Wroclaw city guide

Province: Dolny Śląsk (Lower Silesia)
Population: 633,000
Area: 293km²
Altitude: 120m above sea level
Motto: Wroclaw – the meeting place

Pablo Picasso once said the post-war reconstruction of Wroclaw was a powerful inspiration for him and you can see why. Like Poznan the city was founded on an island, Ostrów Tumski (Cathedral Island) on the Oder river, but uniquely it has since spread to eleven more, all drawn together by a web of 112 bridges. They are each distinctive and, having absorbed Bohemian, Austrian and German influences over its tumultuous history, so is Wroclaw.

Aside from its gothic architecture, vibrant cultural events and quaint riverside parks, Wroclaw has a fair bit of substance too. Poland's fourth-largest city, it is the major industrial, commercial and – with 13 institutes of higher learning – education centre for a region which borders the Czech Republic and Germany.

HISTORY
Wroclaw has been built and rebuilt ever since it was established at the intersection of two trade routes; Via Regia and Amber Road. Its name is thought to have derived from Duke Vratislaus I of Bohemia, to which Wroclaw belonged from 1135 to 1526. Then the prospering city was named by the Germans as Breslau. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg and then Prussia increased, and in 1871 Breslau became Germany's sixth-biggest city.

A major eastern outpost, Wroclaw became a fortified compound in the latter stages of World War Two. The price was huge: over half the city was razed and by the time the city became part of Poland under the terms of the Potsdam Conference, 30% of the 600,000 pre-war population had perished. The city was resettled with people from Poland's eastern regions, mostly Lviv, now Ukraine. Rebuilding continued until the 1980s, though a major flood in 1997 brought further devastation, submerging a third of the city.

Economy
Founded at the confluence of two trade routes and a member of the Hanseatic League, Wroclaw has always been a lively centre of commerce. A series of 19th-century developments, fortifying river defences, saw it really take off and it became an important railway hub and industrial centre, manufacturing linen, cotton and trains. Much has disappeared but, following an active policy to attract foreign investors, the high-tech sector is still going strong. After 1989 Wroclaw became a significant financial centre and the headquarters of several nationwide financial institutions are based in the city.

NOTABLE NAMES
• Adolph Menzel, artist (1815-1905) – noted for drawings, etchings and paintings, and considered one of Germany's greatest 19th-century artists.

• Günther Anders, philosopher (1902–1992) – author of The Outdatedness of Humankind, an early treatise of the nuclear threat.

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, pastor and theologian (1906-1945) – helped define Christianity's role in the secular world and is one of the 20th-century martyrs immortalised at Westminster Abbey, London.

• Wanda Rutkiewicz, mountaineer (1943-1992) – regarded as one of the greatest woman mountaineers, she became the first Polish person to climb Mount Everest in 1978. She died on Mount Kangchenjunga.

• Andrzej Sekuła, cinematographer (b1954) – CV includes Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and American Psycho.

• Marek Krajewski, writer (b1966) – award-winning Polish crime writer and linguist whose novels – set in pre-war Wroclaw – have been translated into English, German and Italian.

THINGS TO SEE
The Rynek, a good place to start any exploration, is the second largest square in Poland and the adjoining town hall is so big that it incorporates three internal streets. It took nearly 200 years to build. The complex is home to an art museum and a treasury, and is a mishmash of architectural styles – a theme echoed back outside on the Rynek, an amalgam of gothic and, with the north and south sides rebuilt since 1945, extravagant art nouveau.

Wroclaw's pride and joy is just down the road: the Racławicka Panorama. A 114m long rotunda housing a panoramic painting with dimensions, it depicts the 1794 battle of Raclawice (a village 320km away) when Polish peasants defeated the mighty Russian army. It was a fleeting victory but 100 years later patriots in Lviv commissioned the panorama and after WWII it was sent to Wroclaw. Fearing offending their liberators, the Polish authorities did not put it on display until 1985.

The rabbit warren that is the Old Town could keep you occupied for weeks, yet other parts of the city also have much to offer, not least Cathedral Island – the cradle of Wroclaw. The centrepiece is the mammoth Cathedral of St John the Baptist, though the prize for oldest ecclesiastical building goes to the tiny Church of St Giles. If you have had your fill of bricks and mortar – no matter how beautifully arranged – then head to the Botanical Gardens or, back on the mainland, Park Szczytnicki.

