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Wrocław, ( in southwestern Poland , situated on the Oder River (Odra). As of 2004 , the city's population was estimated to be 638,000. It is the principal city of the Lower Silesia region and the administrative seat of the Lower Silesian Voivodship (since 1999 ), previously of Wrocław Voivodship . The city is also a separate city-county. ETYMOLOGY Wrocław was first recorded in as ''in Wrezlawe''. Early records show that the medieval city name was ''Wrocisław'' in Polish, ''Vratislav'' in Czech, or ''Prezla'' in . The Czech spelling was used in Latin documents, ''Wratislavia'' or ''Vratislavia'', but Polish pronunciation was also influential as shown in the spelling of ''Wracislavia''. The German version of the name —Breslau— was used as the official name when the city was a major city in eastern Germany. The city is traditionally believed to be named after a person called Wrocisław/Vratislaw, although it is unclear what, if any, connection exists to a Czech Duke called Vratislav I . It is also possible the city was named after the tribal duke of the Silesians, or after the early owner of the city, called Vratislav. The name of the city may be an issue among German and Polish nationalists. Despite claims that the use of ''Breslau'' is considered as highly unpopular or even offensive among the present Polish inhabitants, the city's website says ''Willkommen in Wrocław/Breslau'' in its German version {Link without Title} , and uses only ''Breslau'' in the following text. Names used in other languages:
HISTORY Feudal era Source: http://www.breslau-wroclaw.de ]] Situated at a long existing trading place, a city was first recorded in the 10th Century as ''Vratislavia'' (Wratislaw) (the origin of its various later names) after Vratislav I . The settlement was conquered by the Piast duke Mieszko I in the 990s . Already a place of some importance, it became the capital of Silesia in 1138 , where Silesians had founded a settlement south of the river. During the Mongol Invasion in 1241 most of the population of the city was evacuated. The settlement was then sacked and burned by the Mongols, but they had no time to besiege the Castle where the rest of the burghers found refuge. Documents of the time refer to the town by many variants of the name, including ''Bresslau'', ''Presslau'', ''Breslau'' and Wratislaw. The restored Wrocław town was given Magdeburg Rights in 1262 . The first illustration of the city was published in the '' Schedelsche Weltchronik '' in 1493 . Under direct overlordship of the Holy Roman Empire , the emperors granted government positions to members of various ducal and royal dynasties. The city was a member of the Hanseatic League of northern Europe an trading cities. During much of the Middle Ages Wrocław was ruled by its Dukes from the Piast dynasty. Although the city was not part of its principality, the bishop of Breslau was a Prince-bishop since Bishop Preczlaus of Pogarell (1341-1376) bought the Duchy of Grottkau from Duke Bolesław of Brieg and added it to the episcopal territory of Neisse , after this the bishops of Breslau had the titles of Prince of Neisse and Duke of Grottkau, and took precedence of the other Silesian rulers. In 1335 , it was incorporated with almost the entirety of Silesia into the Kingdom of Bohemia and was part of it until the 1740s ; from 1526 , it was ruled by the Empire's Habsburg dynasty. By this time the inhabitants, although often of Polish ancestory, had become mainly German in speech. The overwhelming majority became Lutheran Protestants during the Reformation , but they were forcibly suppressed during the Catholic Reformation by the Jesuits , who were working with the support of the Habsburg rulers. After the extinction of local Piast rulers in 1675 , the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria inherited Wrocław. They resorted to forceful conversion of the city to back to Catholicism . During the War Of The Austrian Succession in the 1740s , Silesia was annexed by the Kingdom Of Prussia . Prussia's claims were derived from the agreement, rejected by Habsburgs, between the Piast rulers of the Duchy and the Hohenzollern s who secured the Prussian succession after the extinction of the Piasts. Modern history After the demise of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 , Prussia became member of German Confederation with only all these territories inhabited by Germans. In 1813 the King of Prussia, Frederick William III gave a speech "''An mein Volk''" ("to my people") at Breslau as a signal that Prussia will join Russia in fighting