Guest Court (Warsaw)

The Guest Court was commitioned by the Administrative Council, and designed by Jan Jakub Gay and Alfons Kropiwnicki, and constructed in October 1841 next to the Iron Gate Square, to help organize trade in the town of Wielopole. It was named after Russian-language term gostiny dvor (Cyrylic: гостиный двор; original spelling: Гостинный дворъ), referring to numerous retail buildings in the Russian Empire. It had a shape of a isosceles triangle with curved corners, and circumference of around 280 m. It was built from bricks, with zinc roof, and arcades made with cast iron. ^[1][2] The building contained 168 small stores and another 168 market stalls.^[2][3] In 1916, the courtyard was placed under a glass roof.^[1]

It was destroyed in September 1939 in the arial bombings during the Siege of Warsaw. It was not reconstructed; materials salvaged from its ruins were used as scrap by the German military.^[1]