Wrocław's Bridges: 1. Introduction

Wrocław is sometimes described as the Venice of Poland: a city built on 12 islands connected by 112 bridges (although other sources suggest there are at least 220 bridges and I'm sure the latter figure is closer to the truth). The land areas are divided by both rivers and canals, and in places by the town's old moat.

While in Wrocław for Footbridge 2011, I had the chance to visit a handful of those 112 or 220 bridges, which I'll cover in the next few posts.

Of the more significant bridges in Wrocław, I'm most disappointed at not having had time to visit the recent timber footbridge over the old moat (pictured). Its design was discussed in the paper Conceptual design of a footbridge in the historical part of Wrocław at Footbridge 2008, and it's nice to see such a muted, self-effacing design, as so many new footbridges in Poland are unnecessarily dramatic and brightly-coloured.

Further information:

• Examples of newly built footbridges in Poland, Biliszczuk, Berger, Machelski, Wegrzyniak, Onysyk & Prabucki, Footbridge 2002
• Footbridges on the River Odra's Islands in Wroclaw, Styrylska, Boniecki, Biliszczuk, Barcik, Rudze & Stempin, Footbridge 2005
• Footbridges in Wroclaw, Poland, Biliszczuk, Radiega & Tadla, Footbridge 2008
• The best known bridges in Wroclaw
• Detailed guide to bridges of Wroclaw [PDF] (Polish)
• Bridges and crossings in Wroclaw (Wikipedia, Polish)
• Wrocław Mosty - Bridges - Brücke, Wiesław Jurewicz (undated book, ISBN 978-83-926759-5-2)