It has been known as Wretslav, Writizla, Vratislava, Presslaw, Presslau, Bresslaw, Bressla and Breslau and passed from Holy Roman to Arpad to Piast to Austrian to Bohemian to Silesian to Prussian, before being tossed around between the Germans and Poles for a thousand years, but the city we now know as Wroclaw in Poland has retained a dignified identity throughout its chequered history, and is now using its powers of reinvention to claim a place among the most popular weekend destinations in Eastern Europe.
Always a prized possession, Wroclaw, like Paris or Prague, owed its early importance to its geographical status as an island on a river (the Odra); later it was a pivotal point on east-west trade routes and latterly enjoyed a period as a railway nodal point; it has also often been throughout its history (though not much lately) a very wealthy city. It has recoiled from invasion by the Mongols, two devastating fires, the ravages of the Great Plague, surrender to Frederick the Great, occupation by the Austrians, devastating destruction during the second world war and extensive flooding of the Odra as recently as 1997, but this cultural chameleon has survived the national, religious, linguistic and historical lines of demarcation that have zigzagged across it for centuries with a relentless stoic dignity.
When Pablo Picasso attended the World Peace conference in the city in 1948 he was inspired by the sight of Wroclaw’s ruins to paint his now globally famous peace dove. Wroclaw’s beauty and power is only more exalted by its formidable capacity for restitution.
The city, famous for its over 100 bridges is thickly packed with historically and architecturally precious buildings and monuments; an abundance of gothic and renaissance spires, which battle for pre-eminence on the city’s skyline, have either remained miraculously unharmed or been painstakingly restored.
The Rynek (market square), the second largest in Poland, contains one of the most splendid gothic buildings in Central Europe; the Ratusz (town hall). Almost three hundred years in construction, its astronomic renaissance sundial, imposing towers, striking sculptures, friezes, bas-reliefs and bow windows manage to anchor the bewildering range of architectural styles and vivid colours that wall the Rynek into a remarkably harmonious whole.
It is from this hub that the growing throng of tourists are discovering the modern face of Wroclaw and of Poland. Communism is treated as a distant (if painful) memory, or as an amusing novelty; The PRL club on the Rynek, named after the old People’s Republic of Poland, encourages tourists to down shots of Zubrowka – a delicious vodka flavoured with Bison Grass – while footage of old Communist rallies sputters black and white on wall-mounted televisions among ex-dictators’ portraits.
Clubbing is a reasonably new pastime here, but has already put down strong roots in this ever-adapting city and there are bars and clubs on the Rynek to rival any provincial British city centre (and prices to put them all to shame). Western tourists can enjoy the local food, vodka and beer – exceptional local brews are available from bars like Spiż on the Rynek, where drinkers are served frothing glasses of beer pumped direct from huge vats behind the bar – in Wroclaw’s other-worldly but welcoming architectural opulence, safe in the knowledge that a very favourable exchange rate effectively renders them wealthy for the duration of their stay.
Wroclaw has an enormous amount to offer and depths that a lot of tourists won’t fully engage with in a weekend’s stay – the city is a thriving cultural centre, playing host to many internationally acknowledged musical festivals and other artistic events – but in time-honoured fashion the city has reinvented itself again, at least for the time-being, as an awe-inspiring weekend destination.
