?ód? Lodz
Left to right: Manufaktura Pozna?ski Palace Julian Tuwim Monument on Piotrkowska Street Wooden Architecture Skansen near the White Factory ?ód? Fabryczna railway station Winter in Helenów Park
Flag Coat of arms Wordmark
Motto(s):  Ex navicula navis ("From a boat a ship")
?ód? Location of ?ód? in ?ód? Voivodeship Show map of ?ód? Voivodeship ?ód? ?ód? (Poland) Show map of Poland
Coordinates: 51°46?37?N 19°27?17?E / 51.77694°N 19.45472°E / 51.77694; 19.45472Coordinates: 51°46?37?N 19°27?17?E / 51.77694°N 19.45472°E / 51.77694; 19.45472
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	?ód?
County	city county
City Rights	1423
Government
o Mayor	Hanna Zdanowska (PO)
Area
o City	293.25 km2 (113.22 sq mi)
Highest elevation	278 m (912 ft)
Lowest elevation	162 m (531 ft)
Population (31 December 2020)
o City	672,185 (3rd)[1]
o Density	2,320/km2 (6,000/sq mi)
o Metro	1,100,000
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	90-001 to 94-413
Area code(s)	+48 42
Car plates	EL
Website	www.uml.lodz.pl

?ód?,^[a] also rendered in English as Lodz,^[b] is the third-largest city in Poland and a former industrial centre. Located in the central part of the country, it has a population of 672,185 (2020).^[1] It is the capital of ?ód? Voivodeship, and is located approximately 120 km (75 mi) south-west of Warsaw.^[8] The city's coat of arms is an example of canting, as it depicts a boat (?ód? in Polish), which alludes to the city's name.

?ód? was once a small settlement that first appeared in 14th-century records. It was granted town rights in 1423 by Polish King W?adys?aw II Jagieo and it remained a private town of the Kuyavian bishops and clergy until the late 18th century. The Second Industrial Revolution brought rapid growth in textile manufacturing and in population owing to the inflow of migrants, notably Germans and Jews. Ever since the industrialization of the area the city has struggled with multinationalism and social inequalities, as documented in the novel The Promised Land by Nobel Prize-winning author W?adys?aw Reymont. The contrasts greatly reflected on the architecture of the city, where luxurious mansions coexisted with red-brick factories and dilapidated tenement houses.^[9]

The industrial development and demographic surge made ?ód? one of the largest cities in Poland. Under the German occupation during World War II ?ód? was briefly renamed Litzmannstadt in honour of Karl Litzmann. The city's large Jewish population was forced into a walled zone known as the ?ód? Ghetto, from where they were sent to German concentration and extermination camps. The city became Poland's temporary seat of power in 1945.

?ód? experienced a sharp demographic and economic decline after 1989. It was only in the 2010s that the city began to experience revitalization of its neglected downtown area.^[10][11] ?ód? is ranked by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network on the "Sufficiency" level of global influence^[12] and is internationally known for its National Film School, a cradle for the most renowned Polish actors and directors, including Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski.^[9] In 2017, the city was inducted into the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and named UNESCO City of Film.^[13]

History

Sigillum oppidi Lodzia - seal dating back to 1577

?ód? first appears in the written record in a 1332 document of Duke W?adys?aw the Hunchback, which gave the village of ?odzia to the bishops of W?oc?awek. In 1423 King W?adys?aw II Jagieo officially granted city rights to the village of ?ód?. From then until the 18th century the town remained a small settlement on a trade route between the provinces of Masovia and Silesia. In 1496 Polish King John I Albert confirmed the establishment of two annual fairs and a weekly market in ?ód?. In the 16th century the town had fewer than 800 inhabitants, mostly working on the surrounding grain farms.

With the second partition of Poland in 1793, ?ód? became part of the Kingdom of Prussia's province of South Prussia, and was known in German as Lodsch. In 1798 the Prussians nationalised the town, and it lost its status as a town of the bishops of Kuyavia. In 1806 ?ód? joined the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw and in 1810 it had approximately 190 inhabitants. After the 1815 Congress of Vienna treaty, it became part of the Congress Kingdom of Poland, a client state of the Russian Empire.

Century of partitions: 1815 Congress of Vienna

The Great Synagogue was the main prayer house for the local Jewish community. It was destroyed during World War II

Many tenement houses often reflected the social status of owners and industrialists

In the 1815 treaty, the renewal of the dilapidated town was planned. After a decree by the Czar in 1816, a number of German immigrants received territory deeds and other incentives to clear the land and to build factories and housing. These incentives for settlement included: exemption from tax obligations for a period of six years, free materials to build houses, perpetual lease of land for construction, exemption from military service, or duty-free transport of the immigrants' livestock.^[14] In 1820 Stanis?aw Staszic aided in changing the small town into a modern industrial center. The immigrants came to the Promised Land (Ziemia obiecana, the city's nickname) from all over Europe. Mostly they arrived from Saxony, Silesia and Bohemia, but also from countries as far away as Portugal, England, France, and Ireland.^[] The first cotton mill opened in 1825, and 14 years later the very first steam-powered factory in both Poland and the Russian Empire commenced operations. In 1839, over 78% of the population was German,^[15] and German schools and churches were established.

A constant influx of workers, businessmen, and craftsmen from all over Europe transformed ?ód? into the main textile production centre of the Russian Empire spanning from East-Central Europe all the way to Alaska. While the town was small, the majority of the town's population was German speaking.^[16] Three groups then dominated the city's population and contributed the most to the city's development: Germans, Poles, and Jews, who started to arrive from 1848. Many of the ?ód? craftspeople were weavers from Upper and Lower Silesia.

