If ever in Wrocław (the city is one of the cultural capitals of 2016), you canʼt miss the building located on Kuźnicza street at no. 29A. I say you canʼt miss it because, way before your attention be attracted by the multitude Secessionist details of the entrance, a dragonfly on the façade, and a crocodile on the corner make you stop form your journey and wonder if you havenʼt landed by chance in the world of Kafka or Bruno Schulz.
Kuźnicza street is one of the oldest, hence most important in town, and some of its buildings were constructed at the turn of the century. One of them is this ‘villa of the dragonflyʼ, which hosts today a very active cultural centre (including a theatre-Kalambur), a café, and an eatery (during the day). It is one of the few buildings that survived the bombings of WW2.
In the 1960s, the house became the seat of the aforementioned theatre, and, surprisingly enough, the Secessionist decorations date in fact from the time of Peopleʼs Republic of Poland. The following decades would witness the gradual embellishment of the house, both inside and outside, featuring stained glass, lamp sticks, handrails, mosaics, tiles. All in the purest Secessionist style, as we see it today.
Credits for the details related to this building:
http://www.gazetawroclawska.pl/artykul/73680,kultowy-kalambur,id,t.html [accessed October, 15th, 2015]
A Penguin Named Waddles 