Centennial Hall, Wroclaw

Max Berg finished the Hala Stulecia in 1913 and it changed what people thought concrete could do. A ribbed dome spans some sixty-five metres over a round hall with tiered seating and rings of glazing, built without steel framing of the usual kind, and it held the record for a span of its type for years afterwards. UNESCO listed it in 2006 as a landmark of modern engineering. The grounds around it were laid out at the same time: a huge curving pergola of timber and climbing plants, a pond that now carries a fountain with evening water and light shows, and a Japanese garden made for the same exhibition.

What you actually see

• The dome from inside - concrete ribs rising to a glazed lantern over the round hall.
• The pergola - a long curving timber colonnade of climbing plants enclosing the pond.
• The fountain - programmed water shows on the pond through the warm months.
• The Japanese garden - the small landscaped garden laid out for the 1913 exhibition.

When to go

May to September, when the fountain runs and the pergola is in leaf. Fountain shows are timed and the late evening ones with light are the ones worth waiting for. The hall itself is only open to look at when no event is booked, and concerts and fairs close it without much notice, so check on the day.

Honest expectations

It is a working venue first and a monument second, so you may arrive to find the interior shut for a trade fair or a concert set-up. The exhibition inside is modest for the ticket. The surroundings are ordinary parkland with wide roads and car parks, and the walk from the old town is longer than it looks on a map.

Nearby

The zoo and its large aquarium building sit across the road, and the Oder river islands lie back towards the centre.