By Dr. Ewa Tak, Assistant Professor of Literature at UCR.
January 19, 2021
Here is my modest contribution to our lockdown landscapes series – two photos from the main square of my home city Wrocław from which we’ll be returning in a few days (to land in a ten-day quarantine). In normal times, my feeling is, the square is too frequented to be pleasant. It’s flooded with hordes of local people and tourists crossing it in all directions or just hanging around in the many cafés, pubs and shops. So January even without a lockdown is the best time to admire the paved expanse of it and the varied historic façades of tenement houses all around it.
Winter light tones down the color scheme of the façades, accentuating the not-too-obvious quaintness of this largely reconstructed site. And the nasty lockdown provides an even more attractive perspective – now this space (physical) and place (human) both invite a generous sweeping view. And this exactly has been just a tiny compensation for the lockdown, which this time round I dare say drives us all up the wall…