Centennial Hall
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Transcript
Centennial Hall was designed by Max Berg and opened in 1913, when Breslau was part of the German Empire. Its vast reinforced-concrete dome was technically bold and became a landmark in modern structural engineering.
The building is a reminder that pre-war Breslau was not merely an old German city waiting to disappear in 1945. It was modern, industrial and architecturally experimental.
After the war, Polish Wrocław inherited the hall and repurposed it. That is exactly the kind of inheritance the city had to solve at scale: what do you do with major monuments built by the previous state for a previous civic identity?
You use them, rename them, reinterpret them and eventually protect them. UNESCO listed Centennial Hall in 2006.
Concrete is politically promiscuous. It will serve whoever pays for repairs.