In 1850, Russia abolished the customs barrier between Congress Poland and Russia proper and therefore industry in ?ód? could now develop freely with a huge Russian market not far away. Eventually, the city became the second-largest city of Congress Poland. In 1865 the first railroad line opened (to Koluszki, branch line of the Warsaw-Vienna railway), and soon the city had rail links with Warsaw and Bia?ystok.

Izrael Pozna?ski Factory in 1895

Liberty Square pictured during the Second World War. The statue of Tadeusz Ko?ciuszko was later dismantled by the German army

One of the most important industrialists of ?ód? was Karl Wilhelm Scheibler.^[17] In 1852 he came to ?ód? and with Julius Schwarz together started buying property and building several factories. Scheibler later bought out Schwarz's share and thus became sole owner of a large business. After he died in 1881 his widow and other members of the family decided to pay homage to his memory by erecting a chapel, intended as a mausoleum with family crypt, in the Lutheran part of the ?ód? cemetery on ulica Ogrodowa (later known as The Old Cemetery).^[18]

Between 1823 and 1873, the city's population doubled every ten years. The years 1870-1890 marked the period of most intense industrial development in the city's modern history. Many of the industrialists were of Jewish ethnicity. ?ód? also soon became a major centre of the socialist movement. One of the first strikes broke out in the Scheibler's factory in 1872, followed by the so-called ?ód? rebellion^(pl) in 1892, that paralyzed most of the factories and manufacturing plants and was ended by a military intervention.^[19] According to the Russian census of 1897, in which ?ód? figured as the fifth-largest city of the Russian Empire,^[20] out of the total population of 315,000, Jews constituted 99,000 (around 31%).^[21] In 1899, brothers W?adys?aw and Antoni Krzemi?ski from the Polish noble family of Krzemi?ski of Prus III coat of arms founded the first cinema in Poland (Gabinet Iluzji) at Piotrkowska Street.^[22] During the 1905 Revolution, in what became known as the June Days or ?ód? insurrection, Tsarist police killed hundreds of workers.^[23] By 1913, the German population had fallen from 78% in 1839 ^[15] to 14.8%, the Poles constituted almost half of the population (49.7%), and the Jews made up 34%, out of some 506,000 inhabitants.^[15]

Despite the air of impending crisis preceding World War I, the city grew constantly until 1914. By that year it had become one of the most densely populated as well as one of the most polluted industrial cities in the world--13,280/km² (34,400/sq mi). A major battle was fought near the city in late 1914, and as a result the city came under German occupation after 6 December^[24][25][26] but with Polish independence restored in November 1918 the local population liberated the city and disarmed the German troops. In the aftermath of World War I, ?ód? lost approximately 40% of its inhabitants, mostly owing to draft, diseases, pollution, and primarily because of the mass expulsion of the city's German population.

Restored Poland after the First World War

In 1922, following the establishment of the Second Polish Republic, ?ód? became the capital of the ?ód? Voivodeship, but the period of rapid growth had ceased. The Great Depression of the 1930s and the Customs war with Germany closed western markets to Polish textiles while the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) and the Civil War in Russia (1918-1922) put an end to the most profitable trade with the East. The city became a scene of a series of huge workers' protests and riots in the interbellum.

On 13 September 1925 a new airport, Lublinek Airport, began operations on the outskirts of the city. In the interwar years ?ód? continued to be a diverse and multicultural city, with the 1931 Polish census showing that the total population of roughly 604,000 included 375,000 (59%) Poles, 192,000 (32%) Jews and 54,000 (9%) Germans (determined from the main language used). By 1939, the Jewish minority had grown to well over 200,000.^[27]

Occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany

Invading German troops in ?ód? in September 1939

During the invasion of Poland, the Polish forces of General Juliusz Rómmel's ?ód? Army defended the city against initial German attacks.^[28] The Wehrmacht nevertheless captured the city on 8 September.^[28] The German Einsatzgruppe III entered the city on 12 September.^[29] On 16 September, the local German head of administration took over, and afterwards German attacks on local Poles and Jews intensified.^[30] Already in September 1939, the Germans carried out first arrests of Poles as part of the Intelligenzaktion and established first prisons for arrested Poles, and in November 1939 the Radogoszcz concentration camp was established, which would be soon converted into the infamous Radogoszcz prison.^[31]

Despite plans for the city to become a Polish enclave attached to the General Government, the Nazi hierarchy respected the wishes of many ethnically German residents and of the Reichsgau Wartheland governor Arthur Greiser by annexing the city to Nazi Germany on 9 November 1939. The Germans then destroyed the monument of Polish national hero Tadeusz Ko?ciuszko.^[30] As part of the Intelligenzaktion, many Poles arrested in ?ód?, Pabianice and other nearby settlements were imprisoned in the Radogoszcz camp and then deported to other German concentration camps or mostly murdered in the forests in the present-day district of ?agiewniki and the nearby village of Lu?mierz-Las.^[31] Hundreds of Poles were massacred there in late 1939 and early 1940, including teachers, activists, local officials, journalists, lawyers, parliamentarians, etc.^[31] Many Germans in the city, however, refused to sign the Volksliste and become Volksdeutsche; they were deported by the General Government. The city was given the new name of "Litzmannstadt" after Karl Litzmann, the German general who had captured it during World War I.

