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The Guardian | Saturday 28 March 2015
Indian visa red tape
City break
Under new rules, anyone travelling to
India – including children – now has to
apply for their visa in person.
For details and to book appointments
visit hcilondon.in
7
The spirit of resistance is alive and
well in the post-punk underground of
Wrocław, Poland’s fourth-largest city,
set to be European Capital of Culture in
2016. James Hopkin goes underground
An alternative
Poland
H
ubert the anarchist
is showing me
around Centrum
Reanimacji
Kultury (CRK),
a non-profit postpunk commune
epitomising
the spirit of resistance in Wrocław
(pronounced “Vrots-wav”), Poland’s
fourth largest city. CRK’s courtyard is
covered in street art, including early
work by Mariusz Waras (aka M-City),
and from rehearsal rooms I can hear
violinists playing music that reminds
me of Warsaw Village Band.
Inspired by London’s Reclaim the
Streets collective, Hubert set about
developing this “DIY social/cultural
centre” in Nadodrze, a downbeat
former industrial area. Nowadays, he
focuses on his band, Kurws, and, as
a cultural activist, on protecting the
right to drink alcohol outdoors on this
city-centre island between two arms of
the Oder river – home to summer gigs
and screenings. Until recently, it was
the only place in Poland where it was
legal to drink in the open.
Next year, Wrocław becomes
European Capital of Culture and World
Book Capital City, and Hubert wants
to see some of the funding these
events will attract going to Nadodrze:
“Wrocław 2016 must leave a legacy for
areas such as this, too – and not blow
all the money on fireworks.’’
Under communist rule, Wrocław
was the “fortress of Solidarity”, the
centre of resistance when Poland’s
epoch-making trade union was
made illegal under martial law in the
early 1980s, and that spirit remains
in these post-punk venues, and in
former breweries in big German hofs
(courtyards), an architectural legacy
of Wrocław’s time as German Breslau.
It’s also there in the city’s alternative
theatres, from the radical Song of the
Goat Theatre to the acclaimed Teatr
Polski and the Capitol musical theatre.
Here are a few other places that keep
that spirit alive.
while inside Apteka (pharmacy) and
Kino (cinema) signs carry photographs
showing their original locations. At
weekends, DJs play ambient tunes.
• facebook.com/neonside, Sun-Thurs
3pm-midnight, Fri-Sat 3pm-about 4am
Browar Mieszczanski
This former brewery in a post-industrial
zone 15 minutes from the centre has a
village-like vibe. There are concerts,
exhibitions, and artists’ and film studios
within atmospheric halls of abandoned
vats, peeling paint and rust. On Sundays,
add a food market, bands, handicrafts,
and Polish nibbles and beers.
• rowar.wroc.pl, facebook.com/pages/
browar-mieszcza
Konspira: Restaurant and
Historical Education Centre
Just off Solny Square, this
restaurant recreates the Wrocław
of the Solidarity era, its candlelit
brickwork lined with riot
shields, political cartoons and
newspaper cuttings bearing
witness to the martial law of
the early 1980s. Menus present
information about Solidarity, as well
as dishes such as “anti-communist
pierogi’’ and ‘‘Workman’s Dinner’’ –
chicken or pork with roast potatoes and
salad (from £3.85), and a fine selection
of bottled Mirosław beers (£1.40).
Profits go to local social projects.
• konspira.org, Sun-Weds midday10pm, Thurs-Sat midday-11pm
Polish Posters
Art Café Kalambur
With its stained-glass, art-deco
mirrors, dark panelling, booths and
half a spiral staircase, the Kalumbur is
a vision of bohemian late-night society.
Weekend DJs play everything from
1930s swing to bossa nova to indie, so
expect dancing until the small hours
for a student and arty crowd. Be aware
that it’s one of two places in the centre
where smoking is allowed; the other
is Kawiarnia Literatka cafe in the main
square.
• facebook.com/kalamburem, Sun-Thurs
midday-2am, Fri-Sat midday-4am
Neon Side Gallery and Club
BWA Gallery
Through a courtyard a short walk
from the main square, this bar offers
beer, buzz and a great collection of
discarded neon. External walls glow
with huge signs, such as Wrocław
Głowny (from the railway station),
and book, Abstract Graffiti, has
a chapter on Wrocław, and you
can pick up a map of the best
examples. Wrocław is also famous
for glass and ceramics, and both
feature at BWA. Other galleries
to check out include the longestablished Survival Street Art
project, and the small independent
Entropia, just off the main square,
And don’t miss a 10-minute tram ride
to contemporary art museum MWW, in
a former air-raid tower – the building
alone is fascinating.
• bwa.wroc.pl, open Tues-Sun 11am-6pm
In a neo-classical building designed
by Carl Gotthard Langhans (who built
Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate), BWA is
Poland’s first institute of street art.
Cedar Lewisohn’s 2010 Tate exhibition
Konspira
recreates
the era of
Solidarity,
with riot
shields,
political
cartoons
and ‘anticommunist
pierogi’
Poland has long led the way in poster
design, thanks to artists who do not
so much promote a film or play as
interpret them with strong, handcrafted images. This independent
gallery has a huge selection of classic
film and theatre posters from the 1940s
onwards, from as little as £5.25 to over
£500, or postcard versions at a snip.
• polishposter.com, Tues-Fri midday6pm, Sat midday-4pm
Złe Mieso (Bad Meat)
If the belly-busting Polish meat or
pierogi dishes are not your thing, try
this new veggie haunt in a central
courtyard. Cream of carrot soup with
a hint of peanut butter costs £1.25,
pizzas and oscypek (salted sheep’s
cheese) salads from £3.85, or falafels
and other mains from £4.20. Plastic
crates for light-shades, wall doodles,
huge portions, friendly service (some
of the staff are commune-dwellers),
and plenty of flyers about local indie
goings-on make this the perfect place
for a counter-cultural veggie curry.
• facebook.com/klubojadalniazlemieso,
Mon-Sat midday-9pm
Kino Nowe Horizonty
Poland’s largest art-house cinema is
a stylish affair with nine screens, a
cafe-bar and shop, and a summer film
festival. Behind the cinema, Shopiq
sells vinyl and prints from local
photographers. Up the road, KRVN is
an elegant cafe with murals and locally
sourced food.
• kinonh.pl, Sun-Thurs food until
10pm, Fri-Sat until 11pm, bar carries on
until “last guest”
Polish it off …
(from top) diners
tuck in at veggie
restaurant Złe
Mieso, old signs
at Neon Side
Gallery, and a
‘Workman’s
Dinner’ at
historical
restaurant
Konspira
Where to stay
Leoapart (en.leoapart.com, doubles
from £64) has well-equipped,
comfortable flats, most within walking
distance of the main square, from £33
a night for two. The recently opened
Puro Hotel (purohotel.pl/wroclaw) in
the Jewish district backs on to the city
moat. Its smart modern rooms have
lots of glass and Wi-Fi enabled TVs and
the buffet-breakfast is enormous.
How to get there
Ryanair flies to Wrocław from East
Midlands, Glasgow, Liverpool and
Stansted from £18 one-way.
James Hopkin’s novel, Winter Under
Water (Picador, £9.99), is set in
Wrocław, Krakow and Berlin
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