The area around Lazienki Park in Warsaw includes parks, palaces and other historic buildings, museums and government departments. Extending south from Three Crosses (Trzech Krzyzy) Square, the main thoroughfare is Ujazdowskie Avenue, along which the former residences of Polish aristocrats and the city's wealthy merchant families are.

Besides to several government departments, the two chambers of the Polish Parliament occupy a large complex on the adjacent Wiejska Street. At the far end of Ujazdowskie Avenue is Belwedere Palace, until 1994 the residency of Poland's president.

Some foreign legations are on this avenue as well. But Lazienki Park is the most popular attraction. This romantic, landscaped park includes the Palace on the Water, together with various other palaces, pavilions, an amphitheater and two orangery's. The most known and beloved corner of the park is the Chopin garden, with its towering bronze Chopin statue depicting the composer seated under a willow tree.

The willow's branches stretch over his head like the fingers of a pianist over piano keys. For more than 50 years, there are free Chopin concerts in the park every weekend during the summer months, one of Warsaw's most popular cultural attractions.