Plac Trzech Krzyzy: How Warsaw Rebuilt Its Central Square

Cobbles under the asphalt

Work on the square, overseen by the municipal roads authority ZDM, began in 2022 - and almost immediately the crews uncovered historic cobblestones hiding under the asphalt roadway. The find was no surprise, the city says, but it meant notifying the heritage conservator. The cobbles were taken up carefully, inventoried by archaeologists, repaired and laid again; on stretches that now carry traffic they were temporarily secured under asphalt to preserve them for the square's future full revitalisation. For now the old cobble-and-tram-track layout is exposed at selected points as a reminder of the square's history.

Safer and friendlier

A key goal was safety. The pedestrian crossing in the central part of the square gained traffic lights and refuge islands, and bus passengers no longer walk between scattered stops on the square's eastern side - one shared stop now serves the lines running toward Nowy Swiat and Ksiazeca. The square also stopped being a gap in the cycling network: a new bike lane runs on the roadway by the Ministry of Development and Technology, and a two-way cycle path was built by the Institute for the Deaf, giving a comfortable ride from Aleje Ujazdowskie all the way to Nowy Swiat. The roadworks also covered Rondo de Gaulle'a and Nowy Swiat up to the square.

Greenery to finish

In 2023 the city planted 28 new trees on the square - seven lindens forming a row along the eastern frontage - and created over 2,700 square metres of lawns, hedges and perennials. In 2025 ten more lindens went in by the ministry building between Hoza and Zurawia, with new lawns, a decorative bed and four magnolias. Notably, the plants replaced concrete: so-called heat islands were cut up in front of the church, on the triangular square at Zurawia and Bracka, and near Ksiazeca. The works, completed in October 2023, were carried out by Delta S.A. and WERDE and cost 16.7 million zł, plus 1.2 million zł of additional greenery.