University of Wroclaw

Adam Chmielewski with his assistant at main entrance to the university

Image of university

Central pulpit in university hall with bust of Friedrich the Great at the other end

Theodor Mommsen as first Nobel Prize Winner

"An important thing to remember in this context is that Theodor Mommsen, who was the first Breslauer to get the Nobel Prize, wrote his book on the ancient history when he was a professor at Breslau University." - Adam Chmielewski, 20.1.2011

Besides Mommsen there lectured many great scientists and philosophers at the university, including Niels Bohr. Interestingly enough whether archaeologists, anthropologists, art historians etc. many of them ended up going to Humboldt University in Berlin.

Also, quite a surprise was that the Journalist Kapuscinski received not only a honorary doctorate from the University of Wroclaw but he taught also Adam Chmielewski to write. It must have been like a joint emancipation for a mere journalist way of writing as Kapuscinski turned to literary writing once he realized with journalist writing he could not get far enough to phantom the truth of all the upheavals in Ethiopia. That became the book with the German title "Koenige der Koenige" (kings of kings).

Part of the university was heavily destroyed towards the end of Second World War. With much effort it was managed to restore the university to what it had been before. Whether stair cases or invaluable stuck sometimes restoration could rely on photos taken by German soldiers prior to the destruction in order to know how the pieces fit together or what was the color of the countless wall portraits.

Cultural heritage in an intellectual, equally intangible sense has something to do with critical memory work and being an an open university with the first director of the university after 1945 continuing the work of the previous director who was Polish but served under the Germans.

In memory of Brahms who loved to play his music in the second auditorium of the university

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