Wrocław

• 1.07m
• 142 000
• 854 €
• 1891 h
• Copernicus Airport Wrocław / 10 km

Old Town, Wrocław

Wrocław – a city located halfway between Brussels and Kiev – has come a long way from the ghost city it was in 1945 when the Soviet troops marched in. Today it is a vibrant economic and cultural hub that has learnt to celebrate its complex history.

One does not have to look at the map to realise that Wrocław is better connected to Dresden and Prague than to Warsaw. It becomes clear once you find yourself at the Market Square (Rynek) – dominated by an elaborate Gothic city hall, filled with the buzz of terrace cafes and the hum of a fountain. For better or worse, yes, you could be in any city north of the Alps. Modern-day Wrocław combines metropolitan quality with the laid back atmosphere of smaller cities. It benefits both from the presence of multinational companies such as LG, Siemens, Volvo, Bosch, 3M, Toyota, and the the nearly 150.000 student student community that fills the northern part of the Old Town. Currently, looking at the meticulously restored facades of the Old Town, the brightly-lit Market Square and green boulevards along the Oder, it is hard to believe that the city was ever disaster-stricken.

Park Szczytnicki, dominated by the Centennial Hall – a great place to relax and reflect on the city’s changing fortunes.

Yet, Wrocław, formerly Breslau, was taken over by Soviet and Polish armies in 1945, after a long and dramatic siege. Subsequently, the whole German population was replaced with Polish settlers. This was not the first such dramatic shift in the city’s history. Over the centuries it changed hands often. Polish, Czech, Habsburg, Prussian, German then Polish again – each political power leaving a distinct mark on the city’s landscape. All of this, combined with traces left behind by Wallon weavers, Jewish merchants and other minorities that chose to call Wrocław home, adds to what the British historian Norman Davies called the ‘microcosm’. In his book of this title (co-written with Roger Moorhouse) he depicted Wrocław as a synecdoche of European history, a place swept by all the big cultural and political movements.

One can witness all of these layers during a single walk through the city. The Market Square is a testament to medieval civic culture and a product of modern-day leisure society. The churches with slender spires that still dominate the skyline after all these centuries are monuments of gothic architecture. The multicultural past can be traced in the South-Western part of the centre, called the Four Temples Quarter, where an Orthodox, a Catholic and an Evangelical-Augsburg church share the street with a recently restored synagogue. These temples rub shoulders with hot party spots around the streets of Włodkowica, Ruska and Świętego Antoniego. If you look behind the facades you can see some unhealed war wounds, which may trick you into thinking that the Reich surrendered only yesterday.

Wrocław has a love-hate relationship with the four rivers that dissect the city – dozens of arms and canals. In 1997 the city suffered from the ‘flood of the century’, which may be hard to imagine now, when you see hundreds of people picnicking carefree on Wyspa Słodowa (an island across from the main university building) on a sunny summer day.

The Oder’s dozens of arms and canals make water sports a natural pastime in Wrocław. This spot is right next to the National Museum.

Taking a boat is one of the most memorable experiences one can get in the city and yet another way to pass through its many architectural layers. Cruising upstream one passes by the Gothic churches of the cathedral island (Ostrów Tumski), the modern university library, the seventies tower blocks with extravagant oval windows and the Nazi edifice of the regional authorities. The trip terminates by the zoo, but if you don’t care too much for animals (or you care for them way too much to watch them stuck behind bars) you can walk straight to one of the city’s greatest marvels: the Centennial Hall (Hala Stulecia). Completed in 1911, it is the only 20th century building in Poland to be featured on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its architect, Max Berg, responsible for designing the enormous concrete dome, called it ‘the cathedral of democracy’. But it is more than a textbook piece of architecture; it is also yet another powerful element of the microcosm metaphor. Where else could you find a building that has hosted Hitler and John Paul II, Picasso and the Dalai Lama?

For several years now, the local elite has been working to eradicate any Polish-German resentments. This is symbolised by the roaring success of crime stories about the detective Eberhardt Mock, written recently by Marek Krajewski, set in pre-war and wartime Breslau. This peaceful reappropriation of previously rejected German heritage has found its architectural equivalent in Renoma – the downtown department store, converted into a high end shopping centre. Originally opened in 1930 by a Jewish businessman, Mr. Wertheim, as one of the biggest and most technically-advanced stores in Europe, it was soon nationalised by the Nazis, then bombed, then hastily rebuilt by the Polish authorities. After 1989 it suffered from many unlucky goes at modernisation. It finally reopened in 2009 with the facades restored to their former glory (using four kilograms of gold among other materials), a new, futuristic wing, and a contemporary art collection inside. Not to mention dozens of shops. Most of them – again, could be anywhere in Europe. This is probably a huge achievement in a city with such a dramatic history.

Katarzyna Roj

Curator at the BWA Design gallery in Wrocław, a place where design clashes with contemporary art and science

Former Exhibition Site

Falanster

Katarzyna Wielga

Co-ordinator of the Cultural Programme of the Polish EU Presidency at the National Audiovisual Institute (NInA)

The Centennial Hall (ul. Wystawowa 1) will host the European Culture Congress (September 8-11, 2011), an unprecedented meeting between culture theorists, practitioners and representatives of cultural NGOs. The road leading to the Hall from the center goes over two bridges, including the Grunwaldzki Bridge , which was designed 1919. An absolute must is a visit to Panorama Racławicka >3 (ul. Jana Ewangelisty Purkyniego 11), which is a very peculiar work of art that says a lot about Poland, the Polish people and their perspective on history.

Above all, Wrocław is associated with its market square, filled with many nice cafes, pubs and restaurants. Spiż (Rynek-Ratusz 2) is one of such places, offering not only grub, but also beer from its own brewery. A few hundred feet farther is the Solny square, home to Soul Café (Plac Solny 4) – an ideal breakfast cafe. An original restaurant-cum-club is Mleczarnia >1 (ul. Włodkowica 5), located right next door to the newly renovated Pod Białym Bocianem / Under the White Stork Synagogue (ul. Włodkowica 7), which functions both as a temple and a culture centre. The whole area around Włodkowica street is brimming with cafes.

Lovers of Polish cuisine should definitely visit Jadka restaurant (ul. Rzeźnicza 24), which offers such delicacies as pierogi filled with veal or crayfish.

PURO Hotel Wrocław
ul. Włodkowica 6

It is located in the heart of the city, a stone’s throw from the Market Square and the train station. The hotel offers luxury standard in a self-service environment. It does not even have a traditional reception desk and bookings are taken on-line. Innovative technologies make everything run smoothly.