?ód? Ghetto, Ghetto Litzmannstadt, was the second-largest ghetto in all of German-occupied Europe

The Nazi authorities soon established the ?ód? Ghetto (Ghetto Litzmannstadt) in the city and populated it with more than 200,000 Jews from the ?ód? area.^{[32][33][34][35][36][37]} As Jews were deported from Litzmannstadt for extermination, others were brought in.^[35][37] The secret Polish Council to Aid Jews "?egota", established by the Polish resistance movement, operated in the city.^[38] Due to the value of the goods that the ghetto population produced for the German military and various civilian contractors, it was the last major ghetto to be liquidated, in August 1944.^[37]

Several other German camps arose in the city and its vicinity for non-Jewish people, including a camp for the Romani people deported from abroad, who were soon exterminated at Che?mno,^[32][35] a penal "education" forced labour camp in the present-day district of Sikawa,^[39] four transit camps for Poles expelled from the city and region, and a racial research camp for expelled Poles.^[40] In the latter, Poles were subjected to racial selection before deportation to forced labour in Germany, and Polish children were taken from their parents and sent to Germanisation camps.^[41] Most of the children never returned.^[41] In 1942-1945, the German Sicherheitspolizei operated a concentration camp for kidnapped Polish children of two to 16 years of age in the city.^[42] It served as a forced labour camp, penal camp, internment camp and racial research center.^[42] The children were subjected to starvation, exhausting labour, beating even up to death and diseases,^[32] and the camp was nicknamed "little Auschwitz" due to its conditions.^[42] Many children died in the camp.^[32]

While occupied, thousands of new ethnic German Volksdeutsche came to ?ód? from all across Europe, many of whom were repatriated from Russia during the time of Hitler's alliance with the Soviet Union before Operation Barbarossa. In January 1945, most of the German population fled the city for fear of the Soviet Red Army. The city also suffered tremendous losses due to the German policy of requisition of all factories and machines and transporting them to Germany. Thus, despite relatively small losses due to fighting and aerial bombardment, ?ód? was deprived of most of its industrial infrastructure.

Prior to World War II, ?ód?'s Jewish community numbered around 233,000 and accounted for one-third of the city's total population.^[36][43] The community was almost entirely wiped out in the Holocaust.^[36][43] By the end of the war, the city and its environs had lost approximately 420,000 of its pre-war inhabitants, including approximately 300,000 Polish Jews.^[36][43][44]

Izrael Pozna?ski's tomb at the New Jewish Cemetery in ?ód? is one of the largest of its kind in the world

On 1 August 1944 the Warsaw Uprising erupted, and the fate of the remaining inhabitants of the ?ód? Ghetto was sealed. During the last phase of its existence, some 25,000 inmates were murdered at Che?mno; their bodies burned immediately after death.^[45][46] As the front approached, German officials decided to deport the remaining Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau aboard Holocaust trains. A handful of people were left alive in the ghetto to clean it up.^[47] Others remained in hiding with the Polish rescuers.^[48] When the Red Army entered ?ód? on 19 January 1945, only 877 Jews were still alive, 12 of whom were children.^[34] Of the 223,000 Jews in ?ód? before the invasion, only 10,000 survived the Holocaust in other places.^[43]

The Soviet Red Army entered the city on 18 January 1945. According to Marshal Katukov, whose forces participated in the operation, the Germans retreated so suddenly that they had no time to evacuate or destroy any of the factories, as they had in other cities.^[49] ?ód? subsequently became part of the Polish People's Republic.

After World War II in the Polish People's Republic

Fountain on D?browski Square

At the end of World War II, ?ód? had fewer than 300,000 inhabitants. However the number began to grow as refugees from Warsaw and territories annexed by the Soviet Union migrated. Until 1948 the city served as a de facto capital of Poland, since the Warsaw Uprising and the planned destruction of Warsaw by Germany, and most of the government and country administration resided in ?ód?. Some planned moving the capital there permanently; however, this idea did not gain popular support and in 1948 the reconstruction of Warsaw began.

Under the Polish Communist regime many of the rich industrialist and business magnate families lost their wealth when the authorities nationalised private companies. Once again the city became a major centre of industry. A number of extensive panel block housing estates (including Retkinia, Teofilów, Widzew, Radogoszcz and Chojny) were constructed between 1960 and 1990, covering an area of almost 30 square kilometres (12 sq mi) and accommodating a large part of the city's population.^[50] In mid-1981 ?ód? became famous for its massive hunger demonstration of local mothers and their children.^[51][52][53] In 1988 the population of the city peaked to 854,261, gradually dropping ever since.^[54] After the period of economic transition during the 1990s, most enterprises were again privatised.

Geography

Climate

?ód? has a humid continental climate (Dfb in the Köppen climate classification).

Districts

?ód? was previously subdivided into five boroughs (dzielnica): Ba?uty, Widzew, ?ródmie?cie, Polesie, Górna.

However, the city is now divided into 36 osiedla (districts): Ba?uty-Centrum, Ba?uty-Do?y, Ba?uty Zachodnie, Julianów-Marysin-Rogi, ?agiewniki, Radogoszcz, Teofilów-Wielkopolska, Osiedle Wzniesie? ?ódzkich, Chojny, Chojny-D?browa, Górniak, Nad Nerem, Piastów-Kurak, Rokicie, Ruda, Wiskitno, Osiedle im. Józefa Montwia-Mireckiego, Karolew-Retkinia Wschód, Koziny, Lublinek-Pienista, Retkinia Zachód-Smulsko, Stare Polesie, Zdrowie-Mania, Z?otno, ?ródmie?cie-Wschód, Osiedle Katedralna, Andrzejów, Dolina ?ódki, Mileszki, Nowosolna, Olechów-Janów, Stary Widzew, Stoki, Widzew-Wschód, Zarzew, and Osiedle nr 33.

