A Pole apart: Vibrant and cool, Lodz is a must see city

Firstly, a QI-style question.
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What do former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, cult film-maker David Lynch and current Miss World Karolina Bielawska have in common?

If you correctly answered that they are all huge admirers of Poland’s third largest city, Lodz, then you really need to get out more.

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I have to confess I’d never even heard of Lodz - which lies about 75 miles south west of the country’s capital Warsaw – before a recent visit.

Joanna Rajkowska created Rose Passage as part of the "Lodz of Four Cultures Festival in 2013Joanna Rajkowska created Rose Passage as part of the "Lodz of Four Cultures Festival in 2013
Joanna Rajkowska created Rose Passage as part of the "Lodz of Four Cultures Festival in 2013

Now, however, I can totally appreciate the above trio’s love for this little known city, long known as the textile capital of Poland.

Lady Thatcher visited here in October 1991 as part of a British Know How Fund initiative and extolled its rich industrial heritage. The love-in was complete when the Iron Lady was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Lodz eighteen years later. You can even see a plaque marking her historic visit in a little courtyard off Piotrkowska Street, more of which later.

Cult movie maker David Lynch seemingly caught the Lodz bug too, falling in love with the cityscape of hulking red-bricked factories and shooting his 2006 film Inland Empire here.

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The Montana-born director later teamed up with architect and businessman Andrzej Walczak and Camerimage film festival director Marek Żydowicz to propose creating a cultural centre to be built at EC1, a 100-year old former thermal power plant, which now houses the impressively cavernous Science and Technology Centre. The original project never materialised.

Heart of the city: Piotrkowska StreetHeart of the city: Piotrkowska Street
Heart of the city: Piotrkowska Street

Lynch described Lodz as having a “beautiful winter light, low-hanging grey clouds. The architecture and factories and leafless trees- it’s beautiful.”

And as for Karolina Bielawska, the Lodz-born beauty became Miss Poland and became the 70th Miss World in Puerto Rico in March this year. In true Miss World fashion the 22-year-old is most proud of her Beauty with a Purpose project, “Zupa Na Pietrynie”, which provides permanent help to the homeless in the city.

In fact the closer one looks, Lodz is a city of surprises and contradictions – not least in how its name is pronounced. Say ‘Wooge’ and you’re just about there. In Polish Lodz means ‘boat’, a fact reflected in the city’s coat of arms.

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It’s a multicultural, energetic urban hotspot in a constant flux of change, seeking almost on every corner to reinvent itself without ever forgetting its glorious industrial past.

Polish cool: Off Piotrkowska in LodzPolish cool: Off Piotrkowska in Lodz
Polish cool: Off Piotrkowska in Lodz

Maybe Lodz actually suffers from a yet undiscovered ‘third city syndrome’ as it seeks to muscle in on Warsaw and Krakow’s status on the international tourism map.

Under-rated it may be but there are huge and exciting changes taking place in this ‘Manchester of Poland’.

And the airline industry is clearly catching on too.

In June Ryanair announced its biggest ever winter schedule for Lodz, including three new routes from Alicante, Brussels Charleroi, and Milan Bergamo. It now operates 25 weekly flights into Lodz. It’s that sort of connectivity which could prove ‘huge for Wooge’.

Monopolis - the new face of LodzMonopolis - the new face of Lodz
Monopolis - the new face of Lodz
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Back in 2019 Lonely Planet listed the city in second place in a top 10 of value destinations of the year and was hugely impressed with the transformations of former factories into cultural, leisure, and commercial spaces. In the list, Lodz even overtook the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the US, Maldives and Houston, Texas as a must-visit tourist destination. So for travellers who want value for money – and who doesn’t in these cash-strapped days - Lodz should be top of your wish-list.

And this year the city was also selected by National Geographic Traveller as one of the “Best of the World 2022” destinations. The guide notes that the city’s former industrial areas and abandoned factories are now being reborn as parks, cultural centres, residences, businesses and retail spaces. In fact the value of ongoing public renovations currently tops PLN 425 million with a considerable portion of that being spent on the transformation of the infamous Włókiennicza street, once described as “a Dickensian-style den of thieves.”

An outward, forward looking city, Lodz seems to abide by the maxim famously uttered by Kevin Costner in the inspirational film Field of Dreams: “If you build it he will come.”

