You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
70<br />
CENTENNIAL HALL & PARKS<br />
fot. Stanisław Klimek<br />
Once you’ve finished ogling the Old Town and Ostrów Tumski,<br />
there’s one more district of this fine city that visitors will be<br />
poorer heading home without having seen. Just east of the<br />
city centre lie a clutch of outdoor attractions surrounding<br />
Szczynicki Park and the Centennial Exhibition Complex,<br />
including Wrocław’s only UNESCO site, the country’s oldest<br />
zoo, the Japanese Garden and the city’s latest ‘tell-me-thatyou-love-me’<br />
tourist lure, the Pergola Fountain. <strong>In</strong>tended as a<br />
city showpiece since its creation, the area east of the Odra<br />
long held a somewhat lukewarm public standing thanks to<br />
dubious historical connotations and debatable aesthetic<br />
appeal; however recent renovations, the UNESCO nod and<br />
the addition of the magnificent multimedia fountain have<br />
made it a favourite place of locals and cemented its place<br />
as a Wrocław must-see.<br />
Zoo I-4, ul. Wróblewskiego 1-5, tel. (+48) 71 348 30 24,<br />
www.zoo.wroclaw.pl. Cross the picturesque Zwierzyniecki<br />
Bridge (I-4) and you find yourself immediately alongside the<br />
cagey enclosure of the Wrocław Zoological Gardens. A product<br />
of the city’s dynamic development in the late 19th century,<br />
Wrocław’s zoo dates back to 1865 and became the oldest<br />
in the country when Poland inherited it after World War II.<br />
Suffering severe wartime damage, many of the zoo’s elegant<br />
historic buildings were reconstructed and can be found in the<br />
southern part of the park. With over 6000 critters of some<br />
600 different species, the zoo is one of Wrocław’s most visited<br />
attractions and provides foreigners with an opportunity to pick<br />
up a few phrases from one of the only Polish-speaking macaws<br />
in the world (making good money on the side as a voice talent<br />
for Polish dubovers of Disney flicks). Q Open 09:00 - 18:00,<br />
Sat, Sun 09:00 - 19:00. From October open 09:00 - 17:00.<br />
From November open 09:00 - 16:00. Last entrance 1 hour<br />
before closing. Admission 25/15zł. From November (exact<br />
date unknown) 20/10zł.<br />
Iglica (Spire) I-4, Hala Stulecia, ul. Wystawowa 1.<br />
Leaving the animal house antics of the zoo, turn onto ulica<br />
Wystawowa (Exhibition Street) and you’ll soon find yourself<br />
staring down the Centennial Hall promenade, including the<br />
ivy-covered columns leading to the towering Iglica monument<br />
and with monolithic Centennial Hall behind it (I-4, ul.<br />
Wystawowa 1).<br />
The iconic 96 metre tall steel spire Iglica (The Spire) was<br />
erected on the Centennial Hall exhibition grounds in 1948<br />
as part of the propagandic ‘Recovered Territories Exhibition.’<br />
Meant to symbolise the soaring achievements of the<br />
country’s newly acquired western territories since they were<br />
‘returned’ to Communist Poland, like many of the Party’s<br />
ideas, this one quickly went wrong. Originally 106 metres,<br />
Iglica’s peak was adorned with a spinning contraption of<br />
mirrors which would create a dazzling ‘umbrella of light’ at<br />
night. The apparatus was ominously struck by lightning only<br />
hours after completion with much of it crashing to the ground<br />
in dazzling catastrophe. The remaining dangling bits posed<br />
quite a hazard to the expected thousands who would attend<br />
the exhibition. To the rescue came two college students who<br />
were part of a climbing club and volunteered to dismantle the<br />
top of the structure for free after the military proved unable<br />
to sort the situation due to the inclement weather. Scaling<br />
the Iglica took 24 hours and 15 minutes, dismantling it another<br />
six, but the boys succeeded in becoming heroes of the<br />
enormous media spectacle. <strong>In</strong> 1964, the spire was reduced<br />
by 10 metres for safety reasons. During Martial Law, another<br />
daredevil climbed the tower and attached a Solidarity flag to<br />
its zenith. Today the ugly ribbed structure continues to stand<br />
outside Centennial Hall (Hala Stulecia) and is probably one<br />
of the tallest pieces of useless bolted metal in the world.<br />
Centennial Hall & Discovery Centre (Hala Stulecia)<br />
I-4, ul. Wystawowa 1, tel. (+48) 71 347 51 02,<br />
www.halastulecia.pl. With Wrocław developing rapidly in<br />
the late 19th century it was determined that the city required<br />
an exhibition hall and the hundred year anniversary of Napoleon’s<br />
defeat at the Battle of Leipzig (1813) was deemed a<br />
