Urban transformation of the Old Town in Wrocław during the period of the Polish People’s Republic as a document of political and social changes

Elżbieta Grodzka

doi:10.5277/arc190203

Abstract

The article is a short brief about urban changes in the Old Town in Wrocław during the Polish People’s Republic. Intensive rebuiliding activities have begun at the end of 1940’s. Historical buildings around the Main Square and Solny Square were the first to be reconstructed. However, since 1956 the return to pre-war modernism ideas has been observed. New architecture and urbanism were supposed to be a symbol of new social order and technological progress. Despite of ambitious plans of transforming Wrocław’s city centre into a modern downtown the pace of rebuilding of The Old Town dropped dramatically in the 1970’s and 1980’s. At the end of the communist era in Poland, thanks to the gradual departure from the centrally planned economy, the number of infill buildings in the Old Town has increased considerably.