Everything about Wroc Aw totally explained
Wrocław (; ; ; ) is the chief
city of the historical region of
Lower Silesia in south-western
Poland, situated on the
Oder river. Before 1945 the city was part of
Germany. Since 1999 it has been the capital of
Lower Silesian Voivodeship. According to official population figures for 2006, its population is 635,280, making it the fourth largest city in Poland.
Etymology
The city's name was first recorded in the year 1000 by
Thietmar's
Latin chronicle called
Thietmari Merseburgensis episcopi Chronicon as Wrotizlawa. The first municipal seal stated
Sigillum civitatis Wratislavie. Simplified name is given in 1175 as Wrezlaw, Prezla or Breslaw.
Early records show that the medieval city's name was
Vratislav in Czech and
Wrocisław in Polish. The Polish name was later phonetically simplified from
Wrocisław to
Wrotsław to
Wrocław used since the 12th century. The Czech spelling was used in Latin documents as
Wratislavia or
Vratislavia. At that time,
Prezla was used in
Middle High German, which became
Preßlau. In the middle of the 14th century the
Early New High German (and later
New High German) form of the name Breslau began to replace its earlier versions.
The city is traditionally believed to be named after Wrocisław or Vratislav, often believed to be Duke
Vratislaus I of Bohemia. It is also possible that the city was named after the tribal duke of the Silesians or after an early ruler of the city called Vratislav.
The city's name in various foreign languages include in,,, or
Wratislavia, or
Vroclav, (
Vrotslai), (
Vrotslav), (
Vrotslav); also Бреславль (
Breslavl), or
Vroclav and (
Vrotslav). are also available.
History
The city of Wrocław originated as a stronghold situated at a long-existing trading route to
Greater Moravia and
Bohemia. The city was first recorded in the 10th century as
Vratislavia, possibly derived from the name of the Bohemian duke
Vratislav I who died in 921. The history of the city begins at the end of the 10th century under the Polish
Piast dynasty. At that time the city bears the name of Vratislavia and is limited to
district of Ostrów Tumski (the Cathedral Island).
In the year 1000 king
Boleslaw I of Poland established
the first bishopric of
Silesia there. The city quickly became a commercial center and expanded rapidly to the neighbouring Wyspa Piaskowa (Sand Island), and then to the left bank of the
Odra river. In 1163 it became the capital of the duchy of Silesia. By 1139 two more settlements were built. One belonged to Governor
Piotr Włostowic (a.k.a Piotr Włast
Dunin, Piotr Włost or Peter Wlast; ca. 1080–1153) and was situated near his residence on the Olbina by the St. Vincent's Benedictine Abbey. The other settlement was founded on the left bank of the
Oder River, near the present seat of the university. It was located on the trade route that lead from
Leipzig and
Legnica) and followed through
Opole, and
Kraków to
Kievan Rus'.
The city was devastated in 1241 during the
Mongol invasion of Europe. The rebuilding included expansion of the Main Market Square (Rynek) and all surrounding areas. Decimated population was reinforced by many
Germans who settled there. Soon the name Breslau appeared for the first time in written records. The new and rebuilt town adopted
Magdeburg rights in 1262 and, at the end of the 13th century joined the
Hanseatic League. The Polish
ruling dynasty remained in control of the region.
In 1289-1292 the
Přemyslid King of
Bohemia,
Wenceslaus II, became Duke of Silesia, then also King of Poland. With
John of Luxemburg and his son, Emperor
Charles IV (and king of Bohemia), Silesia was united with Bohemia, but retained its separate
Ius indigenatus. The first illustration of the city was published in the
Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493. Documents of that time referred to the town by many variants of the name including
Wratislaw,
Bresslau and
Presslau.
During much of the
Middle Ages Wrocław was ruled by its
dukes of the Silesian Piast dynasty. Although the city wasn't part of the Duchy's principality, its bishop was known as the
prince-bishop ever since Bishop Preczlaus of Pogarell (1341-1376) bought the Duchy of
Grodków (Grottkau) from Duke Boleslaw of
Brzeg (Brieg) and added it to the episcopal territory of
Nysa (Neisse), after which the
Bishops of Wrocław had the titles of Prince of Neisse and Dukes of Grottkau, taking precedence over the other Silesian rulers.
In 1335, it was incorporated with almost the entirety of Silesia into the Kingdom of
Bohemia and was part of it until the 1740s; from 1526, it was ruled by the Empire's
Habsburg dynasty. By this time the inhabitants of mixed Silesian, Bohemian, Moravian, and often of Polish ancestry, had become dominated by influx of German colonists and settlers throughout the centuries.