Demographics

Textile factory employees in ?ód?, 1950s

?ód? was Poland's second largest city until 2007, when it lost its position to Kraków.^[57] This is because alongside the entire region of ?ód? Voivodeship,^[58] the city is experiencing substantial population decline.^[59] Since the population peak of 1988, when the number of inhabitants reached 854,261,^[54] ?ód? has lost almost 180,000 residents. Such a dramatic change results mainly from low fertility rates and lower life expectancy than in other parts of Poland on the one hand, and a negative migration balance on the other.^[58] A major factor behind the shrinkage of the city was the transition from socialist to market-based economy after 1989 and the resulting economic crisis,^[60] but the economic growth following Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004 has not reversed the trend.^[61] The process of suburbanization also contributes to it, with a number of non-urban areas in counties surrounding ?ód? steadily increasing in population. While the 'fringe area' around ?ód? is expected to register an insignificant growth of less than 2,000 people until 2050, the population of the city proper by the middle of the 21st century is estimated to drop below the level of 500,000.^[59] The ongoing ageing and depopulation of ?ód? is a major challenge for the future development of the city, putting strain on social infrastructure and medical services.^[57]

?ód? has one of the highest feminization rates among Poland's major cities, a legacy of the city's industrial past, when the textile factories attracted large numbers of female employees.^[57] The rising age of the population, coupled with a longer life expectancy among women, further exacerbates the disproportion.^[57]

Places of interest

Sculpture of Artur Rubinstein and his childhood home at Piotrkowska Street

The most notable and recognizable landmark of the city is Piotrkowska Street, which remains the high-street and main tourist attraction in the city, runs north to south for a little over five kilometres (3.1 miles). This makes it one of the longest commercial streets in the world. Most of the building façades, many of which date back to the 19th century, have been renovated.^[62] It is the site of most restaurants, bars and cafes in ?ód?'s city centre.

Many neglected tenement houses throughout the entire city centre have been renovated in recent years as part of the ongoing revitalization project run by the local authorities.^[63] The best example of urban regeneration in ?ód? is the Manufaktura complex, occupying a large area of a former cotton factory dating back to the nineteenth century.^[64] The site, which was the heart of Izrael Pozna?ski's industrial empire, now hosts a shopping mall, numerous restaurants, 4-star hotel, multiplex cinema, factory museum, bowling and fitness facilities and a science exhibition centre.^[65] Opened in 2006, it quickly became a centre of cultural entertainment and shopping,^[65] as well as a recognizable city landmark attracting both domestic and foreign tourists.^[64] The city is also likely to receive a large boost in terms of tourism once the massive revitalization project of the city's downtown (worth 4 billion PLN) is completed.^[11] The local government's efforts to transform the former industrial city into a thriving urban environment and tourist destination formed the basis for the city's failed bid to organise the 2022 International EXPO exhibition on the subject of urban renewal.^[66]

Light Move Festival in ?ód?

?ód? has one of the best museums of modern art in Poland. Muzeum Sztuki has three branches, two of which (ms1 and ms2) display collections of 20th and 21st-century art. The newest addition to the museum, ms2 was opened in 2008 in the Manufaktura complex.^[67] The unique collection of the Museum is presented in an unconventional way: instead of a chronological lecture on the development of art, works of art representing various periods and movements are arranged into a story touching themes and motifs important for the contemporary public. The third branch of Muzeum Sztuki, located in one of the city's many industrial palaces, also has more traditional art on display, presenting works by European and Polish masters such as Stanis?aw Wyspia?ski and Henryk Rodakowski.^[68]

Muzeum Sztuki, ms2 branch, a museum and gallery of modern art

Among the 14 registered museums to be found in ?ód?,^[69] there is the independent Book Art Museum, awarded the American Printing History Association's Institutional Award for 2015 for its outstanding contribution to the study, recording, preservation, and dissemination of printing history in Poland over the last 35 years.^[70] Other notable museums include the Central Museum of Textiles with its open-air display of wooden architecture, the Cinematography Museum, located in Scheibler Palace, and the Museum of Independence Traditions, occupying the building of a historical Tsarist prison from the late 19th century.^[67] A more unusual establishment, the D?tka museum offers tourists a chance to visit the municipal sewer designed in the early years of the 20th century by the British engineer William Heerlein Lindley.

Las ?agiewnicki (Lagiewniki Forest), part of the ?ód? Hills Landscape Park

?ód? also provides plenty of green spaces for recreation. Woodland areas cover 9.61% of the city, with parks taking up an additional 2.37% of the area of ?ód? (as of 2014).^[71] Las ?agiewnicki (?agiewnicki Forest), the largest forest within city limits, is referred to in scholarship as "the largest forested area within the administrative borders of any city in Europe."^[72] It has an area of 1,245 ha^[71] and is cut across by a number of hiking trails that traverse the hilly landscape on the western edge of ?ód? Hills Landscape Park.^[73] A "natural complex which has remained nearly intact as oak-hornbeam and oak woodland,"^[72] the forest is also rich in history, and its attractions include a Franciscan friary dating back to the early 18th century and two 17th-century wooden chapels.^[74] Out of a total of 44 parks in ?ód? (as of 2014), 11 have historical status, the oldest of them dating back to the middle of the 19th century.^[75] The largest of these, Józef Pi?sudski Park (188,21 ha),^[71] is located near the ?ód? Zoo and the city's botanical garden, and together with them it comprises an extensive green complex known as Zdrowie serving the recreational needs of the city. Another notable park located in ?ód? is the Józef Poniatowski Park.

