Question: When is a gnome not a diminutive, magical humanoid but, instead, an alternative way of opposition against an authoritarian regime by means of a peaceful protest using absurd and nonsensical elements?
Answer: When you’re in the city of Wroclaw, Lower Silesia, Poland and, we happen to be there “right now”. Nightlife shenanigans in Kraków have left us physically drained so we should take things conservatively, let’s see how that goes.
The apartment is right by the main Market Square (Rynek Glowny), which dates back to the 13th Century and, as we get there, it’s a Friday 5pm, it’s a beautiful evening and the party is getting started so, here we go again. Wroclaw, pronounced ”Vrotzwahv” (maybe), is an amazingly young city with 22% of the total population of 640,000 being students due to the presence of Wroclaw University, The Institute of Technology and a score of other colleges. My friend and business partner Dr. Zbyszek Radzimski grew up here and worked at the Technology Institute and that’s the main reason Wroclaw is on our itinerary. He’s back on the West Coast of the USA at the moment but has us well set up with information and friends to show us around.
We meet up the next morning with Dr. Maria Kiswa a colleague of his and she, graciously, orients us to the city which starts by her racing up the 300ft tower of the Gothic St. Elizabeth’s Church with us trailing behind. If you live in the Old Town of a European city you walk a lot, there are many stairs and few elevators, a perfect combination for developing excellent hill climbing skills. Of course, there is a panoramic view of the city and beyond from the top to plan out our time here.
Maria takes us through the Market Hall, which has an excellent selection of farmer and craft stalls. Can anyone tell us why most European countries have better produce, for the most part, that’s what’s available in US stores? Also, this building has the first application of reinforced concrete trusses in Europe and they look quite attractive too!
We take a quick look at the fantastic excesses of the interior of the baroque Church of St. Anne on the way to Maria’s apartment which is in the oldest tenement building on the main square and looks directly at the Town Hall and into the Town Council meeting room itself. Maria, who’s lived in that building since 1963, is working with the city to get improvements made, but everything has to be done using highly expensive legacy techniques and materials so it’s a bit of a nightmare.
If you’ve never seen a cycloramic painting, Wroclaw is your city. The Raclawice Panorama is a 15×114 meter painting covering the walls of a custom designed building with lighting and artificial terrain to create a feeling of reality. It commerates a Polish victory in 1794 during the Kosciusko uprising against the Russian occupiers. The insurrection eventually failed but Poland’s had a hard time of it over the centuries and such victories are still celebrated even now.
Talking about tough times, and back to the Gnomes, they are all over the city in numbers too many to count. Is this just a twee marketing ploy by the city? Partially, perhaps, but mainly they are a nod to the Orange Alternative an anti-Soviet resistance movement born in this city that used dwarves as its symbol and helped topple the communist regime in the 80s. Starting as surrealist street art of simple dwarf images it grew into “Rights for Dwarves” marches, 10,000 people in orange cone-shaped hats chanting “Freedom for the Dwarves” and went from there. Early in this century a bronze statue of a large dwarf, Papa Dwarf, to be exact was placed on Swidnicka St. (where we stayed) and now there are more than 100 scattered around the city up to various everyday activities. Come and do the Gnome Trail.
Music is everywhere and we catch a free Mendelssohn chorale concert in the town hall and some Italian/Spanish folk/jazz at the Vertigo club. (No Bono that night).
On the last day Maria takes us to the “Conspira” restaurant which recreates the Soviet 80s and Wroclaw’s role in the Soliarity movement which brought down the regime. There’s a hidden room which recreates a Polish apartment of the time and, among the many photos is one of Maria’s Mother. Living through history, indeed.
Time’s up in Wroclaw but we’d be happy to return in the future. The Czech Republic is next on the list but I am sick as a dog. Probably should have seen a doctor here – Such is life on the road.
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