Piłsudski Square (Polish: Plac Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego) is Warsaw's largest square, located in Warsaw city centre, Poland. The Square is named for Marshal Józef Piłsudski, who was instrumental in the restoration of Polish statehood after World War I.
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The square has been called successively Saxon Square (Plac Saski, after Poland's Saxon kings' "Saxon Palace", destroyed in World War II, that used to stand adjacent to the square), Piłsudski Square (after Józef Piłsudski), Adolf Hitler Platz during Germany's World War II occupation of Warsaw, Victory Square (Polish: Plac Zwycięstwa) in honor of Poland's and her allies' victory in World War II; and now is again called Piłsudski Square.
Piłsudski Square is the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, housed in the remnants of the Saxon Palace, destroyed by Nazis in World War II.
The Square has been the scene of many historic events. Military parades have been held there since the 19th century. Important guests of Warsaw and Poland have been officially welcomed there.
It was on Piłsudski Square (then still Victory Square) in 1979 that Pope John Paul II addressed throngs of his countrymen at an open-air Holy Mass during his first visit to Poland following his 1978 elevation to the papacy. In April 2005, his death was mourned there.
Pope Benedict XVI celebrated an open-air Holy Mass on the Square on 26 May 2006, during his first pastoral visit to Poland.
From the 1890s to the 1920s, the Tsarist Alexander Nevsky Cathedral stood there, until it was dismantled by the newly independent Poles.
The square is now a location of some luxury shops, such as Italian Valentino.
The square is in front of the Saxon Gardens, close to the Presidential Palace and the Evangelical Church. The nearest metro station is Świętokrzyska