Wroclaw in Poland

Thursday, 28 May 2015 - 01:28 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, Architecture, European Union, European Capital of Culture, UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time:  4 minutes

Wroclaw Panorma © Lukaszprzy

Wroclaw Panorma © Lukaszprzy

Wrocław is the chief city in south-western Poland, situated on the River Oder (Polish: Odra). Wrocław is the former capital of Silesia and today, capital of Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Over the centuries, the city has been either part of Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia or Germany. According to official population figures for June 2009, its population is 632,000, making it the fourth largest city in Poland. Wrocław, along with San Sebastián, Spain, will be the European Capital of Culture in 2016.

Wrocław’s major industries were traditionally the manufacture of railroad cars and electronics. In recent years the City Council has run an active policy to attract foreign investors from the high-tech sector. This resulted among others in the location of LG Electronics production cluster in Kobierzyce near Wrocław. After 1989, Wrocław became a significant financial centre and houses the headquarters of several nationwide financial institutions such as Bank Zachodni WBK, Lukas Bank, Getin Bank, and Europejski Fundusz Leasingowy. As of the end of 2008, Wrocław enjoyed a very low unemployment level of just 3.2% compared with the national level of 8.7%. In 2008, per capita gross domestic product in Wrocław came to 27755$ (in Poland 17625$).

Cathedral Island on Odra Island © Thyes Town square and St Elisabeth church © Lestat Solny Square © Taw Wroclaw City Hall © Kolossos Wroclaw Central Station © Bdell555 University of Wroclaw © Julo Town Square © Dunmerr Technical University Wroclaw - Architecture Faculty © Julo © Lvova Wroclaw Cathedral © Rafal Komorowski Opera House © Mohylek Coat of arms Franz_Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg © Lvova Centennial Hall © Robert Niedzwiedzki Polish National Bank © Julo Wroclaw Panorma © Lukaszprzy
<
>
Technical University Wroclaw - Architecture Faculty © Julo
Along with almost all of Lower Silesia, the city became part of Poland under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. The Polish name of Wrocław became its official name. There had been some discussion among the Western Allies to mark the southern Polish-German boundary on the Glatzer Neisse; this would have meant that post-war Germany would have been allowed to retain approximately half of Silesia, including Breslau. However the Soviets insisted that the border be drawn at the Lusatian Neisse farther west.

Most remaining German inhabitants in Wrocław fled or were forcibly expelled from Wrocław between 1945 and 1949 and moved to Allied Occupation Zones in Germany. A small German minority remains in the city till this day, although the city’s last German school closed in 1963. The Polish population was dramatically increased by government resettlement of Poles during postwar population transfers (75%) as well as during the forced deportations from Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union in the east region.

Wrocław is now a unique European city of mixed heritage, with architecture influenced by Bohemian, Austrian and Prussian traditions, such as Silesian Gothic and its Baroque style of court builders of Habsburg Austria (Fischer von Erlach). Wrocław has a number of notable buildings by German modernist architects including the famous Centennial Hall (Hala Stulecia or Jahrhunderthalle) (1911–1913) designed by Max Berg.

In July 1997, the city was heavily affected by a flood of the River Oder, the worst flooding in post-war Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. Around ⅓ of the city’s area stood under water. An earlier equally devastating flood of the river took place in 1903.

To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facepage pages/Twitter accounts. Read more on City of Wroclaw, Wroclaw Life Guide, Gross-Rosen concentration camp and Wikipedia Wroclaw. Learn more about the use of photos.




Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

The Breakers in Newport

The Breakers in Newport

[caption id="attachment_171460" align="aligncenter" width="590"] The Breakers in Newport © Elisa.rolle/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Breakers is a Vanderbilt mansion located on Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island on the Atlantic Ocean. The building became a National Historic Landmark in 1994, and is a contributing property to the Bellevue Avenue Historic District. It is owned and operated by the Preservation Society of Newport County and is open for visitation on a year-round basis. The Breakers was built as ...

[ read more ]

The TRANSROMANICA as Major Cultural Route of the Council of Europe

The TRANSROMANICA as Major Cultural Route of the Council of Europe

[caption id="attachment_161236" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © transromanica.com[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]TRANSROMANICA was officially recognized as a "Major European Cultural Route" by the Council of Europe in August 2007. The Cultural Routes programme was launched by the Council of Europe in 1987. Its objective was to demonstrate in a visible way, by means of a journey through space and time, how the heritage of the different countries and cultures of Europe represented a shared cultural heritage. TRANSROMANIC...

