Lubomirski Ramparts ( Polish : Okopy Lubomirskiego ) was a 12 kilometre -long earthwork surrounding the city of Warsaw in late 18th and 19th century. A line of earthworks with a dry moat separated the city of Warsaw from the countryside. Erected by Stanisław Lubomirski , the then Grand Marshal of the Crown , in 1770, it was intended as a sanitary measure to stop plague epidemics ravaging Central Europe at that time. Travellers were allowed to enter the city only through several breaches in the ramparts dubbed rogatki . The term later entered the Polish language to signify any kind of toll house .
9-412: The plague indeed missed Warsaw and the ramparts became the boundary of the city of Warsaw for the next century. The line was also used for tax purposes, as all goods entering the city were taxed. In 1794 the ramparts were partially strengthened to include military keeps and played some role in the defence of Warsaw against a joint Russian and Prussian siege of the city in the summer of that year. Around 1825
18-561: Is commemorated by a number of streets with the Polish name of Okopy, including Okopowa Street , where a large Jewish Cemetery is located. This article about a building or structure in Warsaw is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . President of Warsaw The Mayor of Warsaw (officially in Polish : Prezydent miasta stołecznego Warszawy ) is the head of
27-481: The president of Warsaw ordered the ramparts to be levelled and replaced with city streets. Their previous location still defined the city limits though. The line of former Lubomirski Ramparts also defined the inner line of the city's defences during the 1831 Battle of Warsaw . It was only in 1916 when areas outside of the Lubomirski Ramparts were incorporated into the city. The former line of ramparts
36-421: The city council divides itself into committees which have the oversight of various functions of the city government. The city mayor exercises the executive power in the city, being the superior of all unelected municipal officials and other employees and supervising all subsidiary entities of the city. The incumbent city mayor of Warsaw is Rafał Trzaskowski . Between 1950 and 1973 the highest representative of
45-532: The executive of the capital of Poland elected directly during local elections for a term of five years. The first city mayor of Warsaw was Jan Andrzej Menich (1695–1696). The municipal self-government existed in Warsaw until World War II and was restored in 1990 (during the communist times, the National City Council ;– Miejska Rada Narodowa – governed in Warsaw). Since 1990,
54-448: The gmina Centrum encompassing the entire inner city. During this period, the mayor of gmina Centrum who was elected by its council was automatically designated as the city mayor of Warsaw, in spite of representing only a fraction of the population of the city. The city was becoming increasingly unmanageable, especially after the administrative reform of Poland in 1999 which further complicated the local government structure of Warsaw. In 2002,
63-408: The new Warsaw Act of the Polish parliament restored Warsaw as a single urban gmina with the status of a city with powiat rights, led by a unified local government. At the same time, a significant reform was implemented in all Polish municipal governments, introducing direct elections of the wójt/town mayor/city mayor in all Polish gminas. The first city mayor of Warsaw elected according to these rules
72-475: The structure of city government has been modified several times. Between 1975 and 1990 the Warsaw city mayors simultaneously led the Warsaw Voivode . In the years 1990-1994, the city mayor of Warsaw was elected by the city council . Subsequently, a controversial reform was introduced, transforming the city in the years of 1994–1999 into a loose municipal union of several gminas, dominated by one of them,
81-450: Was Lech Kaczyński , who however resigned ahead of term when he was elected President of Polish Republic in 2005. Warsaw has thereafter remained an urban gmina with the status of a city with powiat rights . Legislative power in Warsaw is vested in a unicameral Warsaw City Council ( Rada Miasta ), which comprises 60 members. Council members are elected directly every five years (since 2018 election ). Like most legislative bodies,
#82917