Commonly known as Mordor, a sub-section of Warsaw has seen two of its streets officially christened ulica Gandalfa and ulica Tolkiena.
Commonly known as Mordor, a sub-section of Warsaw has seen two of its streets officially christened ulica Gandalfa and ulica Tolkiena.
Originally heralded to go under the name of Pirytowa and Tytanowa, the newly-constructed streets were given names inspired by Lord of the Rings after locals swayed councilors to choose something a little more evocative than initially planned. Given the area’s wider moniker, Mordor, the choice of street names seemed a natural step to take.
Found in Służewiec, the Mordor handle that the district is now widely known as has entered common Warsaw lexicon and refers to the area directly in and around Domaniewska, Cybernetyki, Wołoska and Marynarska. Once teeming with industrial plants, these were replaced in more recent years by a rich spread of office blocks.
However, with approximately 100,000 workers commuting to this micro-district each day, it soon gained a reputation for its soul-crushing office monoculture – before long, employees had taken to calling the area Mordor, a cheeky allusion to their thankless work. Yet although some people had campaigned for Sauron to be honored, the city’s naming commission opted to instead celebrate names with more positive connotations and perhaps, also, to reflect the area’s own ongoing humanization.
Lambasted for several years for its one-dimensional corporate drabness, today’s Mordor has proved increasingly liveable thanks to an influx of new apartment stock as well as related social facilities.
