15 years ago, when I came to Warsaw, Poland, for the first time, this city was completely unknown to me. I just knew that this somewhat unpleasant place could be similar to Ukraine, where I grew up, because of their history, as well as different because of this and many other aspects. So I started to discover it step by step, building by building, book by book. I listened to native Warsawians (who are extremely rare phenomena) about the tragic transformation of this place. And I found that Warsaw is an effect of an unusual experiment in the scale of the world. This place, which was completely destroyed during World War II, was rebuilt in the midsts of ruins. Of course, some old elements were used in this process - bricks from the neighborhood medieval cities, watercolors, on the basis of which it was restored. But, of course, this rebuilding was not about bricks, but about memory, restoring - or paradoxically creating anew - a reality, which can appear strange and intriguing. So a friend of mine says that Warsaw has the newest old city in the World. Although that strangeness is bond to an important question: has this eclectic and paradoxical new old city any unavoidable bond to some kind of elusive spirit of this place, spiritus loci, in spite of all its devastation, changes and new openings? I have no answer to this question and I hope that I will never get it, because this way I will be able to continue exploring this city: step by step, building by building, person by person…
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