"Stalin's gift" finds new role in Warsaw

WARSAW, Feb 20 (Reuters) A local joke runs that the luckiest man in Warsaw is the caretaker who lives on the top floor of its towering Palace of Culture because he is the only one who can look out of his window and not see it.

Loathed by many older Poles as a symbol of oppression, the 230-metre neo-Gothic skyscraper was a ''gift'' from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in the 1950s, but as a post-Communist generation matures it is finding a new role.

The grey-brown stone edifice between the central station and the main shopping area has survived calls for its demolition, and now what was originally a trophy monument to communist solidarity houses one of the city's trendiest music venues.

The building was last week awarded the status of historic monument and now symbolises how Poles, who ditched communism in 1989, straddle two starkly opposed systems as the capital booms.

''The palace is now the heart of our city and is used by huge numbers every year,'' said Krzysztof Markowski, the building's technical director and vice-president of its management board. ''It may be a reminder of a long-gone epoch, but it is now having a second life, serving us all.'' Still Poland's tallest building, the Palace dominates the capital's skyline and is visible for up to 20 miles its peculiar, ornate design by Russian architect Lev Rudnev is part Empire State Building, part Socialist Realism.

Varsovians today use its cinemas, restaurants and bars, three universities and colleges, theatre workshops, dance and drama studios, and a 25-metre swimming pool, in their own way.

''It doesn't matter that it was once called after Stalin,'' said Marek Kwiatkowski, professor of architectural history and director of the Royal Lazienki Park in Warsaw. ''We can call it after (former Polish President and Solidarity leader) Lech Walesa if we want.

Names change.'' ''MORE POLISH THAN RUSSIAN'' Opened in 1955, the Joseph Stalin Memorial Palace of Culture and Science has half a dozen sister buildings across the former Soviet Union, including Moscow's Lomonosov University.

Built on the ruins of central Warsaw a city almost entirely destroyed by the occupying German army at the end of World War Two the palace has 123,000 square metres (more than one million square feet) of floor space, 3,288 rooms, halls and chambers, 42 storeys and 36 lifts.

It uses as much electricity as a town with a population of 30,000 and its management says it takes a new security guard more than two years to become acquainted with all its marble staircases, ballrooms, corridors and passageways.

Its eclectic mix of classical pillars, 20th-century heroic-worker statues and reliefs mirrors many other buildings in Poland, said Kwiatkowski.

''Rudnev travelled around Poland and visited its renaissance buildings before construction began and he included some typically Polish motifs,'' he said. ''The palace is more Polish than Russian, in my opinion.'' Some argue the building's origins outweigh its merits and say the city would be better off without it. Its status as a historic monument was delayed by wrangling.

Lech Klosiewicz of Warsaw Polytechnic's architecture faculty says the palace has little architectural value.

''Young people think of it as cinemas, cafes, bars theatres, and recreation, but we cannot forget who gave us this ''gift''.

''If architecture is characterised by beauty and utility, the palace has little to recommend it,'' he said. ''It's ugly and more than 60 per cent of its space is just left unused.'' ALTERNATIVE BANDS Nonetheless Maciej Czeredys, deputy head of conservation for Masovia province which covers Warsaw, argues the building is an important reminder of an age fast being forgotten by a country that has now fully embraced free-market capitalism.

''This building is as much a symbol of totalitarianism as Versailles is a symbol of absolutism,'' said Czeredys.

Warsaw's young population makes daily use of the palace and its vast facilities.

The palace's Cafe Kulturalna is at the cutting edge of Polish ''indie'' music, bringing the country's latest rock and alternative bands to the capital and supporting folk groups from other central and eastern European countries.

Belarusian rock group NRM and folk band Troifa have both played the palace in recent months as has Polish scat group James Ashen, packing in audiences.

Cafe Kulturalna also holds numerous events such as ''Vinyl Voyage'', a monthly retro gathering which draws teenagers with mullet haircuts for all-night '70s and '80s dances.

''For me the palace is a place to meet in the cinema or at a concert -- or just to hang around,'' said Katarzyna Koj, a 21-year-old student at Warsaw's Institute of Social Sciences.

''I understand the historical emotions around it, but for me it is just part of Warsaw, and a very entertaining part.'' Reuters SY DB0907