Wroclaw University is a higher educational institution of the city of Wroclaw (had the name Breslau until 1945). This is one of the oldest (founded in 1702) institutions of higher education in Central Europe.

The University was founded in November 1702 by Emperor Leopold I and received its name in his honor – Leopoldine. The University functioned only one faculty – the Faculty of philosophy and Catholic theology. Johannes Adrian von Planken was appointed Chancellor of the University. The University in those days was an important tool of the counter-Reformation in Silesia. After transfer of Silesia to Prussia, the University has lost its ideological function, but remained a religious institution for the education of the Catholic clergy of Prussia.

After the defeat of Prussia by Napoleon and the subsequent reorganization of the Prussian state, the Academy was merged on August 3, 1811 with the Protestant University located in Frankfurt on the Oder. New University had 5 faculties: philosophy, medicine, law, Protestant theology and Catholic theology. In 1884 at the University he studied 1481 students, and the library in that period numbered about 400 thousand jobs, 2840 manuscripts. Part of the collection was transferred from the former University of Frankfurt on the Oder. In addition to a rich library, the University had its own Observatory, the Botanical garden of 5 hectares of land, the natural history Museum, a chemical laboratory.

During the Second world war, the University was destroyed by 70%, the recovery started in may 1945. The first lecture after the war took place on 15 November 1945. In 2002, the University celebrated the 300th anniversary since its Foundation.