Herbst Palace, designed by Hilary Majewski, an art gallery within a historical mansion, which holds paintings from all over Europe

The Jewish Cemetery at Bracka Street, one of the largest of its kind in Europe, was established in 1892. After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939, this cemetery became a part of ?ód?'s eastern territory known as the enclosed ?ód? ghetto (Ghetto Field). Between 1940 and 1944, approximately 43,000 burials took place within the grounds of this rounded-up cemetery.^[76] In 1956, a monument by Muszko in memory of the victims of the ?ód? Ghetto was erected at the cemetery. It features a smooth obelisk, a menorah, and a broken oak tree with leaves stemming from the tree (symbolizing death, especially death at a young age). As of 2014^[update] the cemetery has an area of 39.6 hectare. It contains approximately 180,000 graves, approximately 65,000 labelled tombstones, ohels and mausoleums. Many of these monuments have significant architectural value; 100 of these have been declared historical monuments and have been in various stages of restoration. The mausoleum of Izrael and Eleanora Poznanski is perhaps the largest Jewish tombstone in the world and the only one decorated with mosaics.^[77][78]

Economy and infrastructure

High-rise buildings in central ?ód?

Before 1990, the economy of ?ód? was heavily reliant on the textile industry, which had developed in the city in the nineteenth century owing to the abundance of rivers used to power the industry's fulling mills, bleaching plants and other machinery.^[79] Because of the growth in this industry, the city has sometimes been called the "Polish Manchester"^[80] and the "lingerie capital of Poland".^[81] As a result, ?ód? grew from a population of 13,000 in 1840 to over 500,000 in 1913. By the time right before World War I ?ód? had become one of the most densely populated industrial cities in the world, with 13,280 inhabitants per km², and also one of the most polluted. The textile industry declined dramatically in 1990 and 1991, and no major textile company survives in ?ód? today. However, countless small companies still provide a significant output of textiles, mostly for export. ?ód? is no longer a significant industrial centre, but it has become a major hub for the business services sector in Poland owing to the availability of highly skilled workers and active cooperation between local universities and the business sector.^[82]

Izrael Pozna?ski Palace

The city benefits from its central location in Poland. A number of firms have located their logistics centres in the vicinity. Two motorways, A1 spanning from the north to the south of Poland, and A2 going from the east to the west, intersect northeast of the city. As of 2012^[update], the A2 is complete to Warsaw and the northern section of A1 is largely completed. With these connections, the advantages of the city's central location should increase even further. Work has also begun on upgrading the railway connection with Warsaw, which reduced the 2-hour travel time to make the 137 km (85 mi) journey 1.5 hours in 2009. As of 2018, travel time from ?ód? to Warsaw is around 1.2 hours with the modern Pesa SA Dart trains.^[83]

Recent years have seen many foreign companies opening and establishing their offices in ?ód?. The Indian IT company Infosys has one of its centres in the city. In January 2009 Dell announced that it will shift production from its plant in Limerick, Ireland to its plant in ?ód?, largely because the labour costs in Poland are a fraction of those in Ireland.^[84] The city's investor friendly policies have attracted 980 foreign investors by January 2009.^[84] Foreign investment was one of the factors which decreased the unemployment rate in ?ód? to 6.5 percent in December 2008, from 20 percent four years earlier.^[84]

Transport

Major road network in the city

?ód? tram network

?ód? is situated near the geographical centre of Poland, only a short distance away from the motorway junction in Stryków where the two main north-south (A1) and east-west (A2) Polish transport corridors meet, which positions the city on two of the ten major trans-European routes: from Gda?sk to ?ilina and Brno and from Berlin to Moscow via Warsaw.^[85] It is also part of the New Silk Road,^[86] a regular cargo rail connection with the Chinese city of Chengdu operating since 2013.^[87] ?ód? is served by the national motorway network, an international airport, and long-distance and regional railways. It is at the centre of a regional and commuter rail network operating from the city's various train stations. Bus and tram services are operated by a municipal public transport company. There are 193 km (120 mi) of bicycle routes throughout the city (as in January 2019).^[88]

Major roads include:

• A1: Gda?sk - Toru? - ?ód? - Cz?stochowa - Cieszyn (national border)
• A2wiecko (national border) - Pozna? - ?ód? - Warszawa
• S8: Wroc?aw - Sieradz - ?ód? - Piotrków Trybunalski - Warszawa - Bia?ystok
• S14: Pabianice - Konstantynów ?ódzki - Aleksandrów ?ódzki - Zgierz
• DK14owicz - Stryków - ?ód? - Zdu?ska Wola - Sieradz - Z?oczew - Walichnowy
• DK72: Konin - Turek - Podd?bice - ?ód? - Brzeziny - Rawa Mazowiecka
• DK91: Gda?sk - Tczew - Toru? - ?ód? - Piotrków Trybunalski - Radomsko - Cz?stochowa

Airport

The city has an international airport: ?ód? W?adys?aw Reymont Airport located 6 kilometres (4 miles) from the city centre. Flights connect the city with destinations in Europe including Turkey.^[89] In 2014 the airport handled 253,772 passengers.^[90] It is the 8th largest airport in Poland.^{[91][circular reference]}

Public Transport

Piotrkowska Centrum tram station, also known as "The Unicorn Stable"

The Municipal Transport Company - ?ód? (Miejskie Przedsi?biorstwo Komunikacyjne - ?ód?), owned by the ?ód? City Government, is responsible for operating 58 bus routes and 19 tram lines.^[92][93]

