Flaminio Gundy

Wroklaw Flaminio Gundy

Wroclaw is the historical capital of Silesia, on the banks of the Oder River. In various eras it was part of Poland, Bohemia, Prussia and Germany. Only in 1945, at the end of the Second World War, it returned to Poland. Silesia, border region between Slavic and Germanic peoples for a long time, it was the scene of serious conflicts which culminated in the twentieth century with the tragic Nazi and Communist persecutions against the relative political opposition. The anti-Communist movements of the eighties were remembered by the numerous gnome statues that replaced graffiti written on the walls of the city in contempt of the power imposed by Soviet domination. Now those bronze statues that represent nice figures engaged in normal daily activities are become the symbol of Wroclaw. Even the 14 bronze statues that sink and re-emerge near a crossing of center want to remember the martial law proclaimed by General Jaruzelski in 1981 and revoked two years later. Wroclaw is a Polish city still little known to mass tourism, but these pictures testify to the presence of a noble architecture that deserves to be known and appreciated more, thanks also to the romantic banks of the Oder River which reflect the intense swirl of its colors.