University of Wrocław

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The main building of the university, seen from the Pomeranian Bridge (Most Pomorski) spanning the Oder River.

The University of Wrocław (Polish: Uniwersytet Wrocławski; German: Universität Breslau; latin: Universitas Wratislaviensis) is one of nine universities in Wrocław, Poland.

1 History
2 Notable alumni
3 Presidents of the university (after World War II)
4 External links

[edit] History

The town council established the university in the 16th century; King Ladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary signed the foundation deed. Due to fierce opposition from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, however, the new academic institution was soon closed. After 200 years, around 1702, Emperor Leopold I founded a small Jesuit academy on the same premises and named it, after himself, the Leopoldine Academy.

After Silesia was incorporated into Prussia during the Silesian Wars, the Academy was merged with the Protestant Viadrina University, previously located in Frankfurt (Oder). From the two, the Universitatis Literarum Vratislaviensis, which had been named Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau in 1809, was formed and established August 3, 1811. At first it had five faculties: philosophy, medicine, law, Protestant theology, and Catholic theology.

The university developed very rapidly in the second half of the 19th century, when it was then called the University of Breslau (Universität Breslau). At that time, numerous internationally renowned and historically notable scholars lectured at the university, including Johann Dirichlet, Ferdinand Cohn and Gustav Kirchhoff.

After World War II, the city was occupied by the Soviet Union and given to the People's Republic of Poland, the Germans were largely expelled. The collection of the university library was burned by the Red Army on May 10, 1945, four days after the German garrison surrendered the city.

The first Polish team of academics arrived in Wrocław in May 1945 and took custody of the university buildings, which were 70% destroyed. Very quickly some buildings were repaired, and a cadre of professors was built up, many coming from prewar Polish universities in Wilno (Vilnius) and Lwów (Lviv). The university was refounded under its current name as a Polish state university by a decree issued on August 24, 1945. Its first lecture was given on November 15, 1945 by Ludwik Hirszfeld.

In 2002 the university celebrated the 300th anniversary of its founding.