At the exhibition of photos by Adam Feliks Czelny in the Town Hall the visitors will see well-known buildings, although their surroundings can be a surprise. We have the opportunity to explore the city's history until August 30.
Breslau after the siege, Wroclaw after the war
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. In 1945 people began to return to their homelands, or travelled to completely new, as in the case of Wroclaw, which found herself in the Recovered Territories. However, those who came to the city at the time experienced a real shock, because the 12-week siege of Breslau by the Soviet Army was the direct cause of the colossal damage of Wroclaw, previously almost untouched by the war. It's enough to say that out of 30,000 homes, 21,000 turned into ruins.
Photos of the city from 70 years ago
Poles were to live among the ruins. Today, those days adaptation and reconstruction of Wroclaw are well documented by the photographs of Adam Feliks Czelny, collected in the Department of Wroclaw History in Wroclaw Municipal Museum. The exhibition will present many works not shown previously, taken by the author in the postwar city. The photographer was born in Gorlitz, studied in Warsaw before the war (film cinematography), and later mostly photographed. He saw Wroclaw for the first time in 1947, when he arrived here from Gdansk as a documentarian immortalising the reconstruction of the city. Not only did he work in Wroclaw (his photographs were published in, among others, "Wroclaw Illustrated Courier" and "Workers' Newspaper"), but he settled and lived here until his death in 1992 as well.
Today, the photographs of Adam Feliks Czelny are of not only artistic value. First and foremost, they are priceless evidence of Wroclaw's rebirth from the ashes. It is also a teaching aid for artists and architects, historians and enthusiasts Wroclaw.
The exhibition in the Town Hall runs until August
The exhibition "Was This Even Possible? The Post-War Wroclaw in the Lens of Adam Feliks Czelny" will run from 30 May to 30 August in the Town Hall. Tickets cost 7 and 10 PLN. A catalogue is also available (with 240 photographs inside).
