Poland - Kudowa-Zdrój

Views of Kudowa-Zdrój in Poland.

Sent by Karolina, a postcrosser from Warsaw, Poland.

This is from Wikipedia : Kudowa-Zdrój [kuˈdɔva ˈzdrui̯] (German: Bad Kudowa, Czech: Chudoba) is a town situated in the foothills of the Stołowe Mountains in the southwestern part of Poland, in Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, about 400 m above sea level. It has a population of about 10,000. It is located right at the Polish-Czech border, just across from the Czech town of Náchod, and some 40 km west of Kłodzko.

Kudowa-Zdrój is a historic spa town where heart and circulation system diseases were cured. In the downtown area, there is a park, styled on 17th century revival, with exotic plants and a mineral water pump room. Due to its location, the town is a used as a place for tourism, walking, biking, and as the departure point for trips. Among notable locations of the region is The Chapel of Skulls and The Moving Nativity Scene in Czermna, The Basilica in Wambierzyce, The Bear Cave in Kletno or the heritage park in Pstrążna as well the natural surroundings of the nearby Table Mountains. It is situated 3 kilometers from the centre of the town to the Czech border and about 140 kilometers to Praha, the capital of the Czech Republic.

Kudowa-Zdrój is one of the oldest spa resorts in Poland and Europe. It is first mentioned in a document by Henry the Older, son of the Hussite Czech king George of Podebrady. The original name of the village was Lipolitov, but in the mid-16th century it was changed to Chudoba, later on Kudoba (Cudoba in 19th century), Bad Kudowa and in 1945 into Kudowa-Zdrój.

The oldest part of Kudowa is Czermna, dating back to the 16th century. The first record of a mineral waters in the area comes from 1580 from the chronicles of Louis of Náchod, under the name Cermenske Lazne.

In 1625 (or, as some sources say, as early as 1621), G. Aelurius, a Protestant Lutheran monk in his work "Glaciografia" writes about the great taste of the mineral waters from Kudowa, how healthy they were and that they were used for winemaking.

The first owner of the spa was a former military commander from Thirty Years War Albrecht von Wallenstein (1583–1634), and after him his brother-in-law Count A. E. Terzky from Nachod in Bohemia.

Devices for healing baths were known from 1630, and made from wood. A scholary description of Kudowa's waters was made by doctor Kramer in scientific work from 1694. In 1777 a publishing company from Breslau „Kornów” printed a Polish guide describing Kudowa, written by Daniel Vogl.

In 1847 Kudowa was visited by 300 patients. In 1850 A. Duflos made a chemical analysis of the local waters and claimed they have healing traits. Local doctor J. Jacob, helped in establishing the thesis that Kudowa is a spa helping of heart related diseases, which made significant impact of the number of people visiting the town. In 1900 the number of people who visited was 4,150. A famous visitor of the town was Helmut von Moltke together with his family. Thanks to development of business organizations, a railway line to Glatz and a local power plant the spa grew and in 1906 8.000 visitors attended its facilities. Among the guests one of the more famous people was Winston Churchill. In 1920 the Gebrüder Martin und Paul Polka O.H.G. company bought the largest spa resort of the town. From 1911 to 1931 Raphael Friedeberg worked as a physician in the Spa.

In 1871-1945 Bad Kudowa in the county of Glatz was part of the state of Germany as Bad Kudowa in the province of Lower Silesia. After 1945 most German inhabitants were forcibly expelled and replaced by Polish settlers. After becoming part of Poland it received city rights for the first time in its history. Before 1945 a minority of ethnic Czechs lived in Kudowa-Zdrój (then Bad Kudowa). Small groups of Germans and Czechs continued to live in Kudowa until 1960, and a German school and a Czech-speaking school existed in the town from 1951–1960 and from 1947-1955.

Poland - Centennial Hall in Wrocław

Wrocław
The People's Hall or Centenial Hall.

Sent by Natalia, a postcrosser from Poland.

The history of the city of Wroclaw is coloured by many influences and rulers, also reflected in the varying forms of the name of this ‘Island City': Wrotizla, Vretslav, Presslaw, Bresslau, Breslau, Wroclaw. As the capital of an important province and one of the principal cities in the German Empire, Wroclaw (then Breslau) developed rapidly in the late 19th century. Taking into consideration the city's historically strategic location and its role as an important multicultural communication centre, it was considered to require a permanent structures to house exhibitions such as those in Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Leipzig or Dresden. An opportunity for building the new Exhibition Grounds was the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the address to the German Nation presented by King Frederick William III, in 1813. The decision was taken by the City Council in 1910. The location was decided as part of the suburban complex (150 ha), consisting of the mid-19th century Park Szczytnicki, designed by distinguished garden designers, and the Municipal Zoological Garden of 1864-1865. This area was a favourite retreat for visitors, and a tram line had been built to connect it to the city in late 19th century.

