Metravel city quest
City Wroclaw: free walking route “Wrocław quest: in search of gnomes” along the sights. 8 points. Approximately 2 h 30 min. Quests and legends - straight from
In Wrocław, you'll follow two routes at once. One takes you through its great history: over a thousand years, the city has been Czech, Austrian, Prussian and German, and after the war it became Polish again. Gothic, Baroque and bold Modernist buildings stand shoulder to shoulder here.
The second route is a secret one. In August 1982, artists from the Orange Alternative began painting little figures in pointed hats on walls, right over the patches the authorities used to cover anti-government slogans. It was peaceful mockery that left the police with nothing to do. Decades later, bronze gnomes have taken over the whole city: there are already more than a thousand, and the number keeps growing. They're on ledges, by doors and under your feet. Today, you're a gnome catcher. At every stop, a true story about the place and a little bronze figure somewhere nearby await you. Spot the gnomes along the way: they accompany the city's history. Let's head to Market Square.
The route points in order — what these places are and why they are interesting. Tasks and answers stay inside the quest.
Market Square is one of Europe's largest medieval marketplaces: almost four hectares framed by colourful merchants' houses.
A little break right along your route: Cegielnia, Stare Miasto, near Market Square. You can have a coffee, catch your breath and carry on.
Świdnicka Street was the Orange Alternative's stage: in June 1988, the “Revolution of the Gnomes” happening took place right here. Thousands of people came out into the street wearing orange pointed hats, and the police arrested “gnomes” as the crowd laughed.
The Gothic St Mary Magdalene Church is famous for the Penitents' Bridge, also called the Witches' Bridge: a narrow passage 45 metres above the ground. The legend tells of frivolous Tekla, who thought only of clothes and amusements.
An optional stop for pleasure rather than puzzles. Some of the best discoveries on a trip happen over a cup of coffee.
Just before Tumski Bridge, on Piasek Island, stands a 4-metre bronze figure of Cardinal Bolesław Kominek in a mitre and a wide mantle — the work of the sculptor Sławoj Ostrowski, a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk.
For many years, it was called the lovers' bridge: couples hung padlocks on the railings and threw the key into the Oder. It ended in a rather down-to-earth way: in 2019, when the bridge closed for repairs, seventeen tonnes of iron were removed, and the city now cuts off new padlocks.
Across the bridge, you're on Cathedral Island, by the Archcathedral of St John the Baptist, Wrocław's main church and the heart of the settlement where the city began. This Gothic giant has burned more than once, and in 1945 it was almost completely destroyed.
This route is part of Metravel city quests. Below are the other quests in this city and cities with quests nearby.
Traveller articles about this city will help round out the walk.