This fountain was installed in Wroclaw’s market square in 1996 and was designed to show the modernity of granite and glass against the city’s historic buildings. It’s quite an impactful structure and I had thought it was rather more modern than it actually was. All very lovely.
This was one of the easiest journeys to the top of a church or cathedral tower in Poland, primarily because there were no steps and instead there was a handily located lift. I think this is mostly because the cathedral was badly damaged during the Second World War, so when the building was reconstructed it was relatively easy to install a lift.
So, some photos from the top….
The city’s market hall building is a spectacular piece of engineering, constructed between 1906 and 1908. The building was designed by Richard Plüddemann and Heinrich Küster, at a time when Wroclaw was part of the German Empire and was known as Breslau.
Through some piece of good fortune, this was one of the buildings which wasn’t damaged during the Second World War, so it re-opened again soon after the end of the conflict. Other than for some repairs and improvements made between 1980 and 1983, it remains broadly as it would have been 100 years ago.
When I visited the hall it was relatively busy, with most people appearing to be locals buying their produce. In some cities I get the impression that the majority of people there are tourists who are more interested in taking photos than making any purchases from the stalls. I must admit that this was what I was doing, although I did buy something from one of the hot food stands at least on this occasion.
There were several of these photos on boards around Wroclaw, so visitors could stand in the same place as the original photograph had been taken.
The location today. There was a period when “then and now” books were really popular, it’s a shame that this concept hasn’t been used in more cities to help bring the past to life a little.
