(1794) The historical Praga was a small settlement located at the eastern bank of the
Vistula river, directly opposite the towns of
Old Warsaw and
Mariensztat, both being parts of Warsaw now. First mentioned in 1432, it derived its name from the Polish verb
prażyć, meaning
to burn or
to roast, as it occupied a forested area that was burnt out to make place for the village. Separated from Warsaw by a wide river, it developed independently of the nearby city, and on 10 February 1648 king
Władysław IV of Poland granted Praga with a city charter. However, as it was mostly a suburb and most buildings were wooden, the town was repeatedly destroyed by fires, floods and foreign armies. Currently the only surviving historical monument from that epoch is the
Church of Our Lady of Loreto. Although there were numerous attempts to build a permanent bridge across the river, none succeeded and Praga remained a separate entity well into the 18th century. Communication between the capital and Praga was maintained by privately run ferries and, in the winter, over the ice. Finally, in 1791, during the reign of
Stanisław August Poniatowski, Praga was attached to Warsaw as a
borough. The
Battle of Praga, or the Battle of Warsaw, was a
Russian assault during the
Kościuszko Uprising in 1794. It was followed by a massacre in which 12,000 inhabitants of the Praga district lost their lives. During the
German occupation of Poland in
World War II, in 1944, the German administration operated a subcamp of the Oflag 73
prisoner-of-war camp for officers in Praga. Unlike the central parts of Warsaw, Praga remained relatively untouched during the war and in the postwar period of reconstruction, the capital was home to many ministries and public facilities. Because of the traditional separate status of Praga, there are two Catholic dioceses in Warsaw:
Archdiocese of Warsaw with
St. John's Cathedral and
Diocese of Warsaw-Praga with
St. Florian's Cathedral. The derelict district experienced a revival following the
end of Communism in 1989, as young artists moved into many of the former factory buildings, drawing crowds in search of something different from the
Old Town. The increasing popularity of the area helped to change it into one of Poland's and Europe's creative hubs as it has been described as one of the "trendiest neighbourhood across Europe". In 2011 the local
Monument to Brotherhood in Arms was taken down; in 2015 this decision was made permanent. == Administrative division ==