Rail

?ód? has a number of long distance and local railway stations. There are two main stations in the city, but with no direct rail connection between them--a legacy of 19th-century railway network planning. Originally constructed in 1866, the centrally-located ?ód? Fabryczna was a terminus station for a branch line of the Warsaw-Vienna railway,^[94] whereas ?ód? Kaliska was built more than thirty years later on the central section of the Warsaw-Kalisz railway. For this reason most intercity train traffic goes to this day through ?ód? Kaliska station, despite its relative distance from the city centre, and ?ód? Fabryczna serves mainly as a terminal station for trains to Warsaw. The situation will be remedied in 2021 after the construction of a tunnel connecting the two,^[95] which is likely to make ?ód? Poland's main railway hub.^[96] The tunnel will additionally serve ?ód? Commuter Railway, providing a rapid transit system for the city, dubbed the ?ód? Metro by the media and local authorities.^[97] Two new stations are to be constructed on the underground line, one serving the needs of the Manufaktura complex and the other located in the area of Piotrkowska Street.^[97]

In December 2016, a few years after the demolition of the old building of ?ód? Fabryczna station, a new underground station was opened.^[96] It is considered to be the largest and most modern of all train stations in Poland and is designed to handle increased traffic after the construction of the tunnel.^[98] It also serves as a multimodal transport hub, featuring an underground intercity bus station, and is integrated with a new transport interchange serving taxis and local trams and buses.^[99] The construction of the new ?ód? Fabryczna station was part of a broader project of urban renewal known as Nowe Centrum ?odzi (New Centre of ?ód?).^[100]

The third-largest train station in ?ód? is ?ód? Widzew. There are also many other stations and train stops in the city, many of which were upgraded as part of the ?ódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna commuter rail project. The rail service, founded as part of a major regional rail upgrade and owned by ?ód? Voivodeship, operates on routes to Kutno, Sieradz, Skierniewice, ?owicz, and on selected days to Warsaw, with plans for further expansion after the construction of the tunnel.^[101]

Education

?ód? University of Technology rector's office (formerly Reinhold Richter Villa, 1904)

?ód? is a thriving center of academic life. Currently ?ód? hosts three major state-owned universities, six higher education establishments operating for more than a half of the century, and a number of smaller schools of higher education. The tertiary institutions with the most students in ?ód? include:

• University of ?ód? (U? - Uniwersytet ?ódzki)
• Lodz University of Technology (P? - Politechnika ?ódzka)
• Medical University of ?ód? (Uniwersytet Medyczny w ?odzi)
• National Film School in ?ód? (Pa?stwowa Wy?sza Szko?a Filmowa, Telewizyjna i Teatralna w ?odzi)
• Academy of Music in ?ód? (Akademia Muzyczna im. Gra?yny i Kiejstuta Bacewiczów w ?odzi)
• Academy of Fine Arts In ?ód? (Akademia Sztuk Pi?knych im. W?. Strzemi?skiego w ?odzi)

In the 2018 general ranking of state-owned tertiary education institutions in Poland, the University of ?ód? came 20th (6th place among universities) and Lodz University of Technology 12th (6th place among technical universities). The Medical University of ?ód? was ranked 5th among Polish medical universities. Leading courses taught in ?ód? include administration (U? - 3rd place), law (U? - 4th place) and biology (U? - 4th place).^[102]

There is also a number of private-owned institutions of higher learning in ?ód?. The largest of these are the University of Social Sciences (Spo?eczna Akademia Nauk) and the University of Humanities and Economics in ?ód? (Akademia Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna w ?odzi). In the 2018 ranking of private universities in Poland the former was ranked 9th, and the latter 23rd.^[102]

National Film School in ?ód?

National Film School at Oskar Kon Palace

Leon Schiller National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in ?ód? (Pa?stwowa Wy?sza Szko?a Filmowa, Telewizyjna i Teatralna im. Leona Schillera w ?odzi) is the most notable academy for future actors, directors, photographers, camera operators and TV staff in Poland. It was founded on 8 March 1948 and was initially planned to be moved to Warsaw as soon as the city was rebuilt following the Warsaw Uprising. However, in the end the school remained in ?ód? and today is one of the best-known institutions of higher education in the city.

At the end of the Second World War ?ód? remained the only large Polish city besides Kraków which war had not destroyed. The creation of the National Film School gave ?ód? a role of greater importance from a cultural viewpoint, which before the war had belonged exclusively to Warsaw and Kraków. Early students of the School include the directors Andrzej Munk, Andrzej Wajda, Kazimierz Karabasz (one of the founders of the so-called Black Series of Polish Documentary) and Janusz Morgenstern, who at the end of the 1950s became famous as one of the founders of the Polish Film School of Cinematography.^[103]

Culture

Museum of Art in ?ód?, the city's primary cultural institution

Central Museum of Textiles located in Ludwik Geyer's White Factory

Museums in ?ód?

• Archaeological and Ethnographical Museum
• Book Art Museum
• Central Museum of Textiles
• City of Lodz History Museum
• Film Museum
• Herbst Palace Museum
• Muzeum Sztuki (Museum of Art)
• Natural History Museum, University of ?ód?
• Muzeum Tradycji Niepodleg?o?ciowych (Independence Traditions Museum) with three parts:
  • Radegast train station
  • Mausoleum and museum in Radogoszcz - Radogoszcz prison
  • exhibition Ku?nia Romów (Roma forge) in former ?ód? Ghetto
• Se-ma-for museum of stop-motion film animation
• The Centre for Science and Technology EC1 in former ?ód? power plant

?ód? in literature and cinema

The contrast between the living conditions in industrial ?ód? were often mentioned in arts and literature. A notable example is The Promised Land, a novel by W?adys?aw Reymont

