The Buffet Dinner will be held in Poland’s only Museum of Architecture. It is located in a post-Bernardine complex dating from the 15th Century, which is composed of the St. Bernardine of Sienna Church and a monastic quadrangle surrounding a garden. As one of the few preserved mediaeval buildings of this kind in Silesia, it is one of Wroclaw’s most precious monuments.
The Museum is an original member of the International Federation of Architectural Museums (ICAM), and plays an important role as a cultural institution. In addition to exhibitions, it holds festivals, concerts, theatre performances and promotions of the latest technology, that are connected with architecture.
The Construction Archive of the city of Wroclaw, which used to be a branch of the Museum of Architecture, was created as a result of combining two historical complexes: the Construction Police from 1840s and the old construction deputation of the Wroclaw magistrate. Some 80% of this very precious collection dating from the period up to 1945 was preserved and currently constitutes the biggest collection of construction plans.
One can find here archival materials pertaining to public buildings (including the court, administration buildings, the Centennial Hall, the Zoological Garden, schools and universities, prisons, department stores, gasworks and factory buildings), as well as residential buildings (tenement-houses and single-family houses). The archive boasts designs by eminent architects, such as: Max Berg, Hans Poelzig, Adolf Rading, Hans Scharoun, Erich Mendelsohn, Otto Rudolf Salvisberg, Richard Plüddemann, Karl Lüdecke, Friedrich Stüler and others.
The welcome buffet reception, hosted by the Mayor of Wroclaw, Rafał Dutkiewicz, will be held in the Town Hall (The City Museum) on Thursday 25th October 2007. Delegates will have a unique opportunity to enjoy the dinner in the impressive gothic building, followed by a choral, instrumental concert in the Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene.
The City Museum collects, registers, and displays cultural artefacts, most of which are related to the history of Wroclaw and Silesia. The collection includes golden artefacts, graphics, paintings, regular Polish weapons, guns and rifles, and documents related to Wroclaw and Silesian history.
The Wroclaw Military Museum, housed in the old Arsenal building, has an impressive collection of medieval pikes, cavalry sabres and, for the military buffs amongst you, helmets from every country and era.
The Military Museum shares its building with the Archaeological Division of the Wroclaw City Museum. Both are housed in one of the most interesting historical municipal buildings in Wroclaw.
The Museum's collection of edged weapons shows their development from the 17th to the 20th century. The history of the sabre, commonly regarded as the Polish national weapon, is for instance told through objects such as the cherished personal sabres belonging to high-ranking Polish officers, including that of Edward Rydz-Smigly, the pre-war Marshal.
The collection of 17th to 20th century firearms, accessories, and ammunition illustrates the development of weapons from flintlocks to automatic guns.