Diana McDonald, Ph.D.
October 13, 2019

Warsaw, the capital of Poland, is in the very heart of Europe, and was the crossroads and battleground for the tug of power on the continent. The city itself, was lauded as one of the most beautiful in the past. Beautiful castles, lakes and notable architecture constituted the city when the Nazis invaded the country in 1939. By 1944, after a lengthy siege and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the city had been utterly destroyed – over 85% of its buildings were ruined. Despite this devastation, the city was rebuilt, and the castles and Old Town area completely reconstructed in an extraordinary feat. Dr. McDonald will take us on a virtual tour of Warsaw’s past and present.

Dr. Diana McDonald is an art historian and lecturer, retired from Boston College. She earned her B.A. in Fine Arts from Harvard University and Ph.D. from Columbia University, where she concentrated in ancient Near Eastern and Pre-Columbian art. Dr. McDonald lived in Warsaw in the 1990s, and her mother was born in Poland. Her husband, Kevin, advised the Polish Minister of Finance on the transition from Communism to Capitalism. Diana advised the Polish Ministry of Culture and lectured at the Centre for Contemporary Art.

Supported in part by Urban Enhancement Trust Fund, Haverland Carter Lifestyle Group
and Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union