built between 1998 and 2003 at 1 Św. Szczepana Street. Its parish was founded in 1949, and previously was based in chapel in the
Lubomirski Palace in Downtown. In 1997, the
Kino Iluzjon arthouse cinema, which was operated since the 1950s by the National Film Archive (now
National Film Archive and Audiovisual Institute), adopted new headquarters at 50A Narbutta Street. The building was opened in 1949, originally housing the Stolica cinema. In 2008, the New Theatre was founded at 10 and 16 Madalińskiego Street, in a former machine workshop building dating to 1927. In 2013, the skyscraper
Plac Unii was opened at 2 Puławska Street near the Union of Lublin Square. It has 22 stories, with the total height of 90 m, and houses offices and a shopping mall. It was built in place of the former Supersam supermarket. In October 2024, a tram line was opened alongside Spacerowa Street, connecting the network between Puławska Street and
Wilanów Town. In December 2025, the tram tracks were rebuilt alongside Rackowiecka Street, between the intersections of Independence Avenue and Puławska Street. == Housing and economy ==