The overwhelming majority of the population became
lutheran during the
Protestant Reformation as did most of Lower Silesia, but they were forcibly suppressed during the
Catholic Reformation by
Jesuits working with the support of the Habsburg rulers.
After the death of the last Silesian Piast ruler,
Georg Wihelm of Liegnitz Brieg in 1675, the
Habsburg Monarchy of
Austria inherited the city of Breslau. They resorted to forceful conversion of the city back to
Catholicism. During the
War of the Austrian Succession in the 1740s, most of Silesia was annexed by the
Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia's claims were derived from the agreement, rejected by the Habsburgs, between the Silesian Piast rulers of the duchy and the
Hohenzollerns who secured the Prussian succession after the extinction of the Piasts.
Modern history
Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Prussia, and the city, became a part of the
German Confederation. In 1811 the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität (
Wrocław University) was re-established. In
1813 King
Frederick William III of Prussia gave a speech in Breslau signalling Prussia's intent to join the
Russian Empire against
Napoleon during the
Napoleonic Wars. When the Prussian-led
German Empire was created in 1871 during the process of
Germany's unification, Breslau became the empire's sixth-largest city and a major industrial centre, notably of linen and cotton manufacture; its population more than tripled to over half a million between 1860 and 1910.
Due to increased ethnic tensions, in August
1920 during the pro-Polish
Silesian Uprising, Germans devastated the local Polish school and the Polish library. In 1923 the city was a scene of
antisemitic riots. In 1933 the
Gestapo began actions against Polish and Jewish students who were issued special
segregationist ID documents like those of
Communists,
Social Democrats,
trade unionists, and other people deemed threats to the state. Notably, people were even arrested and beaten for using Polish in public. In 1938 the Polish cultural centre (the Polish House) in Breslau was destroyed by the police, and many of the city's 10,000
Jews were deported to pre-war concentration camps; those who remained were killed during the
Nazi genocide of
World War II. Most of the Polish elites also left during 1920s and 1930s while Polish leaders who remained were sent to
German concentration camps.
Throughout most of World War II Breslau wasn't close to the fighting. The city became haven for refugees, swelling in population to nearly one million.
In February 1945 the
Soviet Red Army approached the city. Nazi
Gauleiter Karl Hanke declared the city
Festung Breslau (fortress). Concentration camp prisoners
were forced to help build new fortifications. In one area, the workers were ordered to construct a military airfield intended for use in resupplying the fortress, while the entire residential district along the Kaiserstraße (now
Plac Grunwaldzki) was razed. The authorities threatened to shoot anyone who refused to do their assigned labour. Eyewitnesses estimated that some 13,000 died under enemy fire on the airfield alone. In the end, one of the very few planes that used it was that of the fleeing Gauleiter Hanke.
Hanke finally lifted a ban on the evacuation of women and children, when it was almost too late. During his poorly organised evacuation in early March 1945, around 18,000 people froze to death, mostly children and babies, in icy snowstorms and -20°C weather. Some 200,000 civilians, less than a third of the pre-war population, remained in the city, because the railway connections to the west were damaged or overloaded.
By the end of the
Battle of Breslau (1945), two-thirds of the city had been destroyed as a consequence of German resistance to Red Army attacks. 40,000 inhabitants including forced labourers lay dead in the ruins of homes and factories. After a siege of nearly three months, "Fortress Breslau" surrendered on
May 7 1945. It was one of the last major cities in
Nazi Germany to fall.
Along with almost all of Lower Silesia, post-war Wrocław became part of Poland under the terms of the
Potsdam Conference. Most remaining German inhabitants
fled or were expelled to one of the two post-war German states between 1945 and 1949. However, as was the case with other Lower Silesian cities, a considerable German presence remained in Wrocław until the late 1950s; the city's last German school closed in 1963.
The population of Wrocław was soon increased by resettlement of
Poles forming part of postwar
repatriation of Poles (1944–1946) (75%) as well as the forced
deportations from
Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union in the east (25%) including from cities such as Lwów (now
Lviv,
Ukraine), Stanisławów (now
Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine), Wilno (now
Vilnius,
Lithuania), and Grodno (now
Hrodna,
Belarus).
