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Lodz

BASIC FACTS
Establishment: First half of 14th century
City rights: 1423
Area: 293,3 sq. Km
Elevation: 162 metres
Population: around 770 000
Unemployment rate: 11 %
Significant employers: Indesit, Dell, Daewoo Fonica, Gilette, Philips
Average wage: 2484 PLN
Official website: www.cityoflodz.pl

TRANSPORT & ACCOMODATION COSTS
Single public transport ticket - 1,20 PLN
Monthly ticket - 50 PLN
Taxi fares - 2-3 PLN / km
A single room monthly rent - 300-500 PLN per person
A single room flat rent - 800 PLN
A double room flat rent - 1400 PLN

HISTORY
Lodz as a town developed from a small settlement. It was first mentioned in 1332 when the Leczyca prince, Władysław, liberated Lodza village from burdens of the prince's law. Granting of real and royal municipal rights to Lodz took place in 1423 and was certified by the signature of Wtadystaw Jagiełło. Agricultural and craftsmen's town was successfully developing through the next two centuries. The market was vibrant with life; numerous one-storied wooden houses with a larch temple rising over them were put up.

After the Swedish incursion the town, like many others, fell into poverty and became depopulated. There was even a thought to devoid it of municipal rights but then a real miracle happened. In 1820 the authorities of the Polish Kingdom classified the place as an industrial settlement. With a huge help from the authorities, the small town started to develop once again. In the river valley with ancient mills the first textile manufacturing plants were built. Very good conditions of work and standards of living were offered, which brought in an influx of settlers. In 1840 the number of people living in Lodz grew to 10 thousand and nobody doubted that it would not be the final number. Already in the 19th century Lodz became the second largest city in Poland, after Warsaw.

At that time its population was a mixture of Polish, German, Jewish, Czech and Silesian folks. They all found this new place as a "Promised Land". The rate of development was now measured by meters of manufactured and sold fabric as well as by the technology level in factories. It is worth reminding that in 1839, it was a Saxon factory owner, Ludwik Geyer, to put in motion the first steam machine, and since then a black cloud of smoke in the sky and a high chimney have become a characteristic symbol of the town.

At the beginning of the 20th century the population in Lodz was approaching a number of 500 thousand citizens and was the world record of the demographic growth. Unfortunately, Tsar's clerks practised strict economy. Ugly and neglected suburbs of Batuty and Chojny with thousands of people living in them grew, while a hard situation of workers and anti-national policy of the Russian authorities brought waves of social conflicts and struggles in the town streets.

An industrial town full of contrasts became an object of literary and journalistic descriptions. The best one was created by Władystaw Reymont in his novel "The Promised Land", brought to the screen by Andrzej Wajda. In 1919 Lodz, as the first town in Poland, introduced and implemented a general education system, in 1928 a Free Polish University was established, a few museums came into being including a Museum of Science and Art with an exhibition of the second in the world gallery of modern art. The artistic milieu of the town gathered such people as Leon Schiller, Stefan Jaracz, Aleksander Zelwerowicz, Karol Hiller, Wtadysław Strzeminski, Katarzyna Kobro, Henryk Stażewski, Witold Wandurski and Marian Piechal.

German occupation wrecked achievements of the town, which already in 1939 was incorporated within the borders of the Reich. An enormous wave of the Nazi terror emerged. The Jews were placed in the ghetto located in the poorest areas of the city, in the Old Town, and Bałuty district. Almost all of them – 200 000 people – were murdered in Nazi concentration camps.

On 19 January 1945 freedom came to Lodz, and once again a reconstruction period of the devastated industry and planned development of science and culture began. The borders of the city were considerably extended (up to 300 km2) with areas for new industrial plants delimited. Also factories located in the city's centre were moved to these areas. The city was connected to the Pilica River by a pipeline, heating and sewage systems were installed, new large housing estates were built. Today's Lodz with the population of almost 800 000 is a city in which all roads lead to Piotrkowska Street - a seven kilometre promenade and commercial centre, the longest such street in Europe. In this street there are public administration offices, most important institutions, banks, churches, hotels, theatres, also half of the number of the Lodz shops, most galleries and book-shops, the best restaurants, coffee bars and pubs.