Ostrów Tumski is the oldest and most historic part of Wrocław. It includes the Late Romanesque Church of St. Idzi dating back to the early 13th century, and the church-with-legend Kluska Gate, the oldest fully preserved building in Wroclaw. Ostrów Tumski is also home to St. Martin’s Church, a remnant of the princely castle of the Silesian Piasts from the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries.

St. John the Baptist Cathedral. St. John the Baptist It was built in Gothic style on the site where smaller churches had previously stood. In the spring of 1945, during the fighting for Festung Breslau, the cathedral was destroyed. Its reconstruction took many years. Today the temple serves as the “mother of churches” of Lower Silesia. A few years ago, the silver altar, founded by Bishop Andreas Jerin in 1591, returned to its place. Its construction cost 10 thousand thalers.

The altar in 1945 was dismantled and hidden from the advancing Red Army. Only a few years ago it turned out that quite a few of its elements had survived in the cathedral treasury. As of December 2019, it can be admired again. Interesting fact: among the figures in one of the paintings, the image of the founder Andreas Jerin was fixed. His face can also be seen on the medallion, on the altar and on the bust in the chancel of the temple.

A unique building, too, is the Archbishop’s Palace, called the Sufragan Palace. The building was built in the 13th century and has been rebuilt many times. It owes its current shape to a Baroque-style reconstruction after a fire in 1766. It did not become the actual seat of the bishops until after 1945.

Almost every building you meet on your way through the narrow streets of Ostrów Tumski, phenomenally illuminated in the evening by a row of gas lamps on both sides of the walkway, breathes the spirit of ancient times. Among the trees overgrowing the old island, buildings with several centuries of history, there is a truly romantic atmosphere, which is especially shared by lovers, who leave a trace of themselves in the form of padlocks pinned to the Tumski Bridge. After an unhurried and relaxing stroll, it’s worth visiting the Archdiocesan Museum on the former cathedral island, whose most valuable exhibit is the Book of Henrykow, which contains the first sentence written in the Polish language – a monument inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World list.

Next to the cathedral is the Infocenter tourist information center.

Ostrów Tumski

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