Staszic Palace

Staszic Palace Pałac Staszica (Polish)
Staszic Palace, seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences
General information
Architectural style	Neoclassical
Town or city	Warsaw
Country	Poland
Construction started	1820
Completed	1823
Demolished	1944
Design and construction
Architect	Antonio Corazzi

Staszic Palace (Polish: Pałac Staszica, IPA: [ˈpawat͡s staˈʂit͡sa]) is an edifice at ulica Nowy Świat 72, Warsaw, Poland. It is the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The history of the Staszic Palace dates to 1620, when King Sigismund III of Poland ordered the construction of a small Eastern Orthodox chapel, as a proper place of burial for the former Tsar Vasili IV of Russia and his brother, Dmitry Shuisky, who had died in Polish custody after having been captured several years earlier during the Polish-Muscovite War of 1605-18.

As the population was mostly Catholic, Protestant or Jewish, there was little need for an Orthodox chapel, and in 1668 another Polish king, John II Casimir, transferred the chapel to the Dominican Order, who would be caretakers of the building until 1808.

In 1818 the building was purchased by Stanisław Staszic, a leader of the Polish Enlightenment, who ordered its renovation. The architect in charge was Antonio Corazzi, who designed the palace in a neoclassical style. After the renovation (1820–23), Staszic transferred the building to the Society of Friends of Science, the first Polish scientific organization.