Wroclaw is the principal city of Lower Silesia, a voivodship situated in the south-western corner of Poland, adjoining the German and Czech territories. Its population of 660,000 makes it the fourth largest city in Poland.

The Old Town is comparable to Krakow's in beauty and size, and includes the Gothic St. John's Cathedral, the Renaissance houses near the Market Square, the Baroque university and lots of fine examples of Art Nouveau and Functionalism.

Apart from these sights, Wroclaw captivates with its marvellous location on the Odra River, its branches and tributaries that have resulted in a great number of bridges needed to join the islands. Despite Wroclaw's failure to become the host city for the Expo exhibition in 2002, it has undergone a significant boom in terms of tourism. The intense promotion of the city resulted in a rising number of visitors.

The uniqueness of the city is due in part to its long and entangled history. Situated on the interface between ethnically diverse areas, Wroclaw has been part of the Polish, Czech, Austrian and German states. It has inherited the spirit of German Breslau (a previous name of Wroclaw), which partly disappeared when the Germans left the city, and that of Polish Lwow, whose population was resettled here after World War II. Wroclaw is also an important cultural and academic centre of the region, with a large student community that animates the city’s nightlife.