Łódź for the Weekend

Back to Łódź for the fourth time this year (the first three times were on business). A mere one hour and 20 minutes by train from Warsaw*, the city has much to see and I can highly recommend it for a weekend break. Over the quarter-century since my first visits to Łódź, it has improved like no other Polish city, having dragged itself up from a depressed, grey, crumbling place, full of people without hope. [See my impressions from 2011 here to see how much has changed.] Today, a dynamic tourist attraction, a booming economy, a city in a continual state of reinvention. 

Łódź's renaissance was driven by the city's authorities on a mission to rebuild a city that had been built on textiles into one with a broad and deep economic base – foreign investment in manufacturing, FMCG and shared services, the creative arts, IT and tourism. A virtuous spiral was initiated; new investments, new jobs, local taxes, renovation, gentrification, more investment, falling unemployment, more jobs, more visitors – it's been going well. 

At least Łodź never had to rebuild itself from the ashes of war. Other than the complete destruction of the city's synagogues by the Germans in WW2, the vast bulk of its architectural treasures survived unscathed, scarred only by time and neglect.

Below: the north end of ulica Piotrkowska, the main north-south axis around which the city arose. At 4.2 kilometres (2.6 miles) in length, ul. Piotrkowska is one of Europe's longest shopping streets. Subtle changes in character, from small shops to a preponderance of bars, cafes and restaurants, and then small shops again, ensure the street's variety. It has been pedestrianised for most of its length; electric delivery bicycles, however, hurtle past in near-silence at frightening speeds.

Below: corner of ul. Piotrkowska and ul. Zielona. Europe – but south, west, north or east? Or as centrally European as you can get? I'd say the east predominates in the typical 19th century architectural styles that Łódź shows off.

Left: Piotrkowska 86, the Gutenberg mansion, with its eclectic mix of Neogothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau styles, historically home to the editorial offices of local Jewish, then German newspapers. Renovated in 2011.

Below: OFF Piotrowska, a mixed-use development in the former cotton mill built in 1889 for German-Catholic entrepreneur Franciszek Ramisch. Nationalised by the communists in 1945, the factory went bankrupt in 1990, and in 2014 it was converted into what it is today: one of Łódź's more famous attractions. As well as bars, cafes, restaurants, showrooms, night clubs, barber shops and rehearsal spaces, there are lofts where fashion designers and architects operate. 

A major project about which I've written here before is the railway tunnel under the city centre that will turn the current terminus station, Łódź Fabryczna, into a city-centre hub, as trains will be able to pass through from Łódź Kaliska station to the west right through the heart of the city. Currently, trains passing through Łódź stop at Łódź Widzew station, 5.4km from the centre.

In the meanwhile, the city is doing itself up, tenement by tenement. On any given street, shabby buildings covered with nets to protect passers-by from falling stucco stand next door to beautifully restored mansions. The process will take time, but a critical mass has already been reached; tourists have started to come. From Gdańsk, from Poznań, from Warsaw they come, "but not so many from Kraków," said the waiter in an OFF Piotrkowska cafe. Gentrification is under way. The tipping point will make it easier. There's much to see, but once the city's all properly done up, Łódź will truly shine.

Left: the Leopold Kindermann villa (1903), a gem of Art Nouveau architecture on ulica Wółczańska; romantic nationalism, a rejection of Russian influences – clear links to what was happening north of the Baltic at the time. Dour yet ornate.

Below: the neoclassical town hall at the top end of Piotrkowska, the first brick-and-stone edifice erected in Łódź, dates back to 1827, under the Russian partition. The town was only just beginning to grow; an administrative centre was needed. The building contained the meeting room for the town council, the police station and prison.

Left: the old town hall's facade, from Plac Wolności. In November 1914, it was damaged by a bomb dropped from a German plane; the next month, German forces occupied Łódź and stayed until the end of WW1, when the city became Polish. I won't say 'again', because its transformation from a small village to major manufacturing centre occurred under Tsarist administration.

Below: a reminder that not all of Łódź has been renovated. And yet, and yet. Look closely at the building and you'll see the words 'Acta est Fabula' and the name 'Fifi Zastrow'. This is an art installation referring to the 1930s and '40s Jewish-German actress, Fifi Zastrow, who played in the Jewish theatre in the Litzmannstadt ghetto. You can see her name above the middle window on the top floor. She survived the war, but had been subjected to medical experimentation by Nazi doctors. She lived the rest of her days in seclusion, mentally scarred. 'Acta est Fabula ('The play has ended') were the final words spoken in ancient Roman plays, before curtains were introduced to the theatre.

Below: beautifully renovated vintage tram, dating back to 1929, running through Łódź streets. Built in Sanok, the tram is in the original livery of the Kolej Elektryczna Łódzka (KEŁ) – Łódź electric railway – which had been serving the city since 1899 under, variously, Russian, German, Polish, Nazi German administrations before communist Poland nationalised it. Łódź's trams run on narrow gauge (1,000mm) tracks; visitors will notice that the trams rock and sway more than standard gauge trams in most other cities. [Bydgoszcz, Toruń, Grudziądz and Elbląg also have narrow-gauge tram networks, but all four together total less than Łódź's extensive network.]

Tomorrow: the Importance of Izrael Poznański

* In 2008, the fastest InterCity trains between Warsaw and Łódź made the journey in two hours and 24 minutes; one hour and four minutes slower than today.

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Wes Anderson's Asteroid City

This time two years ago: 
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This time 12 years ago:
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