Description of the attraction
Wroclaw University is a higher educational institution in the city of Wroclaw (it was called Breslau until 1945). It is one of the oldest (founded 1702) institutes of higher education in Central Europe.
The university was founded in November 1702 by order of Emperor Leopold I and got its name in his honor - Leopoldin. The university had only one faculty - the Faculty of Philosophy and Catholic Theology. Johannes Adrian von Plencken was appointed Chancellor of the University. The university at that time was an important instrument of the Counter-Reformation in Silesia. After the transition of Silesia to Prussia, the university lost its ideological functions, but remained a religious institution for the education of the Catholic clergy of Prussia.
After the defeat of Prussia by Napoleon and the subsequent reorganization of the Prussian state, the academy was merged on August 3, 1811 with a Protestant university located in Frankfurt an der Oder. The new university had 5 faculties: philosophy, medicine, law, Protestant theology, and Catholic theology. In 1884, 1481 students studied at the university, and the library at that time consisted of about 400 thousand works, 2840 manuscripts. Part of the collection was transferred from the former University of Frankfurt an der Oder. In addition to a rich library, the university had its own observatory, a botanical garden of 5 hectares of land, a museum of natural history, and a chemical laboratory.
During World War II, the university was destroyed by 70%, restoration began in May 1945. The first lecture after the war took place on November 15, 1945. In 2002, the university celebrated the 300th anniversary of its founding.