Gradually parts of the old city and most monumental buildings were restored, with special attention given to symbols of Polish history and religion including
Gothic churches. Buildings damaged during the war were dismantled together with some already reconstructed houses, which were taken down in the 1950s during the Polish government's campaign called “bricks for Warsaw”, providing much needed reconstruction material for the leveled out
Old Town of the Polish capital. During the reconstruction of the city some left-over buildings from Germanisation period were removed from the landscape of the city while the Jewish cemetery was preserved.
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 still has a number of buildings by eminent German
modernist architects (
Hans Poelzig,
Max Berg), famous
Centennial Hall (
Hala Stulecia or Jahrhunderthalle) by Berg (1911–1913) being one of its finest examples.
In July 1997, the city suffered a flood of the Oder River, the worst flooding in post-war Poland. Nearly the entire city stood under water leaving only a small part unaffected. An earlier equally devastating flood of the river took place in 1903.
Historical populations
| Year | 1800 |
1831 |
1850 |
1852 |
1880 |
1900 |
1910 |
1925 |
1933 |
1939
|
| Inhabitants | 64,500 |
89,500 |
114,000 |
121,100 |
272,900 |
422,700 |
510,000 |
555,200 |
625,198 |
629,565
|
| Year | 1946 |
1956 |
1960 |
1967 |
1970 |
1975 |
1980 |
1990 |
1999 |
2003
|
| Inhabitants | 171,000 |
400,000 |
431,800 |
487,700 |
526,000 |
579,900 |
617,700 |
640,577 |
650,000 |
638,000
|
Administration
Lower Silesian Voivodeship, a province (
voivodeship) created in 1999. It was previously the seat of
Wrocław Voivodeship. The city is a separate urban
gmina and city county (
powiat). It is also the seat of
Wrocław County, which adjoins but doesn't include the city.
Wrocław is subdivided into five boroughs (
dzielnicas):
Main sights
Hala Ludowa ("Peoples' Hall") by Max Berg — a World Heritage Site
Ostrów Tumski ("Cathedral Island", )
Racławice Panorama
Plac Grunwaldzki ("Grunwaldzki Square")
St. Elisabeth's Church
Wrocław Palace
Education
Today's Wrocław has ten state-run universities, including:
Wrocław University (Uniwersytet Wrocławski
) - over 47,000 students
Wrocław University of Technology (Politechnika Wrocławska) - over 40,000 students
Wrocław Medical University (Wrocławska Akademia Medyczna)
University School of Physical Education. (Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego),
Wrocław University of Economics (Akademia Ekonomiczna im. Oskara Langego) - over 18,000 students
Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences (Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy we Wrocławiu) - over 13,000 students
Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław (Akademia Sztuk Pięknych we Wrocławiu)
The Karol Lipiński University of Music (Akademia Muzyczna im. Karola Lipińskiego)
University School of Theatre (Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Teatralna)
The Tadeusz Kościuszko Land Forces Military Academy (Wyższa Szkoła Oficerska Wojsk Lądowych)
as well as numerous private institutions of higher education
Economy and transport
Wrocław's major industries were traditionally the manufacture of railroad cars and electronics. The city is served by Wrocław International Airport and a river port.
Major corporations
Whirlpool Polar
Volvo Polska sp. z o.o., Wrocław
WABCO Polska, Wrocław
Siemens, Wrocław
Nokia Siemens Networks Sp z o.o
Hewlett Packard, Wrocław
Google, Wrocław
Grupa Lukas, Wrocław
AB SA, Wrocław
Polifarb Cieszyn-Wrocław SA, Wrocław
KOGENERACJA S.A., Wrocław
Impel SA, Wrocław
Europejski Fundusz Leasingowy SA, Wrocław
Telefonia Dialog SA, Wrocław
TietoEnator, Wrocław
Wrozamet SA, Wrocław
American Restaurants sp. z o.o., Wrocław
Hutmen SA, Wrocław
Fortum Wrocław S.A., Wrocław
SAP Polska
Hologram Industries Polska
Zender sp. z o.o., Wrocław
MSI (Micro Star International) Polska Sp. z o. o.
Professional sports
The Wrocław area has many popular professional sports teams. The most popular sport today is probably basketball, thanks to Śląsk Wrocław, the award-winning men's basketball team (former Polish champions, 2nd-place in 2004). Some matches of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championships in Poland and Ukraine are scheduled to take place in Wrocław.