[ read more ]

Banff Springs Hotel

Banff Springs Hotel

[caption id="attachment_167535" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Kim Payant/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Fairmont Banff Springs or simply the Banff Springs Hotel is a former railway hotel constructed in Scottish Baronial style located in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. The original hotel, designed by American architect Bruce Price, was built between spring of 1887 and 1888 by the Canadian Pacific Railway, at the instigation of its President, William Cornelius Van Horne. The hotel was publicly opened on Jun...

[ read more ]

Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City

Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City

[caption id="attachment_233384" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Xavier Quetzalcoatl Contreras Castillo/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It has hosted notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and photography. Consequently, the Palacio de Bellas Artes has been called the "Cathedral of Art in Mexico". The building is located on the western...

[ read more ]

Rutgers University

Rutgers University

[caption id="attachment_221832" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Old Queens, the oldest building at Rutgers University in New Brunswick © Zeete/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Rutgers University (RU), formally known as Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university based in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States, the second-oldest in New Jersey (after Princeton University), a...

[ read more ]

Dülmen in the Münsterland

Dülmen in the Münsterland

[caption id="attachment_161080" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Town Hall on Market Square © Stahlkocher/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Dülmen is a municipality in the district of Coesfeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Dülmen is situated in the south part of the Münsterland area, between the Lippe river to the south, the Baumberge hills to the north and the Ems river to the east. South of Dülmen the Ruhr area is located. After the local government reforms of 1975 Dülmen consists of the 7 subdivisions Dülmen, Kirchspie...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Algarve - Lagos

Theme Week Algarve - Lagos

[caption id="attachment_152701" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Aerial view © Lacobrigo[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Lagos is a municipality at the mouth of Bensafrim River and along the Atlantic Ocean, in the Barlavento region of the Algarve, in southern Portugal. The main town of Lagos has a population of approximately 22,000 residents, while the municipality supports a resident population of 31,048 inhabitants. Typically, these numbers increase during the summer months, with the influx of visiting tourists and seasonal residen...

[ read more ]

The Meatpacking District in New York

The Meatpacking District in New York

[caption id="attachment_161495" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Meatpacking District © Gryffindor/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Meatpacking District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan that runs roughly from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street, although recently it is sometimes considered to have extended north to West 16th Street and east beyond Hudson Street. The earliest development of the area now known as the Meatpacking ...

[ read more ]

Noyers-sur-Serein in Burgundy

Noyers-sur-Serein in Burgundy

[caption id="attachment_153784" align="aligncenter" width="590"] City entrance © Philippe Alès/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Noyers (sometimes referred to as Noyers-sur-Serein) is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France. There are half-timbered houses, ashlars, pillars and pinnacles. There are a lot of lanes and small squares made of chalky and granitic pavements. There are towers surrounded by the river Serein loops. The origins of Noyers are unclear. It was founded by the king of...

[ read more ]

Palazzo Madama in Rome

Palazzo Madama in Rome

[caption id="attachment_229613" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Fratello.Gracco/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Palazzo Madama in Rome is the seat of the Senate of the Italian Republic, the upper house of the Italian Parliament. After the extinction of the Medici in 1743, the palace was handed over to the House of Lorraine and, later, to Pope Benedict XIV, who made it the seat of the Papal Government. In 1849, Pius IX moved here the Ministries of Finances and of the Public Debt, as well as the Papal Post Offices. In 1...

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top
Birthplace of Admiral Lord Nelson © geograph.org.uk - Nigel Jones/cc-by-sa-2.0
Theme Week East Anglia – Burnham Thorpe

Burnham Thorpe is a small village and civil parish on the River Burn and near the coast of Norfolk. It...

German Colony Jerusalem - Templer Communal House © Shayzu/cc-by-sa-3.0
The German Colony in Palestine

The Templers, a religious Protestant sect formed in southern Germany in the 19th century, settled in Palestine at the urging...

Britannia Pier © Leigh Last/cc-by-sa-3.0
Theme Week East Anglia – Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk. It is located at the mouth...

Schließen