Wroclaw Market Square

Wroclaw, the capital of Silesia, has one of the most beautiful market squares in Poland, ringed by colourful gabled townhouses and dominated by an ornate Gothic town hall. A city spread across islands and bridges on the Oder, it is famous too for its whimsical hunt: hundreds of tiny bronze dwarf figures hidden across the streets, a beloved local quirk.

History

Around 1232 Duke Henry the Bearded founded the town with its main market square; a second charter followed in 1241-42, and the town's privileges were settled in 1261. The square was laid out on a flat terrace above the Oder floods, lined up with the Via Regia trade route that ran from France and Flanders through Germany and southern Poland to Ruthenia. It was planned as a plaza of 600 by 480 feet with 36 equal house plots around it, and its size has barely changed: today it measures about 205 by 170 metres, some 3.6 hectares (Wikipedia, Market Square, Wrocław).

What you'll find

• The Market Square - the colourful gabled houses and the Gothic town hall.
• The dwarfs - the hundreds of tiny bronze figures to spot around the city.
• Ostrow Tumski - the cathedral island, the oldest part of the city.
• The Centennial Hall - the pioneering concrete UNESCO building nearby.

When to go

Spring to autumn for terraces and the islands; December for a fine Christmas market. Hunting the dwarfs is a fun family activity in any season.

Good to know

The old town is a post-war reconstruction, though a lovely one. The dwarf-hunting is charming but a gimmick some tire of. It is less visited than Krakow, which keeps it pleasantly less crowded.

Nearby

The Centennial Hall and the cathedral island are close; the Lower Silesian countryside spreads around.