What's worth seeing in Wroclaw?

Wrocław stands for variety of styles. It is a city, which quickly gained the reputation as one of the most important and most interesting cities on the Polish cultural map. This applies to both high culture, as well as rapidly growing in the city clubbing culture. Thanks to the theatres, museums, galleries, numerous cultural events there is a lot to choose from.

Wrocław is one of the most important jazz centres in Poland (Jazz on the Oder, Jazztopad), rock fans can enjoy Asymmetry Festival or Thanks Jimmy Festival, ethno followers can enjoy the Ethno Jazz Festival. Wrocław Industrial Festival and the Avant Art Festival are organised for avant-garde fans. Wrocław also looks after classical music lovers, they can enjoy, inter alia: Vratislavia Cantans, Wrocław Organ Summer, Forum Musicum, and Wieczory Tumskie (Cathedral Island evenings). Wrocław Opera offers rich repertoire as well, and is famous for its blockbuster productions at the Centennial Hall. There are also a lot of concerts held at the Philharmonic.

There is rich theatre offer - Teatr Polski (Polish Theatre), Teatr Współczesny (Contemporary Theatre), Teatr Capitol (Capitol Theatre), Teatr Lalek (Puppet Theatre), as well as alternative theatres. Repertoire is enriched with numerous festivals f.ex. Dialog-Wrocław.

There are also film festivals organised on the Oder riverside - the Nowe Horyzonty (New Horizons), American Film Festival, Docs Against Gravity. A number of multiplex cinemas and New Horizons Cinema or Dolnośląskie Centrum Filmowe (Lower Silesian Film Centre) will provide entertainment to anyone, even the most demanding enthusiast of the tenth muse.

New clubs and pubs are constantly popping out around the city, and since over 130 000 young people from across Europe study here, there is high demand for such places. Because of the variety and number of places where you can spend an enjoyable evening, virtually every young person when asked: what are your associations with Wrocław, the usually reply is nightlife, while a foreigner speaks about "party town".

Museums, art galleries and cultural centres also extend the range of city's offer. National Museum and the nearby Panorama Racławicka are the most visited places. Not far are the Museum of Architecture, Museum of Post and Telecommunications (one of a kind in Poland). Municipal Museum offers numerous places worth paying a visit to (Royal Palace (Pałac Królewski), Historical Museum (Muzeum Historyczne), Museum of Medal Art (Muzeum Sztuki Medalierskiej), Muzeum Sztuki Mieszczańskiej (Museum of City Art)). The newest attraction are the Muzeum Pana Tadeusza (Pan Tadeusz Museum) and Muzeum Teatru (Theatre Museum).

Wrocław is not just a culture. It is the only city where on small area, between the Kazimierz Wielki Street, św. Antoniego Street, Pawła Włodkowica Street and św. Mikołaja Street a peculiar district exists - the District of Mutual Respect, sometimes called Quarter of Four Denominations or Temples. It was established in the autumn of 1995 on the initiative of the Christian clergy (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) and Jewish community activist Jerzy Kichler. The followers of the four denominations organise joint charity events, educational gatherings for children and ecumenical prayer. The district also aims at bringing closer cultural and religious diversity of the city. It is one of the city attractions for tourists.

There are plenty of tourist’s attractions. Fantastic market and boulevards stretching along the Oder River encourage taking a walk both during the day and at night, when beautiful illumination of bridges and numerous monuments located along the river Oder takes your breath away. Due to its location on 12 islands, on the second largest river in Poland and its tributaries, Wrocław is often called the Venice of the North. Similarly to other European cities, where the Christian roots go back to the tenth century, architecture and sacred art lovers will find many interesting objects and works, especially in the heart of capital of the archbishopric, Cathedral Island. Places not to be missed when visiting Wrocław include Centennial Hall, famous Japanese Gardens and Zoo with Africarium next to it, and the monuments of the littlest residents of the city - Wrocław's dwarfs, pride of Wrocław's residents, who erected almost 400 statues for them.

Wrocław is also proud of its parks - virtually every neighbourhood or settlements offer relax in the great outdoors for its residents. Right in the heart of the city you will find Staromiejska promenade situated along the moat and fantastic Botanical Garden located on the Cathedral Island tempting you to take a walk. Riverside green boulevards can also be viewed from the decks of cruise ships and gondolas, which are one of the many tourist attractions of Wrocław. The latter are certainly include a fantastic multimedia shows of the fountain in the Szczytnicki Park.

Wrocław is a universal city. It has a rich history, extensive cultural offer, but it is also at the forefront of the cities with the most favourable climate for entrepreneurs. It offers the potential which many companies took advantage of by opening their centres here (Google, IBM, HP, Nokia Siemens) and employing young people coming here from different parts of the country and the world. This is also facilitated by good communication with business partners from abroad - Wrocław Airport is steadily increasing list of destinations and comfort of service, direct connections with the cities in the Czech Republic, Germany and Ukraine are also offered by the railways. Beneficial location at the crossroads of European roads and attractive infrastructure, recently expanded with the Regional Centre for Business Tourism, encourage organisation of conferences, business and scientific congresses in Wrocław.

People travelling to Poland more and more often mention Wrocław as a city of a first choice.