# WROCLAW. A beautiful Polish city



## Pansori (Apr 26, 2006)

My stay in Wroclaw (known as _Breslau_ in German) perhaps wasn't the most elaborate or thorough. I was a little tired after nearly two weeks of driving around Germany but I did manage to see the central part of the city and some major shopping in the suburbs on the southern edge of the city (unfortunately no photos from there).

For those who are not aware where Wroclaw is located here is a link to Google Maps. It's easily accessible from the German side via A4 motorway and will very soon be easily accessible from Warsaw via S8 expressway which should be complete all the way to Warsaw some time soon (this year?).

Here are my photos which are a couple of months old by now. I just didn't have time to process them any sooner.

Wroclaw Cathedral interior


Wroclaw Cathedral (_Archikatedra św. Jana Chrzciciela_). Built in the 13th century and reconstructed, rebuilt and repaired many times after major fires and war damage as is probably typical to buildings this old. The towers are 91m high and are pretty impressive to look at. When you think about it, back in the days 91 meters of a vertical building was probably no less impressive than a 600m high mega-tall towers of today


Beautiful facades of the old town


Old rails on the streets. I noticed quite a few of those but never figured out what it was. Was that the remains of an old tramway system? The gauge looks very wide though. Wider than the standard gauge. For some reason I pay attention to this kind of stuff which for some reason fascinates me so much


----------



## Pansori (Apr 26, 2006)

Sky Tower. A very impressive 212m tall skyscraper which dominates the skyline of the city. Given that Wroclaw isn't quite as much of a skyscrapercity as Frankfurt, Warsaw or London it looks pretty impressive. Perhaps a bit lonely for now but its undoubtedly and by far the most dominant vertical landmark of the city



Sky Tower from nearby


----------



## Pansori (Apr 26, 2006)

Wroclaw, as perhaps any city in Poland or any former 'Socialist Bloc' country has a fair share of the socialist housing aka 'commieblocks'. I must say that I expected Wroclaw to look a little bit better from the aesthetic point of view (it looks a little neglected in places including this one in the picture) but I do like the planning and landscaping of this sort. Something you will see in Singapore, Hong Kong and especially China with its new developments. Of course in those places they don't have that negative 'socialist' (=evil) label on them and are not associated with the 'dark past' but are just typical planning practices of today.
Poland seems to have done a decent job with repainting and refurbishing those 70's-80's buildings


Public transport. Wroclaw has one of the world's oldest tramway systems. The tram lines seems a little noisy (unlike some of the new/modernized systems in Europe) but it seems to provide a very decent public transport system for the residents. Wroclaw has a number of different trams in operation ranging from ones produced in 1979 to modern Škoda trams produced in 2011. In the picture a tram produced in 2004


One of the new Škoda trams


----------



## Pansori (Apr 26, 2006)

One of the old trams. I think all would agree that they should get rid of those asap


Public bus


Approaching the old town


Żabka means Frog. It's a convenience store chain in Poland


Town Hall


----------



## Pansori (Apr 26, 2006)

Old town


----------



## Highcliff (May 4, 2006)

pansori.....:master::master::master::cheers::cheers2::cheers::cheers2:


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

A very beautiful square. What is it called?


----------



## Xtreminal (Mar 8, 2008)

Interesting city. Never knew Wroclaw had great architecture


----------



## markfos (Sep 14, 2012)

^^ Wrocław/Breslau was one of the most important city in Germany before WW2, even more significant than Gdańsk/Danzig.



openlyJane said:


> A very beautiful square. What is it called?


We call it "Rynek" - Market Square. Most cities and towns in Poland have "rynek" in the city center.


----------



## Wapper (Feb 24, 2011)

First-rate city! I really need to visit Poland soon :cheers:


----------



## rychlik (Feb 14, 2008)

Wroclaw is a beautiful city indeed. My mother was born in Wroclaw in the '50's.


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Awesome, very nice photos from Wroclaw :cheers:


----------



## yubnub (May 3, 2010)

Great shots, I really want to visit Worclaw now


----------



## Pansori (Apr 26, 2006)

markfos said:


> ^^ Wrocław/Breslau was one of the most important city in Germany before WW2, even more significant than Gdańsk/Danzig.
> 
> 
> 
> We call it "Rynek" - Market Square. Most cities and towns in Poland have "rynek" in the city center.


If we compare modern days and middle ages then the 'rynek' (market) of modern time is probably located a few km to the south-west from the center where the big Ikea, Tesco, Auchan and other shopping centers are located. I actually love that 'shopping city'. All you could ever possibly need.


----------



## Pansori (Apr 26, 2006)

Still more photos from Wroclaw



St Elizabeth's Church which was originally built in 14th century


Inside the church. I wonder what is the meaning of this stained glass art? It seems to have coats of arms of various cities which under varying circumstances belonged to Poland


----------



## Pansori (Apr 26, 2006)

Buildings of the Market Square





Wroclaw Town Hall (Ratusz). Perhaps one of the more interesting old town halls. Some of the original structures which are still thought to be intact in the current building were built as early as in 1299


----------



## Puritan (Nov 1, 2011)

Pansori said:


> Inside the church. I wonder what is the meaning of this stained glass art? It seems to have coats of arms of various cities which under varying circumstances belonged to Poland


This is a chapel dedicated in honour of people from Kresy. The stained glass shows Saint Andrzej Bobola. He was a Polish missionary and martyr of the Society of Jesus, killed during the Khmelnytsky Uprising.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Bobola

Regarding "coats of arms of various cities":

In 1945 Wrocław had predominately German population who were expelled. The population of Wrocław was soon increased by resettlement of Poles forming part of postwar repatriation of Poles as well as the forced deportations from Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union in the east including from cities such as Lwów/Lviv, Stanisławów/Ivano-Frankivsk, Wilno/Vilnius etc. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_population_transfers_(1944–46)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repatriation_of_Poles_(1955–1959)


----------



## jwojcie (Jun 4, 2009)

Pansori said:


> If we compare modern days and middle ages then the 'rynek' (market) of modern time is probably located a few km to the south-west from the center where the big Ikea, Tesco, Auchan and other shopping centers are located. I actually love that 'shopping city'. All you could ever possibly need.


Well.. you are probably have in mind "Park Handlowy Bielany":
http://www.bielany.parkhandlowy.pl/

which basically is not even in Wroclaw


----------



## Pansori (Apr 26, 2006)

More views of Wroclaw old town



Polish food from a self-service restaurant. I put too much food there and just about managed to eat it all




Uwaga Samochod means Warning Car


----------



## Pansori (Apr 26, 2006)

A different kind of city not too far from the old town


Try reading this


----------



## Pansori (Apr 26, 2006)

This is all from Wroclaw


----------



## Bristol Mike (Aug 5, 2007)

Great photos from Wroclaw!


----------



## [email protected] (Jan 15, 2003)

According to my counting Wrocław has 18 gothic churches. I wonder if any other city in Europe has as many gothic temples as Wrocław.


----------



## Highcliff (May 4, 2006)

very good...pansori...:drool::drool::master::master::master::cheers::cheers2::cheers::cheers2:


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Fabulous photographs.


----------



## El_Greco (Apr 1, 2005)

I dont know how I managed to miss this brilliant thread! Stunning photography, man. Wroclaw looks rather imposing and beautiful.


----------



## ZNADZIEMI (Sep 1, 2021)

So beautiful City


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice updates from Wroclaw


----------

