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Saxon Palace

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File:Biuro Szyfrów ( Palac Saski ) 10.jpg
Saxon Palace, seen from the Saxon Garden situated behind the Palace.
File:Palac Saski (2).jpg
Saxon Palace, seen from Saxon Square. Before the arcade housing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw stands Bertel Thorvaldsen's equestrian statue of Prince Józef Poniatowski (after World War II, relocated to its present site on Krakowskie Przedmieście, before the Presidential Palace in Warsaw).
Saxon Palace, seen from Saxon Square, now again "Piłsudski Square" (a more complete view of the symmetrical building).

The Saxon Palace (Polish: Pałac Saski) was one of the most distinctive buildings of prewar Warsaw, Poland. It had originally been a private palace of the Morsztyn family (Pałac Morsztynów), then had been purchased and enlarged by the first of Poland's two Saxon kings, August II (reigned in Poland 1697-1706 and 1709-1733).

Between the World Wars, the Saxon Palace served as the seat of the Polish General Staff. It was in this building that the German Enigma machine cipher was first broken in December 1932 and then read for several years prior to the General Staff Cipher Bureau German section's 1937 move to new, specially designed quarters near Pyry in the Kabaty Woods south of Warsaw.

Destroyed during the Second World War, the Saxon Palace is slated to be rebuilt.

See also


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