Ninety seconds on University of Wrocław Main Building (Aula Leopoldina)
From the painted ceiling of the Aula Leopoldina to the Mathematical Tower terrace, one visit takes you through Wrocław's grandest Baroque room and up over the old town.
The Aula Leopoldina is the largest and grandest room in the main building, and a rare secular interior of the late Baroque. Architecture, sculpture and painting were designed as one whole, so the carved figures and stucco run straight into the painted ceiling. The hall was built in 1728 to 1732 with the rest of the university complex.
Look up to read the ceiling, painted by Johann Christoph Handke to trick the eye into depth. Above the podium the university is placed under the protection of the Virgin Mary, and above the audience seating the scene is a glorification of divine wisdom.
The Oratorium Marianum, built as a chapel and now used as a concert hall, is a long room of eight bays under a barrel vault. Putti line the cornice and seraphim the pilasters, leading the eye up to God the Father painted on the ceiling.
The Mathematical Tower above was fitted out as an astronomical observatory in the late eighteenth century, and its rooms now hold the museum's exhibition. Set into one floor is a meridian line 15.4 metres long, where a spot of sunlight once tracked the sun. The terrace is about 42 metres up, low enough to pick out each church tower and high-rise across the city.
Buy your ticket at the museum on Plac Uniwersytecki and choose your halls: every ticket covers at least two of them, and the Aula Leopoldina should be one.
Go up to the Aula on the first floor, entered through carved double doors, before it fills later in the day. Then come back down for the Oratorium Marianum, the former chapel with the painted barrel vault.
From the Aula, the Imperial Staircase leads up to the Mathematical Tower. The stairs end on the viewing terrace at the top, with the city laid out on every side.
An audio guide is issued on site in Polish, English, French, Spanish, German, Russian and Italian. Ask for one at the ticket desk if you want commentary as you go round the halls; otherwise you can walk the rooms at your own pace.
Leave the tripod and the selfie stick behind, because neither is allowed inside. Expect the Oratorium Marianum to be set out with rows of concert chairs, which leaves the detail easy to study but spoils a wide photograph.
If you study or work at the University of Wrocław, bring your card: entry is free for students and staff.
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