That’s certainly true of the the stunning Lodz’s Nowa Lodz Fabryczna, the third largest railway station investment in Europe. The new, cosmic face of Polish railways took five years to build and cost 1.75 billion zloty. It can handle up to 200,000 passengers a day. So when visitors and tourists arrive here in their droves – as they most certainly will - Lodz will be ready.

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In fact, between 2000 and 2019, tourist arrivals in Łódź more than doubled, from 462,780 to 1.23 million.

Way back in the 19th century Lodz became the embodiment of the American dream, even becoming known as the ‘Promised Land’ but after the fall of communism in 1989, it lost much of its access to Soviet textile markets and this, combined with Asia’s growing dominance in the sector, saw the city lose its status as a textiles mecca.

Manufaktura is a magnet for residents and visitors in LodzManufaktura is a magnet for residents and visitors in Lodz
Manufaktura is a magnet for residents and visitors in Lodz

But rather than feel sorry for itself the city sought to weave a new strand to its industrial legacy through constant reinvention. It has literally cut a different cloth for its future - and it’s working.

A case in point is the seriously impressive Manufaktura complex, formerly the Cotton Products Company, built by one of the city’s business titans, Izrael Poznanski, which employed 7,000 people in its 1913 heyday.

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The 67-acre site was bought by French company Apsys in 1989 who transformed the 13 historic buildings into a modern shopping mall, arts centre and leisure complex.

Inside, the Muzeum Fabryki explores the history of the Poznański family’s cotton empire and the lives of the factory workers and Manufaktura also houses the MS2 Museum of Art, countless restaurants, more than 250 shops, a cinema, theatre, bowling alley climbing wall and the Vienna House Andels Lodz hotel.

It hosts lots of outdoor events including a skating rink in winter and a man-made beach in summer. Its vibrant, energetic atmosphere is a magnet for families and visitors and when it opened in 2006 it took the tourism sector by storm, winning the golden certificate of the Polish Tourism Organisation for the best tourism project in Poland. Its name was thought up by local students and it has become a springboard and beacon for the city’s reinvention.

That word again.

And if shopping is your thing, Piotrkowska Street is another highlight. At over two miles long it has become a symbol of the city and is one of the longest shopping streets in Europe. It pulsates with shops and boutiques, bars and restaurants and hosts festivals and events such as the Light Move Festival and Festival of Street. Rickshaw rides along it are available.

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However the trendiest spot on the cultural map is OFF Piotrkowska, a buzzing art, design, gastronomic and club district housed within the walls of Franciszek Ramisch’s former cotton mill. You can grab a seat outside, have a latte - or something stronger - and wind down.

For a different vibe head to the visually stunning Monopolis, a sheek new office, leisure and cultural complex built on the site of the Vodka Monopoly works which also has fantastic restaurants, events areas and art galleries.

This innate ability to showcase its history through creative redesign is another of Lodz’s remarkable strengths. The famous Scheibler factory, which was originally founded by industrialist Karl Scheibler in the early 20th century, was renovated in March last year.

As part of the Fuzja Project, overseen by Echo Investments, the factory is now part of a new multifunctional city quarter that consists of apartments, offices, and retail and hospitality spaces.

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Marek Bańczyk, CEO of US-based business strategy advisory company Cityglobe, perfectly summed up the diversity and energy of the city and the new quarter. “While the textile industry is no longer dominant nor critically significant for Łódź, it enriched the city with a nuanced identity trait,” he says. “If Poland’s metropolises were depicted as personality types, Łódź would probably be a lo-fi Brooklyn-type hipster with elements of fashionable extravaganza.”

And adding to the imaginative sprawl of urban and bohemian developments is the city’s green credentials. Though not immediately obvious, a third of Łódź is green space, ranging from new parks to the 2,977-acre Łagiewnicki Forest which is ideal for a biking day out and picnic. You can even borrow books from a library vending machine to chill in the many parks – there’s one in the basement of Cinema City - (where you can pop up to the rooftop and take a zipline over Manufaktura).

Named a UNESCO City of Film in 2017 for its rich cinematic culture, Łódź is also known as ‘Poland’s Hollywood’, a city obsessed with film and cinema. It has history, of course. The first cinema in the then occupied Russian empire was founded in Lodz in 1899.

