Wroclaw tour

Before the World War II, there were 303 bridges in the city, currently there are about 220. In the first post-war years, under the slogan ‘all Poland is rebuilding the capital’, like many other cities of the Recovered Territories, it was a place of robbery organized by the state. Everything that could have been exported (works of art, and even bricks, sheet metal, tiles) were transported to Warsaw.

In spite of war damage, 70% of the buildings, Wroclaw has preserved many of them, either in the original condition, restored or rebuilt after the war. The distinguished ones include: the gothic Town Hall on the Market Square, gothic churches: Cathedral of St. John the Baptist at Ostrow Tumski (with its baroque chapel Elector, designed by Fischer von Erlach), St. Cross, the Parish Church of St. Mary on the Sand, a baroque group of main buildings of the University of Wroclaw with Aula Leopoldina, neo-gothic Centennial Hall (designed by Max Berg), a department store designed by Erich Mendelsohn, buildings of the ‘Workplace and House Exhibition’ (including the house of the design by Hans Scharoun).

When walking around Wroclaw we can run into...Wroclaw’s dwarfs! There are almost 400 of them in the tourist area around the city and their presence isn’t accidental. Initially, anti-communist activists painted gnomes on the remaining stains of paint after inscriptions and slogans of ‘anti-socialist’ painted by the authorities of the PRL (Polish People’s Republic). The first one was painted in 1982. In 2003, Wroclaw authorities tried to make a dwarf as a symbol of the city and they succeeded. Today, there are urban games organized in Wroclaw which are all about tracking down the dwarfs. Also, you are given maps and routes that will help you find them. Currently, we see them as sculptures but they used to be paintings in the past. The sculptures even have their names and are taken care of by public institutions, companies, as well as private citizens. All figurines blend in the urban space perfectly. And what's more, artists from all over the country keep making new ones!