Wrocław, Poland
After experiencing the horrors near Katowice, it was a relief to go somewhere where culture is created rather than destroyed. I really liked the city of Wrocław, the fourth biggest city in Poland. It was busy, but not full to the brim with tourists.
There were several highlights, from the very small to the very large. The city is famous for its hundreds of sculptures of dwarfs hiding around the city. They celebrate the Orange Alternative, Poland’s anti-Communist movement, as their symbol was a dwarf. On the other end of the scale, the Centennial Hall was built as a cultural centre in 1911 with the biggest dome in the world at the time. It’s now surrounded by pretty gardens and a large musical fountain where a concert is played nightly.
I was most taken by the Racławice Panorama, an enormous painting of a famous Polish battle. It is set in a circular building and designed so that you stand in the middle and feel like you are really there. The floor extends the painting to the viewing area, and contains props so that it’s hard to see where the painting ends. The battle itself, against the Russians, ended in a famous victory for the Poles but was ultimately part of a failed uprising.