It has one of the most dynamic art scenes in Poland and is home to the Lodz Film School, a cradle for the most renowned Polish actors and directors, including Roman Polanski, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Kieslowski. Its place in world film was further enhanced in February this year when it was announced Netflix had teamed up with the school to offer students workshops in film-making.

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So a visit to the Film Museum, the only one in Poland, is a must-see but watch out too for impromptu films projected onto buildings and parks throughout the city, especially during the summer.

Film fans can even stay at the wonderfully kitsch Stare Kino Cinema Hotel, a 19th century property with décor inspired by famous Polish films connected with Łódź.

The street art scene here is buzzing too; it is a city of visually-arresting murals. Covering 26 floors, spanning an area of 2,000 sq/m, and reaching 78-metres in height, the work on the side of a housing complex known as Manhattan, features Geralt of Rivia as its principal character from The Witcher. Designed by Jakub Rebelka, it is Poland’s largest mural.

Another truly unique piece of street art is Pasaż Róży (Róża’s Passage), a whole house covered in a mirror mosaic by the Polish contemporary artist Joanna Rajkowska.

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Arts, culture, business, food and drink, technology and sustainability – and history, of course – all happily co-exist in this happy and friendliest of cities.

It deserves your attention right now because it really is a Pole apart.

Discovering Lodz: Places you simply gotta see

Manufaktura

One of Poland’s largest commercial and entertainment complexes, located within the grounds of the former Izrael Poznanski textile factory. Manufaktura houses over 250 shops, lots of restaurants, two museums, a bowling alley, a cinema and a hotel.

Poznanski’s Palace

The eclectic palace of textiles baron Izrael Poznanski is the largest industrialist residence in Poland. Poznanski wanted the palace to drawf all other buildings in Lodz in both size and splendour. He didn’t live to see it completed.

Museum of the Factory

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Located in the finishing plant of the huge textile factory founded by Izrael Poznanski in the 19th century. The exhibition is complemented by regular demonstrations of the original weaving looms, old chronicles and fascinating pictures of those who worked there.

Piotrkowska Street

At more than two miles long, Piotrkowska Street is one of the longest shopping streets in Europe. Sumptuous palaces, richly decorated tenement houses, former factories that look like Gothic strongholds, churches and of course more bars and restaurants than you can shake a stick at. Perfect to explore by bike or foot, or even rickshaw.

Off Piotrkowska

Seriously hip area on the former factory site of Franciszek Ramisch is a cool meeting place for art, culture, great food and drinks. The unique project also brings together entrepreneurs from the creative industries sector. Grab a deck chair or luxurious bean bag, kick back, have a beer and watch the world go by.

Museum of Art MS1 and 2

The Museum of Art, in Poznanski’s palace, is one the most interesting and richest collections of 20th and 21st art in Europe. Includes the priceless International Collection of Modern Art initiated by artists of the a.r, group: Wladyslaw Strzeminski and Katarzyna Kobro. MS2 is located in Manufaktura.

Orientarium

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Billed as Europe’s most modern zoo development the Orientarium covers around 18.5 acres and features capuchin gibbons, Sumatran orangutans, Malayan bears, sharks and rays. It’s undeniable stars are Alexander, the one-tusked Indian elephant and Kraken, Europe’s largest gavial crocodile. The zoo also features lions, tigers, giraffes and very friendly penguins apparently.

Jewish Cemetery

One of Europe’s two largest necropolis where around 180,000 people are buried. You will find matzevot, tombs and monuments of many Jews who contributed greatly to the city, including Izrael Poznanski’s huge tomb.

Film Museum

The only museum in Poland (housed in the former palace of Karol Scheibler) that documents the history of cinema. It has an impressive collection of cameras, camcorders, projectors, film set designs and memorabilia of the creators of Polish cinema.

Radegast Station

The historic railway station where the city’s Jewish population were deported to concentrations camps Kulmhof and Auschwitz. Incredibly moving are the lists and belongings left behind by those making a last journey to their deaths. Haunting and unmissable.

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Where to stay: Puro Hotel. Excellent location close to Manufaktura and a short walk to Piotrkowska Street. Great beds, super attentive staff, cool room tech, a fab rooftop terrace for sumptuous cocktails and its own cinema, ‘Cinema Paradiso’. Perfect for Poland’s first city of film.

Ryanair operates two flights a week from Dublin to Lodz. For more information visit www.ryanair.com/gb/en; For more information on Lodz, see https://lodz.travel/en/