In 1909, architect Max Berg (1870-1947), who had studied in Munich and worked in Frankfurt am Main, was appointed municipal architect. In the following year, he started preparing a design for a multipurpose exhibition hall, presenting the project in early 1911 as a part of a plan for city improvement. On 28 June, 1911, the City Council approved Berg's design and gave its consent to the construction of the Exhibition Grounds and the Centennial Hall.

At the same time, an architectural competition was announced for the design of the Exhibition Grounds. The task of developing the overall layout was entrusted to Hans Poelzig (1869-1936), the Principal of the State Academy of Fine and Decorative Arts in the city. The final project was developed by him in collaboration with Berg. The focal point was the Centennial Hall, and the overall layout of the grounds was based on two principal axes, instead of one as had been proposed by many other competitors. In 1912, the City Council approved the plans for the second exhibition building, the Four-Dome Pavilion designed by Hans Poelzig, to house a historical exhibition on the Napoleonic Wars. To this were added the administrative building and a restaurant, these structures formed a forum-like square, with the main gate located on the west side, and a view to the north over an artificial pond surrounded by a monumental pergola, designed by Poelzig.

The work site was opened in 1911, and the construction of the monumental arches started in April 1912. The technology was avant-garde. Specially designed electric compressors were used to pre-stress the concrete. The stability was verified by Professor Heinrich Müller of Berlin. Building materials were selected with great care. Special cement, supplied by the Silesia Cement Plant in Opole and tested in Groß Lichterfelde, Berlin, was used for the concrete. High-grade rolled steel was employed for reinforcement rods instead of the standard structural steel. In the sections exposed to higher stress, an aggregate made of the highest quality granite was used. The municipal authority examined the hardening of concrete during month-long tests. The required strength was 6 times greater than estimated. A hardwood model of the apse was built in scale 1:25 and tested under a load of 6000 kg. Only qualified and experienced workers were employed.

The Centennial Exhibition opened in May 1913, attended by Crown Prince Wilhelm. Over 100 000 people visited the Exhibition. After it closed, the temporary pavilions were dismantled, but the Centennial Hall continued to serve as an assembly place and Poelzig's Four-Dome Pavilion as an exhibition hall. After World War I, the Exhibition Grounds were managed by a joint stock company. National and international industrial fairs were organised, as well as art exhibitions, concerts and theatrical productions. In 1924-1925 the Exhibition Grounds were expanded, and a large exhibition pavilion, Messehalle, and a monumental colonnaded entrance were built to Berg's design, but destroyed during World War II. In 1929, a "Living and Work-space" exhibition (WUWA) was organised in Breslau by the German Werkbund, an important manifesto of new architecture, innovative technologies and services.

The Exhibition Grounds survived World War II relatively intact. In 1948 the Exhibition of the Reclaimed Territories (returned to Poland) was staged here, commemorated by the steel Spire ("Iglica"), designed by Professor Stanisław Hempel, erected on the square in front of the Centennial Hall. In August 1948, the World Congress of Intellectuals in the Defence of Peace was staged at the Centennial Hall, attended by Pablo Picasso. In 1995-1997 the interior of the Centennial Hall was renovated. (Source)

Poland - Karpacz's Church Wang

KARPACZ - Church Wang.

One of the three postcards sent by Kamil from Poznan in Poland.

This is from Wikipedia : Vang stave church (Świątynia Wang, also Vang stavkirke, German: Stabkirche Wang) is a stave church which was bought by the Prussian King and transferred from Vang in Norway and re-erected in 1842 in Brückenberg near Krummhübel in Germany, now Karpacz in the Karkonosze mountains of Poland.

The church is a four-post single-nave stave church originally built around 1200 in the parish of Vang in the Valdres region of Norway.

Poland - Wrocław

Wrocław
Top from left : Market Place-Town Hall, and Market Place-Town Fountain.
Middle : Wrocław University.
Bottom from left : Market Place, and Jatki Street.

Sent by Jogusia from Poland.