The New Student's Reference Work/Breslau

Breslau (brĕs′lou), the capital of Prussian Silesia, lies at the junction of the Ohlau and the Oder, which divide the city into two parts joined by numerous bridges. The old parts of the city are somber and massive, but the new parts have many fine specimens of the architecture of today. It has a university, founded by Leopold I in 1702, which has a teaching force of 189 and 1920 students and a library of 400,000 volumes. It is important as a manufacturing and trading town, having fine railroad and river advantages. Linen fairs are held, and it is a great wool-market. In population it ranks sixth among German cities, numbering 511,891 people. Breslau has been occupied at different times by Poles and Bohemians. It passed into the hands of Austria, and finally into the hands of Prussia.