It is rare that the journalists at Poland Monthly venture much outside the safe environs of Warszawa, with industrial projects in Silesia and the like being perhaps the exception. However, I was pleased to see this months PM had an article about Łódź. What is more, it wasn’t purely economy or business related. It was on a grander scale; that is Culture and People!! I had heard through the Grape Vine about Atlas owner Andrzej Walczyk and film maker David Lynch’s ambitious project for Łódź. However, I had not read the details about it in an English language article (Polish still mainly being of the spoken/listening variety despite being her three years). The plans are defiantly ambitious and will revolutionize the center of Łódź. Not mentioned in the article is the rebuilding of Łódź Fabryczna (one of the two main stations in Łódź). The plan apparently is to build an underground station akin to Warszawa’s. In a city with 120+-year-old buildings and street foundations this will require a delicate hand. That said if completed, then it will immensely improve and somewhat dreary and dare I say it foreboding place.
What does this all mean for Łódź? Well, Łódź has a somewhat poor reputation. It is not up there in the top destinations in Poland. Krakow, the Tri-City, the capital and others outshine poor old Łódź. After seven years of coming to Poland as a tourist and visiting mainly the Tri-City and Warszawa, I moved to the Łódź region having never actually seen it (Strange but true!). After being here for three years I can honestly say I love the city and wouldn’t swap it for any other in Poland. Due to its poor reputation it doesn’t have the pretension and attitude of some of the others. That said, it has original architecture, dating back to the 19th Century. This is not the Regal grandeur of Krakow or the merchants haven of Gdansk, but the hard reality of an industrial epicentre. Combine this with a bountiful supply of universities colleges and academies and you have the makings for a cultural centre. Lynch has recognized something that has been hidden for a long time and I hope will finally be let out of the bag.
Ok, enough if the flag-waving, Let us just sit back and see what will happed. After the neglect of the post-industrial period, Łódź can only get better!!
What does this all mean for Łódź? Well, Łódź has a somewhat poor reputation. It is not up there in the top destinations in Poland. Krakow, the Tri-City, the capital and others outshine poor old Łódź. After seven years of coming to Poland as a tourist and visiting mainly the Tri-City and Warszawa, I moved to the Łódź region having never actually seen it (Strange but true!). After being here for three years I can honestly say I love the city and wouldn’t swap it for any other in Poland. Due to its poor reputation it doesn’t have the pretension and attitude of some of the others. That said, it has original architecture, dating back to the 19th Century. This is not the Regal grandeur of Krakow or the merchants haven of Gdansk, but the hard reality of an industrial epicentre. Combine this with a bountiful supply of universities colleges and academies and you have the makings for a cultural centre. Lynch has recognized something that has been hidden for a long time and I hope will finally be let out of the bag.
Ok, enough if the flag-waving, Let us just sit back and see what will happed. After the neglect of the post-industrial period, Łódź can only get better!!
