Editing Presidential Palace, Warsaw (section)

=== The Second Republic and the Present Day: 1918—Modern ===
In 1918 the building was taken over by the newly reconstituted Polish authorities, and renovation of the palace was entrusted to Marian Lalewicz. The building became the official seat of the chairman of the Council of Ministers (the prime minister) and of the Council of Ministers itself. The side wings housed the chancellery offices of the Council of Ministers. As restored by Lalewicz, the building was greatly admired by Warsaw's inhabitants and visitors. Germany's [[Hermann Göring]], when in February 1937 calling there on Prime Minister General [[Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski]], took such a keen interest in the palace that he arrived late to his meeting with Polish Foreign Minister [[Józef Beck]].

[[File:Pomnik Księcia Józefa Poniatowskiego w Warszawie 2019.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Equestrian statue]] of Prince [[Józef Poniatowski]]]]

In 1939 the palace suffered minimal damage. In 1941–1942 it was radically reconstructed into a ''Deutsches Haus'' by the Polish architects [[Juliusz Nagórski]] and [[Jan Łukasik]]. In the course of the work, [[rococo]] ornamentation in the rooms overlooking the garden was renovated with great care. A couple of ''[[grisaille]]'' paintings were uncovered on the staircase, featuring eagle and weapon motifs. The Germans wanted to remove the eagles as Polish national emblems, but allowed them to remain after it was explained that these were Napoleonic eagles, a favorite motif of the French Empire period. On the ground floor of the right wing, a restaurant was put in, with wooden beam ceiling and a spacious cloakroom. The palace survived the [[Warsaw Uprising]] intact.

After World War II, the palace was thoroughly reconstructed by Antoni Brusche and Antoni Jawornicki. In 1965 [[Bertel Thorvaldsen]]'s classicist equestrian statue of Prince [[Józef Poniatowski]], which previously had stood before the now destroyed Polish General Staff building (the "[[Saxon Palace]]") on nearby [[Piłsudski Square]] (once known as "[[Saxon Square]]"), was relocated to the courtyard before the "Viceroy's Palace."

The reconstructed palace again served as the seat of the [[Council of Ministers of Poland|Council of Ministers]] until the latter moved to its current seat at the [[Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland|Chancellery]] on [[Ujazdów Avenue]].

Since July 1994, the palace has been the official seat of the [[List of presidents of Poland|president of the Republic of Poland]]<ref name="eguide" /> replacing the smaller [[Belweder]] palace. However, President [[Bronislaw Komorowski]] decided to move the residence back to Belweder, purportedly in honor of [[Józef Piłsudski]] and the early presidents of Poland, but the move was understood as an attempt to avoid confrontations with mourners of the late president [[Lech Kaczyński]], killed in the April 2010 [[Smolensk air disaster]] in [[Russia]], who were congregating in front of the palace.