Hala Koszyki

Hala Koszyki was built in 1906-1909 by Juliusz Dzierzanowski as a Secession-style market hall with an iron and glass structure and brick pavilions at the corners, and it worked as a market until the 1990s, after which it stood empty and decaying for twenty years while its future was argued over. It was largely dismantled and rebuilt between 2013 and 2016, retaining the restored ironwork and the pavilion facades, and reopened as a food hall: a long central space under the iron roof with communal tables, ringed by two levels of small restaurants, bars, a butcher and a wine merchant, with offices in the new sections behind. It is busy, loud and expensive by Warsaw standards, and it is one of the places the city's restaurant scene is visible in one room. Whether the reconstruction counts as preservation is a live argument in Warsaw architectural circles.

What you actually see

• Restored iron and glass - the 1909 structure kept through the rebuild.
• Secession pavilions - the corner brick buildings at the entrances.
• Two levels of kitchens - small restaurants and bars around a communal hall.
• A contested reconstruction - how much of the original survives is argued over.

When to go

All year. Two hours.

Honest expectations

It is a modern food hall, not a market - prices are high and it is packed on Friday and Saturday evenings. Seating is communal and noisy. Much of the fabric is new despite the appearance.

Nearby

Politechnika and the Lazienki park are south; the centre is north.