timely occasion for an expensive, over-the-top exhibition hall<br />
that would figuratively flex the architectural muscle of the German<br />
Nation. Max Berg, who had been appointed as official<br />
city architect in 1909, quickly set about designing his careerpiece,<br />
and (what-do-ya-know?) his proposal was chosen over<br />
42 others by city council despite abject objection from almost<br />
everyone who laid eyes on the design, which resembled a<br />
colossal concrete hatbox and would cost an enormous 1.9<br />
million Reichmarks. Teaming with eminent architect Hans<br />
Poelzig, the two personally oversaw the project which was<br />
completed in 1913 and has become one of the most important<br />
architectural monuments of the early 20th century. With<br />
an inner diameter of 69 metres, a height of 42 metres and<br />
a 10,000 person capacity, the Jahrhunderthalle (as it was<br />
called) became the highest structure of its type in the world;<br />
that type being a gigantic multi-purpose structure of radial<br />
reinforced concrete ribs unlike anything the world had ever<br />
seen. Though routinely left off lists of the world’s most attractive<br />
buildings, one thing is undeniable: the Centennial Hall is<br />
an engineering marvel. Building a structure of such size out<br />
of steel and concrete was both revolutionary and extremely<br />
daring; in fact the workers that helped build the behemoth<br />
were afraid to go inside, so certain were they of its eventual<br />
collapse. On the contrary, the Centennial Hall has inexplicably<br />
survived two world wars and has in recent years hosted large<br />
scale events including monumental operas, sporting events<br />
and large concerts. It was here that Adolf Hitler held rallies<br />
and Pope John Paul II held services during his famous visit in<br />
1997. With the success of the Centennial Exhibition under its<br />
Wrocław <strong>In</strong> <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> wroclaw.inyourpocket.com<br />
belt, the Jahrhunderthalle was to host an even more intriguing<br />
exhibition following World War II. Renamed ‘Hala Ludowa’<br />
(the People’s Hall), the exhibition centre became the site of<br />
the People’s Republic of Poland’s ‘Recovered Territories<br />
Exhibition’. The most expensive and publicised propaganda<br />
event in the history of Poland, in the many decades following<br />
1948’s Recovered Territories Exhibition and the coinciding<br />
<strong>In</strong>ternational Congress of <strong>In</strong>tellectuals, the Centennial Hall<br />
complex continued to occasionally host large-scale events,<br />
but until recently hadn’t really lived up to its UNESCO-listed<br />
reputation for locals and tourists alike, with busloads of the<br />
latter often standing in front of the concrete monstrosity<br />
wondering how difficult it would be to get the pants they’re<br />
wearing to qualification for the once exclusive list.<br />
However, that’s no longer the case. Following a large-scale<br />
renovation, Centennial Hall has been scrubbed clean and a<br />
new interior exhibit not only transforms the structure from a<br />
dubious photo-op to a bona fide tourist attraction, but also<br />
does much to explain and justify its reputation as a modern<br />
architectural masterpiece. Known as the Discovery Centre<br />
(Centrum Poznawcze), this new exhibition gives visitors an<br />
overview of Centennial Hall’s construction, its history and<br />
its place in the pantheon of modern architecture. Most of<br />
the information is conveyed via nifty touch-screen displays<br />
covering topics as varied as Breslau architects, skyscrapers,<br />
various world exhibitions, Polish UNESCO sites, and a lot more<br />
related to architecture and Wrocław specifically. <strong>In</strong> addition<br />
to the permanent exhibit, Discovery Centre includes a gallery<br />
for temporary exhibitions and the option of a light and sound<br />
show under the dome. Using video-mapping technology, the<br />
dome of the Hall comes to life with a stunningly complex and<br />
precise light show that emphasises the uniqueness of the<br />
structure and is creatively choreographed to original music.<br />
Between the light show, the computerised displays of the<br />
permanent exhibit and the adjacent Wrocław Fountain - there<br />
is some serious multimedia wizardry in this corner of town<br />
that is sure to delight architect buffs and technophiles alike.<br />
Despite its size (the permanent exhibition only covers two<br />
small rooms), there is much to learn and discover, so allot<br />
at least two hours for your visit. Q Open 10:00 - 19:00, Fri,<br />