Men's sports
ASCO Śląsk Wrocław - (previous names:ASCO Śląsk Wrocław, Bergson Śląsk Wrocław, Era Śląsk Wrocław, Deichmann Śląsk Wrocław, Idea Śląsk Wrocław, Zepter Idea Śląsk Wrocław, Zepter Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk ESKA Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław, CWKS Wrocław) men's basketball team, 17th Polish Champiion former Polish Champion, 2nd place 2004 in Era Basket Liga
Śląsk Wrocław - men's football team (Polish Championship in Football 1977; Polish Cup winner 1976, 1987; Polish SuperCup winner 1987) (2nd league from 2005 to 2007)
Śląsk Wrocław - men's handball team (1st league in season 2003/2004)
volleyball team playing in [[PolishVolleyball League - Totally Explained">Volleyball in Poland - Totally Explained">volleyball team playing in [[Polish Volleyball League (Polska Liga Siatkówki, PLS: Seria A in 2003/2004, Seria B in 2004/2005 season).
Women's sports
ZEC ESV Gwardia Wrocław- women's volleyball team playing in Polish Seria A Women's Volleyball League: 6th place in 2003/2004 season.
AZS Wrocław - women's football team (1st league in season 2003/2004)
AZS AWF Wrocław - women's handball team (1st league in season 2003/2004)
AZS AE Wrocław - women table tennis team (1st league in season 2003/2004)
Prominent residents
Including some who were not born in Wrocław/Breslau
Alois Alzheimer — discoverer of Alzheimer's Disease.
Adolf Anderssen — 19th-century chess master.
Max Berg — architect, designer of Hala Stulecia.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer — Lutheran clergyman, religious leader in the resistance movement against Nazism.
August Borsig (* 1804) — entrepreneur.
Jan Borysewicz — Polish guitar player, composer, leader of the Lady Pank rock band .
Ernst Cassirer, philosopher.
Johann Dzierzon (1811-1906), apiarist.
Otfrid Förster (* 1873) — neuro-surgeon.
Waldemar Fydrych, alias "Major" — artist, founder of the Orange Alternative happening movement.
Jerzy Grotowski — theatre director and theatrical avant-garde figure.
Mirosław Hermaszewski — cosmonaut.
Johann Heß - lutheran theologian, Protestant reformer of Breslau and Silesia
Ludwik Hirszfeld — microbiologist, co-discover of the inheritance of the BO blood type.
Marek Hłasko — novelist, writer
Christian Hoffmann von Hoffmannswaldau (1616-1679), Baroque poet
Karl Eduard von Holtei (1798-1880) — poet and actor
Vernon Ingram — biologist.
Lech Janerka - singer, musician and composer
Alfred Kerr - theatre critic and essayist
Gerhard Kittel - New Testament scholar and philologist
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff - physicist
Otto Klemperer (* 1885) - conductor
Carl Ferdinand Langhans - architect
Ferdinand Lassalle - socialist politician and reformer
Carl Friedrich Lessing (* 1808) - artist
Rudolf Meidner - Swedish economist and socialist theorist
Joachim Meisner - Cardinal priest and archbishop of Cologne
Adolph von Menzel - artist
Edda Moser (*1938) - German soprano opera singer
Louis Prang Louis Prang (March 12, 1824 - September 14, 1909) was a printer, lithographer and publisher
Manfred von Richthofen - WWI flying ace
Tadeusz Różewicz - poet and writer
Wanda Rutkiewicz - female mountaineer
Julius von Sachs - botanist
Johann Gottfried Scheibel - (* 1783) - theological professor and dissenter to the Prussian Union
Friedrich Schleiermacher - theologian and philosopher
Andrzej Sekula - cinematographer and film director
Angelus Silesius - 17th century religious poet
Fritz Stern - historian
Edith Stein - philosopher and Roman Catholic martyr
Hugo Steinhaus - mathematician
Michel Thomas - war hero and language teacher
Christian Wolff - philosopher
Michał Witkowski - writer
Nobel laureates
listed by year of award
Theodor Mommsen (1902)
Philipp Lenard (1905)
Eduard Buchner (1907)
Paul Ehrlich (1908)
Gerhart Hauptmann (1912)
Fritz Haber (1918)
Friedrich Bergius (1931)
Erwin Schrödinger (1933)
Otto Stern (1943)
Max Born (1954)
Reinhard Selten (1994)
Twin towns and partnerships
Twin towns:
Breda, Netherlands.
Dresden, Germany.
Charlotte, United States.
Guadalajara, Mexico.
Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.
Kaunas, Lithuania.
Lviv, Ukraine.
Ramat Gan, Israel.
Wiesbaden, Germany.
Partnership:
Vienne département.Further Information
Get more info on 'Wroc Aw'.
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