Napoleon . Two years before, in 1811 , the ''Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität'' ( Breslau University ) was reestablished. In 1871 Germany was unified. Breslau became the sixed largest city of Germany and a major industrial centre, notably of linen and cotton manufacture, more than tripling in population between 1860 and 1910 to over half a million. Its municipal boundaries were greatly extended in 1928 . Many of the city's 10,000 Jew s were killed during the Nazi genocide of World War II . When the Red Army approached in February 1945 , Breslau was declared a Fortress and much of the population was evacuated, although some 200,000 remained. To build fortifications, Slave Labour was needed to augment civilian workers, and Concentration Camp prisoners were forced to help. In the course of the Battle Of Breslau , the city was almost totally destroyed. After a siege of nearly three months, "Festung Breslau" surrendered on ) in order to construct a military airfield that was supposed to re-supply the city. An unknown number of German civilians and slave labourers died constructing the airfield. Like almost all of Silesia, Breslau was placed under Polish administration according to the terms of the agreement reached at the Potsdam Conference . Most of the surviving German inhabitants were expelled to one of the post-war German states between 1945 and 1949 or left voluntarily. However, as with other Lower Silesian cities a considerable German presence remained until the late 1950s . In fact, the last German school in the city was not closed until 1963 . Wrocław was resettled by Poles either from the small towns and villages of central Poland or those expelled by the Soviets from territories lost by Poland to the USSR. Many of these were from Lwów (now L'viv, Ukraine ), Wilno (now Vilnius , Lithuania ) and Grodno (now Hrodna , Belarus ). Gradually the old city was restored to its beauty. Nearly all of the monumental buildings were preserved. Now it is a uniquely European city of present-day Poland, with its architecture echoing that in Austria, Bohemia, or Prussia. Wrocław's Gothic style is originally Silesian; its Baroque style owes much to court builders of Habsburg Austria ( Fischer Von Erlach , Ch. Tausch ); and Wrocław still has a number of buildings by eminent German Modernist architects, such as Hans Poelzig or Max Berg , the famous ''Jahrhunderthalle'' ( Hala Ludowa ) by Berg ( 1911 – 13 ) being the most important. In July 1997 , the city was hit by a severe flooding of the Oder River. In 2005, the city was hit by a freak storm that felled a number of trees and killed three people. The storm was local and did not affect any other major cities. Significant events in the 20th century External links with photo galleries, mostly in Polish
Historical population 1800: 64,500 inhabitants 1831: 89,500 inhabitants 1850: 114,000 inhabitants 1852: 121,100 inhabitants 1880: 272,900 inhabitants 1900: 422,700 inhabitants 1910: 510,000 inhabitants 1925: 555,200 inhabitants 1933: 625,198 inhabitants 1939: 629,565 inhabitants 1946: 171,000 inhabitants 1956: 400,000 inhabitants 1960: 431,800 inhabitants 1967: 487,700 inhabitants 1970: 526,000 inhabitants 1975: 579,900 inhabitants 1980: 617,700 inhabitants 1990: 640,577 inhabitants 1999: 650,000 inhabitants 2003: 638,000 inhabitants NOTABLE PLACES AND BUILDINGS
PROMINENT PEOPLE FROM WROCłAW
Nobel Prize laureates from Wrocław ''listed chronologically, by year of award''
EDUCATION Today's Wrocław has ten state-run universities, including:
as well as numerous private institutions of higher education, including ECONOMY AND TRANSPORTATION Wrocław's major industries were traditionally the manufacture of railroad cars and electronics. The city is served by Wrocław International Airport and a River Port . Major corporations
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS Wrocław constituency Members of Parliament ( Sejm ) elected from Wrocław constituency:
Administrative divisions Wrocław is divided into five boroughs, called ''dzielnice'':
Municipal politics ((yet to be written)) SPORTS There are many popular professional sports teams in the Wrocław area. The most popular sport today is probably Basketball , thanks to Idea Śląsk Wrocław , the award-winning men's basketball team (former Polish champions, 2nd place in 2004 ). Amateur sports are played by thousands of Wrocław citizens and also in schools of all levels. Men's professional teams
Women's professional teams
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
SOURCES AND REFERENCES
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