Warsaw Travel Guide - Key Attractions. The castle, on a plateau overlooking the Vistula River, was built for the Dukes of Mazovia, and expanded when King Zygmunt III Vasa moved the capital to Warsaw. From the early seventeenth until the late eighteenth century, this was the seat of the Polish kings. It subsequently housed the parliament and is now a museum, displaying tapestries, period furniture, coffin portraits and collections of porcelain and other decorative arts.
Work is underway to recreate the castle gardens, set on the slopes of the Vistula.
Concessions are available. In the mid-1600s, King Jan III Sobieski commissioned the Baroque palace and garden of Wilanow for his summer residence. It remained popular with subsequent monarchs. Visitors can tour the interior and the gallery, which features portraits of famous Poles. Artistic handicrafts are on display in the Orangerie .