Sat 10:00 - 21:30. From November open 10:00 - 18:00, Sat,<br />
Sun 11:00 - 19:00. Please note that the Discovery Centre<br />
is closed to visitors during frequent special events and concerts;<br />
check ahead. Discovery Centre: 12/9zł, permanent<br />
exhibit plus gallery 14/11zł, permanent exhibit plus gallery<br />
and light show 19/15zł.<br />
Wrocław Fountain I-4, ul. Wystawowa 1, www.wroclawskafontanna.pl.<br />
Hang a left from in front of the main<br />
entrance to the Centennial Hall and you’ll find yourself a<br />
witness to one of the most magnificent attractions Wrocław<br />
has to offer. Unveiled on June 4, 2009, in honour of the 20th<br />
anniversary of the first free elections in post-war Poland,<br />
Wrocław showed off one of the most stunning attractions<br />
in the country - a whiz-bang multimedia fountain of which<br />
only a few exist in the world. Wrocław’s new toy projects<br />
water up to 40 metres high through an array of 300 different<br />
nozzles which have the ability to rotate, gyrate, pulse<br />
and even create a 700 square metre screen of water on<br />
which animated projections can be displayed; all the while<br />
music orchestrates the show through the park’s speakers.<br />
Equipped with 800 lights of varying size and power, the<br />
Wrocław Fountain even has pyrotechnic capabilities with<br />
fireworks and lasers implausibly shooting out of the large<br />
semicircle basin next to Hala Ludowa. The result is one of<br />
the most dazzling, delightful displays of light, sound and<br />
water you’ll ever see, and has been immensely popular with<br />
crowds of over 20,000 coming out in its early weeks for the<br />
regular evening extravaganzas. Nothing puts a stamp on<br />
wroclaw.inyourpocket.com<br />
CENTENNIAL HALL & PARKS<br />
the end of communism like indulging in some outrageously<br />
expensive gadgetry; indeed, the cost of running this show<br />
on a regular basis must be enormous, but you can see<br />
it for free from May until the end of October (daily on the<br />
hour from 10:00 to 22:00). Performances vary from 3.5 to<br />
18 minutes with a short or long programme of classical<br />
music (Wagner, Beethoven) on some hours, and modern<br />
music (Apocalyptica, Faith No More) on the others. The real<br />
stunners however are after dark on Friday and Saturday,<br />
when the full functionality of the fountain is on display,<br />
including lights. If you visit between November and April<br />
you’ll miss the fountain unfortunately but you can still take<br />
advantage of the area as the space is transformed into a<br />
skating rink for the winter. For more programme specifics,<br />
visit the official website.<br />
Japanese Garden (Ogród Japoński) I-4, ul. Mickiewicza<br />
(Park Szczytnicki), tel. (+48) 71 328 66 11.<br />
Just north of the Centennial Hall, the Japanese Garden was<br />
established in 1913 as part of the Artistic Gardening Exhibition<br />
which accompanied the centennial celebrations and was<br />
originally the work of Count Fritz von Hochberg and Mankichi<br />
Arai. Despite its own share of devastation, including the<br />
particularly cruel flood of 1997(see History) which occurred<br />
only two months after a long restoration project (thanks in<br />
part to the generosity of the Japanese Embassy in Warsaw),<br />
the arrangement of the garden and its system of small<br />
streams are part of its nearly hundred year old legacy. Two<br />
symbolic water cascades which merge into one large pond<br />
comprise the main attractions of the exquisitely manicured<br />
gardens - one of the most tranquil escapes in the city. Q<br />
Open 09:00 - 19:00. Closed from November. Re-opens in<br />
April. Admission 3/1.50zł.<br />
Szczytnicki Park I-3/4. A stroll away from the colonnades<br />
of the pond area puts you in Szczytnicki Park (I-3/4),<br />
the oldest and largest recreation space in the city. Covering<br />
115 hectares and laid out in 1785, the once well-groomed<br />
former estate park suffered devastation during the Napoleonic<br />
Wars and WWII and today largely resembles a natural<br />
landscape within the city borders. While there, keep your<br />
eyes peeled for the small Church of St. John of Nepomuk<br />
- a marvellous 14th century wooden church moved to the<br />
park from the Opole region and miraculously undamaged<br />
during the war.<br />
Getting There<br />
The easiest way to reach Szczytnicki Park and the Centennial<br />
Exhibition Complex is via public transport. From<br />
the city centre hop on trams 1, 2, 4 or 10; alternatively<br />
take buses 145 or 146 east.<br />
September - December 2012<br />
71