Wrocław University and Aula Leopoldina

Address Plac Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wrocław

The main building of the University of Wrocław is one of the great pieces of Habsburg baroque architecture in Poland. The 13th-century university was reconstituted by the Emperor Leopold I in 1702, and the building dates from that period; the long facade on the Odra has been a Wrocław landmark for three centuries.

The standout interior is the Aula Leopoldina, an exuberant baroque assembly hall covered floor to ceiling with paintings and sculptures glorifying the Habsburg dynasty. The Mathematical Tower above it, used historically for astronomy, gives one of the best views over the old town and Ostrów Tumski.

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A story
The Aula Leopoldina was almost destroyed in the last weeks of the war when retreating German forces planned to blow up the entire university complex. Local volunteers — including German civilians as well as Polish forced labourers — smuggled the dynamite out at night and replaced it with sand, saving the hall.

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