Three major novels depict the development of industrial ?ód?: W?adys?aw Reymont's The Promised Land (1898), Joseph Roth's Hotel Savoy (1924) and Israel Joshua Singer's The Brothers Ashkenazi (1937). Roth's novel depicts the city on the eve of a workers' riot in 1919. Reymont's novel was made into a film by Andrzej Wajda in 1975. In the 1990 film Europa Europa, Solomon Perel's family flees pre-World War II Berlin and settles in ?ód?. Scenes of David Lynch's 2006 film Inland Empire were shot in ?ód?. Pawe? Pawlikowski's film Ida was partially shot in ?ód?. Sections of Harry Turtledove's Worldwar alternate history series take place in ?ód?, and, in John Birmingham's Axis of Time alternate history trilogy, ?ód? gains the unfortunate historical notoriety of becoming the first city to be destroyed by an Atomic Bomb when the USSR destroys the city on 5 June 1944.

Sport

Atlas Arena in ?ód?

The city has experience as a host for international sporting events such as the 2009 EuroBasket,^[104] the 2011 EuroBasket Women, the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship and the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, with the opening and final of the latter taking place at Stadion Widzewa. ?ód? will also host the sixth edition of the European Universities Games in 2022.^[105]

Under communism it was common for clubs to participate in many different sports for all ages and sexes. Many of these traditional clubs still survive today. Originally they were owned directly by a public body, but now they are independently operated by clubs or private companies. However they get public support through the cheap rent of land and other subsidies from the city. Some of their sections have gone professional and separated from the clubs as private companies. For example, Budowlani S.A is a private company that owns the only professional rugby team in ?ód?, while Klub Sportowy Budowlani remains a community amateur club.

• Budowlani ?ód? - rugby (six times Polish champions), hockey, wrestling, volleyball
• ?KS ?ód? - association football (two times Polish champions), basketball (Polish champions 1953), volleyball (two times Polish champions), handball, boxing
• SMS ?ód?^[106] - association football, volleyball, basketball
• KS Spo?em ?ód? - road and track cycling
• SKS Start ?ód?^[107] - football, swimming
• Widzew ?ód? - association football (four time Polish champions, semi-finalists of the 1982-83 European Cup)

In Ekstraklasa of Polish beach soccer ?ód? have three professional clubs: Grembach, KP and BSCC [pl].

Horticultural Expo 2029

?ód? bid for the Specialized Expo 2022/2023 but lost out to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

?ód? was planned to host the Horticultural Expo in 2024. However, multiple Expo events were delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic, a Horticultural Expo in Doha, Qatar from 2021/22 to 23/24 among them.^[108] As a result, the Horticultural Expo in ?ód? has been rescheduled to 2029 to maintain a required time interval between them.^[109]

International relations

?ód? is home to nine foreign consulates, all of which are Honorary. They are subordinate to the following states main representation in Poland: French, Danish, German, Austrian, British, Belgian, Latvian, Hungarian and Moldavian.

Twin towns - sister cities

?ód? is twinned with:^[110]

?ód? belongs also to the Eurocities network.

Notable residents

Arthur Rubinstein, one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century, was born in ?ód?

