The "Hanzel and Gretel" tenent houses

There are 60 tenement houses on the Wrocław market square. But there are two most famous ones. Hansel and Gretel - two tenement houses that stand proudly in the corner of the square next to the church of St. Elizabeth. They have been connected for 500 years, seemingly holding hands.

Over the gate, there is a Latin sign "Mors Ianua Vitae" – "Death is the gate of life". This sentence refers to a graveyard that was here until the 18th century. The modern name of the apartments, „Hansel and Gretel” was given by the settlers coming from all over the world to Wrocław, deserted after World War II. They saw two characters from the Grimm Brothers tales, Hansel and Gretel. The arcade between buildings reminded the citizens of the gesture of two siblings holding each other's hands.