Wroclaw is one of the oldest cities in Poland with a long and turbulent history that is
manifest on every corner. Throughout the ages the city has been passed from hand to hand in
many different circumstances. The city has belonged to the Poles the Czechs the Hungarians
and the Germans. Although almost seventy percent of its urban fabric was destroyed in the
Second World War Wroclaw managed to rise from the ruins and now boasts many an architectural
monument. The city currently features nearly eight thousand tenements - one of the largest
complexes of this type found in Poland and furthermore in Europe. The oldest tenements
originated in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and are surrounded by Baroque Classicist
Art Nouveau and modernist architecture. This publication comprises a compelling selection of
more than 150 buildings from avant-garde residential blocks dating from the sixties and
seventies via the Centennial Hall - recognised by the American Getty Foundation as one of the
ten most important examples of twentieth century modernism - to modern buildings and the
Ozeaneum in the Zoo.
