★ History and art · Wrocław and the plainWrocławHundreds of small bronze dwarfs scattered around the city, on pavements, windowsills and in front of shops: hunting for them is a game for young and old.
The storyIn the 1980s a group of students and artists, the Orange Alternative led by Waldemar Fydrych, mocked the communist regime with surreal happenings. When the police painted over anti-government slogans, they painted little dwarfs on the patches. In 2001 the first bronze dwarf, Papa Krasnal, was placed on Świdnicka Street in memory of those protests; since 2005 hundreds more have been added, each with a name and a trade.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Świdnica, Książ and the Owl MountainsKrzeszówA spectacular Baroque complex in a village near the Czech border, called the "pearl of European Baroque", with the mausoleum of the Piast dukes.
The storyThe Cistercians came to Krzeszów in 1292 and in the 18th century rebuilt the abbey in exuberant Baroque, with a twin-towered façade and frescoes by Michael Willmann. During the Second World War the Germans hid part of the Prussian State Library of Berlin in the abbey, with manuscripts by Mozart, Beethoven and Bach. After the war the collection, known as the "Berlinka", was taken to Kraków, where it remains in the Jagiellonian Library.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Świdnica, Książ and the Owl MountainsGłuszycaKilometres of tunnels dug into the rock of the Owl Mountains by Nazi prisoners, for a purpose that is still not known for certain.
The storyFrom 1943 Nazi Germany launched Project Riese, "giant", in the Owl Mountains: seven underground complexes of tunnels and halls, dug by prisoners of war and inmates of the Gross-Rosen camp, thousands of whom died from the labour and hunger. No documents on its purpose have been found: perhaps a headquarters for Hitler, perhaps arms factories safe from the bombing. Work stopped in 1945 with the arrival of the Red Army. Three complexes, Osówka, Rzeczka and Włodarz, can be visited with guides.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · The Giant Mountains and the Jelenia Góra valleyKarpaczA Viking wooden church built in Norway in the 12th-13th century and rebuilt in the Giant Mountains in the mid-19th century.
The storyThe church stood in Vang, Norway, but had become too small and in 1841 was put up for auction to be demolished. It was bought by King Frederick William IV of Prussia, a lover of medieval art, who had it dismantled and shipped to Germany. At the suggestion of Countess Friederike von Reden it was rebuilt in Brückenberg, now Karpacz, for the mountain Protestants, and consecrated in 1844. The oldest parts, the columns and the portals carved with dragons and interlace, are the originals.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Kłodzko LandKudowa-ZdrójA small Baroque chapel whose walls and ceiling are entirely covered with human skulls and bones.
The storyIn 1776 the parish priest Václav Tomášek, helped by the village gravedigger, began collecting the bones of victims of wars and epidemics buried in the surrounding area, from the Thirty Years' War to the Silesian Wars. Over almost thirty years they arranged about three thousand skulls on the walls and thousands more in the crypt. The skulls of the priest and the gravedigger are also kept on the altar. It is one of three chapels of this kind in Europe.
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