Imagine Wrocław in 1911—or Breslau, as it was called then—a thriving industrial city eager to show the world its economic and cultural muscle. The city's leaders wanted to commemorate the centenary of the 1813 Battle of Leipzig, that pivotal moment when European forces defeated Napoleon. But this wasn't just about remembrance. Wrocław wanted to host something spectacular, something that would rival the World Exhibitions being held in other European capitals. Where the Eiffel Tower had risen in Paris in 1889 for a similar occasion, Breslau would build something equally bold. They needed a space vast enough to accommodate thousands of exhibitors and visitors, combining the functions of trade fair, exhibition hall, and recreational venue—a true multipurpose palace for the modern age. The city launched a competition for the design. Max Berg, the city's brilliant young architect, won with a vision that seemed almost impossible to realize. Between 1911 and 1913, he built a structure that had no equal in the world at the time. It was years ahead of Le Corbusier's theoretical manifestos, ahead of Mies van der Rohe's elegant minimalism. The hall opened its doors in 1913, a triumph of engineering and artistic vision. During the Second World War, this magnificent building survived—ironically because it served as such a perfect orientation point for Allied airstrikes that destroying it would have been strategically foolish. After the war, under communist rule, it was renamed People's Hall, Hala Ludowa, a more ideologically appropriate name. Today, the original name has been restored.