Daniel Libeskind, notable architect and designer

Andrzej Sapkowski, best known for The Witcher book series

Marcin Gortat, former Polish NBA player

Julian Tuwim, poet, a major figure in Polish children's literature

Jerzy Kosi?ski, Polish-American writer

Bat-Sheva Dagan, a pioneer in children's Holocaust education

• Daniel Amit (1938-2007), Israeli physicist
• Yehuda Ashlag (1885-1954), also known as the Baal Ha-Sulam, Rabbi
• Gra?yna Bacewicz (1909-1969), composer
• Aleksander Bardini (1913-1995), theatre director and actor
• Andrzej Bartkowiak (born 1950), cameraman and film director
• Jurek Becker (1937-1997), writer
• Sylwester Bednarek (born 1989), high jumper
• Marek Belka (born 1952), politician, former Prime Minister, Finance Minister of Poland, member European Parliament
• Kazimierz Brandys (1916-2000), writer
• Artur Brauner (1918-2019), film producer
• Edward Gustave Brisch (1901-1960), industrial coding and classification expert. He was the designer of the Brisch Classification, widely known and used in building and engineering.
• Jacob Bronowski (1908-1974), writer, mathematician, and Britain's leading academic TV figure of the 1970s.
• Sabina Citron (born 1928), Holocaust survivor, activist, and author
• Bat-Sheva Dagan (born 1925), Holocaust survivor, teacher, psychologist, author
• Karl Dedecius (1921-2016), translator
• Karl Dominik (born 1980), China's first Chinese speaking Polish actor
• Marek Edelman (1919/1922-2009), Holocaust survivor, one of the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Solidarity activist, Polish politician, human rights activist
• Jacob Eisner (born 1947), Israeli basketball player
• Max Factor Sr. (1877-1938), businessman, founder of the Max Factor cosmetics company^[131]
• Dov Freiberg (1927-2008), Holocaust survivor and writer
• Magdalena Fr?ch (born 1997), tennis player
• Joseph Friedenson (1922-2013), Holocaust survivor and writer
• Piotr Fronczewski (born 1946), Polish actor
• Maciej Golubiewski (born 1976), Polish political scientist and diplomat
• Marcin Gortat (born 1984), NBA basketball player for the Washington Wizards
• Mendel Grossman (1913-1945), ?ód? ghetto photographer ^[132]
• Józef Hecht (1891-1951), engraver and printmaker
• Jerzy Janowicz (born 1990), tennis player
• Josef Joffe (born 1944), journalist
• Micha? Kalecki (1899-1970), Marxian economist, "one of the most distinguished economists of the 20th century"
• Roman Kantor (1912-1943), épée fencer, Nordic champion and Soviet champion; killed by the Nazis
• Jan Karski (1914-2000), diplomat and anti-nazi resistant
• Aharon Katzir (1914-1972), Israeli pioneer in study of electrochemistry of biopolymers; killed in Lod Airport Massacre
• Lea Koenig (born 1929), Israeli actress
• Paul Klecki (1900-1973), conductor
• Katarzyna Kobro (1898-1951), sculptor
• Jerzy Kosinski (1933-1991), writer
• Jan Kowalewski (1892-1965), cryptologist who broke Soviet military codes, and ciphers during the Polish-Soviet War
• Karolina Kowalkiewicz (born 1985), UFC Strawweight Title challenger
• Feliks W. Kres (born 1966), fantasy writer
• Anna Lewandowska (born 1988), karateka and nutrition expert
• Nathan Lewin, Washington, D.C. attorney
• Daniel Libeskind (born 1946), architect
• Tadeusz Mici?ski (1873-1918), poet
• Stanis?aw Mikulski (1929-2014), actor
• Ruth Minsky Sender (born 1926), author and survivor
• Zew Wawa Morejno (1916-2011), Chief Rabbi
• Konstantin Petrovich Nechaev (1883-1946), White movement leader and mercenary commander in China
• Zbigniew Nienacki (1929-1994), writer
• Marek Ol?dzki (born 1951), archaeologist
• Marian P. Opala (1921-2010), Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice
• Adam Ostrowski (born 1980), better known as O.S.T.R., rapper
• Adam Palma (born 1974), Polish-British guitarist and teacher
• W?adys?aw Pasikowski (born 1959), film director
• Roman Polanski (born 1933), cinema director, Oscar and Golden Palm winner
• Piotr Pustelnik (born 1951), alpine and high-altitude climber, the 20th man to climb all 14 eight-thousanders.
• Ze'ev Raban (1890-1970), Israeli painter and sculptor
• W?adys?aw Reymont (1867-1925), writer, Nobel Prize winner
• Joseph Rotblat (1908-2005), physicist, Nobel Prize winner
• Stefan Rozental (1903-1994), nuclear physicist
• Artur Rubinstein (1887-1982), pianist
• Arnold Rutkowski, opera singer
• Zbigniew Rybczy?ski (born 1949), animator and Oscar winner
• Marek Saganowski (born 1978), football player
• Andrzej Sapkowski (born 1948), fantasy writer
• Carl Wilhelm Scheibler (1820-1881), one of the most important ?ód? industrialists
• Euzebiusz Smolarek (born 1981), football player
• Piotr Soboci?ski (1958-2001), cinematographer
• Andrzej Sontag (born 1952), track-and-field athlete
• Natan Spigel (1900-1942), painter
• W?adys?aw Strzemi?ski (1893-1952), painter, Katarzyna Kobro's husband
• Borys Szyc (born 1978), actor and musician
• Arthur Szyk (1894-1951), artist
• Adam Szymczyk (born 1970), art critic and curator
• Aleksander Tansman (1897-1986), composer and pianist
• Jack Tramiel (1928-2012), computer manufacturer, the founder of Commodore^[133]
• Julian Tuwim (1894-1953), poet
• Andrzej Udalski (born 1957), astronomer and astrophysicist
• Mi? Uszatek, cartoon character
• Micha? Wi?niewski (born 1972), singer
• Pawe? Zatorski (born 1990), volleyball player, double World Champion
• Hanna Zdanowska (born 1959), politician, Mayor of ?ód?
• Aleksandra Zió?kowska-Boehm (born 1949), writer

Gallery of sights

• 

  Piotrkowska Street - the main promenade of the city

• 

  EC1 - former power station, now a museum and planetarium

• 

  Manufaktura - once a textile factory, now a shopping centre

• 

  ?ód? City Hall, formerly Heinzel Palace

• 

  International Faculty of Engineering (TUL)

• 

  Andel's Hotel ?ód?, near Manufaktura shopping mall

• 

  Music Academy, formerly Pozna?ski Palace

• 

  White Factory

• 

  Red Tower - the former headquarters of mBank

• 

  Izrael Pozna?ski's Palace

• 

  Archcathedral Basilica of St. Stanislaus Kostka

• 

  Alexander Nevsky Orthodox church

• 

  Teodor Steigert's Tenement House

• 

  Scheiblers' Tenement House

• 

  Herman Konstadt's Tenement House

• 

  Mieczys?aw Pinkus and Jakub Lende's Tenement House

• 

  Karl Scheibler's Chapel in Old Cemetery

• 

  Workers' houses (famu?y) at Ksiy M?yn

• 

  ?ód? Special Economic Zone

• 

  Gutenberg House

• 

  Polonia Palast Hotel

• 

  Church of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary

• 

  Poniatowski's Park

• 

  Botanical Garden in ?ód?

• 

  ?ód? Airport

• 

  ?ód? Fabryczna railway station

• 

  Archeological and Ethnographic Museum

• 

  Mural in city centre

See also

• History of ?ód?
• ?ód? Design Festival
• International Festival of Comics and Games in ?ód?

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

• Official website
• Public Transport Official Site
• City map of ?ód?
• Historic images of ?ód?
• ?ód? Special Economic Zone
• ?ód?-Lublinek Airport
• The ?ód? Post--English language newspaper
• The ?ód? Ghetto
• ?ód?, Poland at JewishGen