Several important works of Western architecture, such as the Wawel Hill, the Książ and Malbork castles, cityscapes of Toruń, Zamość, and Kraków are located in the country.
[2] The oldest, Pre-Romanesque buildings were built in Poland after the Christianisation of the country but only few of them still exist today (palace and church complex on Ostrów Lednicki, the Rotunda of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Wawel Castle).
Late Romanesque architecture is represented by the Cistercian abbeys in Jędrzejów, Koprzywnica, Sulejów and Wąchock as well as the Dominican church in Sandomierz and the ruins of Legnica castle chapel.
Moreover, a specific group of churches, inspired by the Romanesque tradition of the region, was built in Mazovia (Płock, Pułtusk, Brochów, Brok).
The early Baroque in Poland was dominated by the Roman influences (the jesuite churches in Nesvizh, Krakow and Lviv, as well as the Camaldolese Monastery in Kraków).
The most important structures from this period are the palaces On the Isle and Królikarnia in Warsaw by Domenico Merlini, the Lutheran Holy Trinity Church in the same city by Szymon Bogumił Zug and the cathedral in Vilnius (now Lithuania) by Wawrzyniec Gucewicz.
Apart from Congress Poland, worth mentioning are also the Raczyński Library in Poznań (designed probably by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine) and the Wybrzeże Theater in Gdańsk (after the World War II reconstructed in modern form).
The territory of the former Polish state remained divided between Prussia (Germany), Russia, and the Austrian (Austro-Hungarian) Empire and developed unevenly.
Apart from Polish architects, also some important German and Austrian architects were active in the partitioned Poland, e.g. Karl Friedrich Schinkel (St. Martin's Church in Krzeszowice, the Kórnik Castle, the Radziwiłł Palace in Antonin), Franz Schwechten (Imperial Castle in Poznań and the Lutheran Church in Łódź), Friedrich Hitzig (Kronenberg Palace in Warsaw, demolished in 1962), Theophil Hansen (House of military invalids in Lviv, now Ukraine), Heinrich von Ferstel (Lutheran Church in Bielsko Biała) and Fellner & Helmer (Goetz Palace in Brzesko, Hotel George and Noble Casino in Lviv, theaters in Bielsko-Biała, Cieszyn and Toruń).
In the era of capitalism, many factory owners' villas and palaces are built, as well as numerous workers' housing estates and industrial buildings.
Art Nouveau emerged as an attempt to abandon stylization and eclecticism, invent a new architectural style that would meet the spirit of the time.
In Congress Poland the Art Nouveau is represented by e.g. the Leopold Kindermann's Villa and the Poznanski's Mausoleum in Łódź, the bank building at 47 Sienkiewicza Street in Kielce and the early-modernist Eagles House in Warsaw.
Poland's regaining of independence marked a new era in art, where modern architecture developed on a large scale, in the beginning often combining achievements of functionalism with elements of classicism.
In the former Free City of Danzig Brick expressionist architecture gained popularity, represented by such works like the building of the health insurance company in the 27 Wałowa Street.
There are also some buildings built in the Nazi Germany or during the German occupation of Poland in the General Government like the Regierungspräsidium in Wrocław (now the headquarters of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Sejmik) or the Przegorzały Castle (germ.
However, reconstruction of buildings in the Recovered Territories was strongly influenced by political aims of eradicating architecture perceived as German, and Prussian in particular.
The most important sights include the Biprocemwap Building, the Kijów Cinema and the Cracovia Hotel in Kraków, Ściana Wschodnia [pl] in Warsaw, railway stations in Warsaw (Centralna, Ochota, Śródmieście, Powiśle, Stadion, Wschodnia), Spodek in Katowice and the Church of Divine Mercy [pl] in Kalisz.
The brutalist architecture is represented by the Plac Grunwaldzki housing estate in Wrocław, the Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, the Arka Pana Church and the former Hotel Forum in Kraków, the "hammer" (młotek) building at 8 Smolna Street in Warsaw, the complex of sanatoriums in Ustroń as well as being inspired by Unité d'habitation residential unit Superjednostka and the railway station (demolished and partially rebuilt in 2010-12) in Katowice.
After the creation of the Third Republic, starchitects Arata Isozaki (Manggha), Norman Foster (Metropolitan, Varso), Daniel Libeskind (Złota 44) and Helmut Jahn (Cosmopolitan Twarda 2/4) had their projects in Poland.
Other foreign architects active in Poland are Larry Oltmanns/SOM (Rondo 1), Jürgen Mayer (Hotel Park Inn in Kraków), Rainer Mahlamäki (Museum of the History of Polish Jews), Renato Rizzi (Shakespearian Theatre in Gdańsk), Riegler Riewe Architekten (Silesian Museum), Estudio Barozzi Veig Studio (Szczecin Philharmonic) and MVRDV (Bałtyk in Poznań).