Wroclaw has too much Graffiti

So much graffiti and buildings in disrepair outside of the city center. Are all the polish big cities like this? The Rynek and city center was amazing. Much of the rest of the city looked no better than the commie days.

Pretty much yeah. European people have a long tradition of mimicking behavior from the US without understanding the cultural roots of what they're doing. So graffiti caught on big time (it was big in Germany before reaching Poland) and most of the little hoodlums responsible have no idea what they doing.

Basically spray paint graffiti comes in three varieties:

1. territorial marking of the kind that dogs and cats do, figuratively pissing to warn enemy packs away
2. a desire to make the urban environment as ugly and dysfunctional as possible (so that those with no interest in social order or progress can act unimpeded by social pressure)

3. symbolic stealing of property (you thought it was yours but any young thug with a spray can do what they want with it).

Graffiti has always been with us but I hate and despise the spray can kind as a direct assault on the social contract that makes cities liveable.

The last issue of Wroclaw in Your Pocket told you where to find some graffiti of more artistic merit. But I agree it is very ugly in general.

I never thought I would live somewhere where the front door was covered in graffiti until I moved here. It's hard to explain to people from UK that really inside it's ok, it's just the outside that's defaced.

I saw Polish people in Wroclaw lifting the paving stones from one of the pedestrian streets yesterday. I imagine they were bored, but we all live in this city and should look after it. I don't understand why they would want to destroy it for themselves and everyone else?

Unfortunately, all big European cities are like this, you should see the ones in Germany :-O

Anyway, the ones in Poland are quite comparable with France, Italy, Greece, and others I have been to. Owell, hopefully the government will do something about it. I have been to Wroclaw (they have my favorite statue of Chopin there ^_^), it's quite a beautiful city to be ruined by such.

THE HANDWRITING ON
THE WALL MAY BE A FORGERY.
RALPH HODGSON

I'd rather see graffitis everywhere than starbucks and tesco on every street corners, much nicer to look at.

Stop crying, it's the 21st century.
I was born and bread in Brussels, the famous EU capital, and it's full of graffitis everywhere... That's life!

What strikes me here in Warsaw, that although this ugly graffiti is just everywhere, not any church in the city has it on them. Is it because these moronic simpletons are afraid they will go to hell if they spray on a church wall?

And I do not think graffiti should be accepted as "that is life". It is criminal and degrading.

I agree with mafketis.
I also think graffiti to is vandelism; Polish kids seem to be bent on destroying anything and everything. Seems like lack of pride for their country and lack of respect for other's property.

Maybe it's all about new found freedom and they just don't know how to handle it.
And as for not spraying all over churches, well they're good little catholics after all.