These cavernous underground dining areas are part of
the 10-room Piwnica Swidnicka, Europe's oldest restaurant.
Located in the Main Square of Wroclaw, Poland, the
900-square metre eatery has been operational since 1273, when the
country's stodgy diet was characterised by spice, beef and
beer.
Counting the composer Frédéric Chopin and writer Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe among its distinguished diners, it was the
city's only beer brewery for several hundred years.
From the day it opened the restaurant's layout was
evolving, until in the 15th century the basement took on the form
familiar to tourists today.
The cellar's vestibule was linked by tunnel to an
underground brewery in 1519, when beer barrels would be rolled into
the restaurant.
Since then, changes have been merely cosmetic -
including in 1904, when the decor was switched to an Art Nouveau
style.
Though the city was bombed in 1945, the cellars
remained mainly intact.
Sitting under the basement of Wroclaw Town Hall, the
restaurant offers space for up to 380 guests and still prides
itself on offering traditional Polish dishes.