|
Coming to Wroclaw
Wroc³aw (Wroclaw) is an excellent example of a
multicultural metropolis situated at the interface
of ethnically diverse areas. For a greater part of
the city's history, German was the dominant language
in Wroc³aw (Wroclaw). However, for several
generations the city was home to the Korn publishing
house, which printed many books in Polish (250
titles between 1732 and 1790). Here the German
playwright Karl Holtei staged a play about the
Polish national hero Tadeusz Kosciuszko (Tadeus
Kosciusko) in 1826. The Czechs have also played an
important role in the city's history (in 1335- 1526
Wroc³aw (Wroclaw) belonged to the Kingdom of
Bohemia). As late as 1719, the great sculptor Johann
Georg Urbanski of Bohemia was given the key to the
city.
Multiculturalism again left a very deep impress on
the city's character after the Second World War,
when the city's German population was largely
replaced by people arriving from various regions of
Poland, including those resettled from the eastern
provinces of Poland taken over by the Soviet Union.
In particular, many former citizens of Wilno
(Vilnius) and Lwów (Lvov) settled here. With them
came the great library collection of the Ossolinski
Institution from Lwów (Lvov), which found a new
location in the magnificent Baroque edifice of the
former monastery of the Red Star Knights of the
Cross. Two other works of unique significance for
Polish culture were transferred from Lwów (Lvov):
the statue of the leading Polish comic dramatist,
Count Aleksander Fredro, and the Panorama of the
Battle of Rac³awice (Raclawice), a monumental
painting representing the victorious battle with the
Russian forces fought by Tadeusz Kosciuszko (Tadeus
Kosciusko) on 4 April 1794, one of only several
paintings of this kind to have survived in Europe
until the present. It took over 35 years before it
was possible to show the Panorama to the public, but
today it is one of the city's most popular tourist
attractions.
|
Buses
& trams
|
Every
day
6.30
a.m. - 12 p.m.
/
10
a.m.
|
|
Banks
|
Mon.-Fri.
9
a.m. - 6 p.m.
|
|
Shopping
Centres
|
Every
day
10
a.m. - 10 p.m.
|
|
Shops
|
Mon.-Fri.
6
a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sat.-Sun.
9
a.m. - 7 p.m.
|
|
Post
Officies
|
Mon.
- Fri.
8.30
a.m. - 6.30 p.m.
|
|
Pharmacies
|
Mon.
- Fri.
9
a.m. - 7 p. m.
also: 24 hour (night) service
|
|
Meal
times
|
Lunch:
1
p.m. - 2 p.m.
Dinner:
6
p.m. - 8 p.m.
|
At present Wroc³aw is one of the largest cities in
Poland, with a population of about 650,000. It is a
major transportation hub with a junction of three
international roads, two river ports, and an
international airport. The city has a range of
excellently developed industries: transportation,
electrical equipment, machinery, metal
constructions, and food processing.
See more at:
http://www.wroclaw.pl/ms/english/
|
