Choose wisely. Connect locally.Add your business 
Wrocław is the capital of Lower Silesia in south-western Poland and the country's third-largest city, set on the Oder River among islands and bridges, and it is famous for its grand Market Square, the spires of Cathedral Island and the UNESCO-listed Centennial Hall.
With a history of more than 1,000 years, the city has been ruled by Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia and Germany, and as German Breslau it was the capital of Silesia until it became Polish again in 1945. After the Second World War its old centre was rebuilt, and the Racławice Panorama was brought here from Lviv.
Today Wrocław is a lively university city with more than 130,000 students. Visitors come for the Gothic town hall and colourful houses of the Rynek, the churches and gas lamps of Cathedral Island and the hundreds of bronze dwarfs hidden in the streets, then head east for Centennial Hall, the Japanese Garden and the oldest zoo in Poland.
The Market Square in Wrocław is the medieval heart of the Old Town, a pedestrian square of 213 by 178 metres and one of the largest in Europe. Rows of colourful gabled houses in many styles surround a central block holding the Old and New Town Halls, and it is the main meeting place of the city.
Wrocław Town Hall, the Old Town Hall in the middle of the Market Square, is a Gothic building begun in the 13th century and one of the main landmarks of the city. It holds a museum, a Great Hall used for concerts and the Piwnica Świdnicka cellar, said to be the oldest restaurant in Europe.
St. Elizabeth's Church is a Brick Gothic basilica of the 14th century in the Old Town of Wrocław, whose great tower, once 130 metres high, dominates the skyline. From 1525 until 1946 it was the chief Lutheran church of Wrocław and Silesia, and today it is one of the best-known churches in the city.
The Wrocław Dwarfs are small bronze figures, 20 to 30 centimetres tall, placed around the streets of Wrocław since 2005, after a dwarf monument honoured the anti-communist Orange Alternative. There are now more than 800 of them, and visitors often walk the city with a map trying to find them.
Cathedral Island, or Ostrów Tumski, is the oldest part of Wrocław, once an island between branches of the Oder where the first settlement grew. Its quiet streets hold churches and clergy houses, and it is one of the few places in Europe where a lamplighter still lights gas lamps every evening.
Wrocław Cathedral, the Archcathedral of St. John the Baptist on Cathedral Island, is the seat of the Archdiocese of Wrocław and a Gothic church with Neo-Gothic additions. It is the fourth church on a site first built on in the 10th century, and its twin spires are a symbol of the city skyline.
The Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross and St. Bartholomew is a two-storey brick Gothic church on Cathedral Island in Wrocław, founded in 1288 by Duke Henryk IV Probus, who was buried here in 1290. Its rare two-level interior puts the church of St. Bartholomew below the Holy Cross church.
Tumski Bridge is a steel footbridge of 1889 over the northern branch of the Oder in Wrocław, linking Cathedral Island with Sand Island. Lit by old gas lamps, it is known as the Bridge of Love, because couples used to fix padlocks with their names to its railings and throw the keys into the river.
Centennial Hall in Wrocław is a huge reinforced concrete hall built in 1911 to 1913 to the plans of Max Berg, an early landmark of modern architecture. Listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2006, it still hosts concerts, sports events and shows, beside the Four Domes Pavilion and a pergola.
The Japanese Garden in Wrocław lies in Szczytnicki Park beside Centennial Hall and was first laid out in 1909 to 1913 for the Centennial Exhibition. Its ponds, bridges and pavilions are set among nearly 270 kinds of woody plants, including 78 Asian species, 38 of them native to Japan.
The Racławice Panorama in Wrocław is a giant circular painting, 15 by 114 metres, showing the Battle of Racławice of the Kościuszko Uprising. Painted in the 1890s by Jan Styka and Wojciech Kossak, it is the oldest panorama in Poland and is seen from a central platform with lights and model terrain.
Wrocław Zoo, opened in 1865 when the city was Prussian Breslau, is the oldest zoo in Poland and the largest by number of animals and species. Rebuilt after the Second World War, it covers 33 hectares near the centre and includes the Afrykarium, a large hall of African waters and wildlife.
Been to Wrocław? Add your best shots to the gallery.
Log in to add photosPhoto: Adam Dziura, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: MARELBU, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Photo: MARELBU, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Photo: Panek, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: fot. Slawek Ilski, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Photo: Gerd Eichmann, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: Jar.ciurus, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl
Photo: Maksym Kozlenko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Fallaner, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Fred Romero from Paris, France, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Fred Romero from Paris, France, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Photo: Heem will ihch, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Maksym Kozlenko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Maksym Kozlenko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Maksym Kozlenko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: User:Kolossos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Fred Romero from Paris, France, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Fred Romero from Paris, France, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Bazie, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl
Photo: Jar.ciurus, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl
Photo: Fred Romero from Paris, France, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: katie_pl, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl
Photo: Andrzej Otrębski, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Matti Blume, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Matti Blume, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Matti Blume, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Matti Blume, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Jar.ciurus, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl
Photo: Pudelek, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Krigore, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Thyes, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Photo: Taxiarchos228, Wikimedia Commons, FAL
Photo: Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Daniel.zolopa, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Strumyczek, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Aw58, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Photo: Daviidos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: ZzaniazZ, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Andrzej Jurkowski, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Jar.ciurus, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl
Photo: Olgierd Rudak, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Jar.ciurus, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl
Photo: Jar.ciurus, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl
Photo: Paju~commonswiki, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Matti Blume, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Aidana15, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Photo: Grzegorz W. Tężycki, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Grzegorz W. Tężycki, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Barbara Maliszewska, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl
Photo: Szlomo Lejb, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Marta Wojtuś, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Palickap, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: User: (WT-shared) Gorky at wts wikivoyage, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Photo: Koroniec, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Lower Silesia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