Fan zone: Plac Rynek (Market Square)
Wroclaw's 30,000-capacity fan zone, located in the heart of the city, will feature three big screens and will open for the duration of the tournament from 10.00 to 00.00 local time. It is free to enter and will broadcast all 31 matches live, though at other times there will be plenty of entertainment such as football skill tests, five-a-side pitches, live concerts and DJ sets, as well as offer a full range of food and beverages.

TRANSPORT
To and from
Copernicus Airport Wroclaw is 13km south-west of the city and has regular flights to Copenhagen, Oslo, Paris, Brussels, Dublin, Eindhoven and Stockholm as well as multiple destinations in Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy. There are also daily connections to Warsaw and Gdansk, though trains, running from the beautiful Wroclaw Główny, are a nicer option time permitting. Express trains to Warsaw take just five hours and there are also regular services to Poznan (2.5 hours) and Gdansk (7.5 hours). The nearby bus station offers similarly-timed links to Warsaw and Poznan, as well as a number of international destinations.

Distances to other UEFA EURO 2012 venues
Poznan – 175km
Warsaw – 350km
Gdansk – 480km
Lviv – 620km
Kyiv – 1,090km
Kharkiv – 1,515km
Donetsk – 1,750km

In and around
The city is serviced by a network of buses and trams. Journeys within the centre cost a flat 2.50zł, longer trips 3zł, while fast services and night buses (those with numbers over 200) cost 5zł. A fast tram line is being built, which will connect the eastern part of the city with the airport and Municipal Stadium Wroclaw. The tourist office on the Rynek rents bicycles.

FOOTBALL
Any focus on football in Wroclaw seldom extends beyond WKS Śląsk Wrocław, the leading light that puts all local rivals in its shade.

Śląsk was founded in 1947 by the merger of two military schools Pionier and Podchorążak – hence their nickname, the Army Men. They were one of several clubs to spring up in the newly-established Polish city after the Second World War, including KS Ślęza Wrocław, WKP Odra Wrocław, KS Polonia Wrocław and Polar Wrocław. Yet football in Wroclaw is all about Śląsk.

Football was by no means new to the city in 1945. SV Blitz Breslau, founded by a group of former cyclists looking for a new source of entertainment, were established in 1897 and were one of the founding members of the German Football Association (DFB). A split soon led to the formation of SC Schlesien Breslau, which translates into Polish as Śląsk Wrocław though there is no link between the clubs.

The Soldiers' high point came in 1977, when spearheaded by ten-goal Janusz Sybis, they took the championship trophy for the first and so far only time. A year earlier Śląsk had captured their first major title, the Polish Cup, and it took a solid SSC Napoli side to spoil their UEFA Cup Winners' Cup ambitions at the quarter-final stage.

They inscribed their name on the Polish Cup again in 1987 and finished runners-up to Wisła Kraków in the 2010/11 Ekstraklasa. Elsewhere, Odra and Polar in particular have been restricted to eye-catching Polish Cup runs, but there is another team in the city that are no strangers to success. Women's side KŚ AZS Wrocław won eight successive titles between 2001 and 2008, also capturing four Polish Cups.

Footballing alumni
Midfielder Lesław Ćmikiewicz and goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski were members of Poland's 1970 dream team, picking up 57 and 63 caps respectively. The Wroclaw-born pair helped the side finish third at the 1974 FIFA World Cup and then earned silver medals at the 1976 Olympics. Ćmikiewicz, who had a brief tenure as coach in 1993, had won gold four years earlier. Another Śląsk favourite, midfielder Ryszard Tarasiewicz, scored nine goals in 59 internationals in a career that brought spells at Neuchâtel Xamax FC and RC Lens.

Did you know?
Orest Lenczyk was coach in 1980 when Śląsk lost 7-2 aggregate against Dundee United FC in the UEFA Cup first round. Three decades later he returned and guided Śląsk back into UEFA competition at the first time of asking. His reward? Another meeting with the Scottish club, this time in the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round: Śląsk won on away goals.

OTHER SPORT
Śląsk Wrocław's basketball side were a leading force for many years, their haul of 17 league titles unsurpassed. They were champions for seven years during the 1970s, a decade when one of Wrocław's most famous sons, Włodzimierz Stefański, helped Poland to volleyball gold at the 1976 Olympics. Śląsk Wrocław's handball side have captured 15 league titles. WTS Sparta Wrocław have claimed four polish speedway championships and in 2009 the UNESCO-listed Centennial Hall was one of the venues for EuroBasket 2009, won by Spain, and the European Women's Volleyball Championship, won by Italy.