About Lodz

About City

Lodz is the third largest city in Poland having about 730 000 citizens. It is situated in central Poland, which makes it an ideal staring point to travel around Poland. However, it is worth coming to Lodz, because it has interesting history, beautiful architecture from 19th century and lots of museums. Moreover, city centre with famous Piotrkowska street has lots of restaurants, caffees, pubs and clubs of different styles when one can spend time with friends. This chapter describes Lodz.
 

History of Lodz

The history of the city of Lodz goes back to 15th century, when it was founded in 1423. Until 19th century Lodz was growing very slowly, being a small town with no more than 1000 citizens.
 
The fast development of Lodz started in 1820 when the decision to support textile industry in the city was made. Investors from Poland, Russia, Germany and Israel were encouraged to make business in Lodz. The most famous businessmen from that time were: Israel Poznanski, Karol Scheibler, Ludwik Geyer, Ludwik Grohman, Robert Biedermann, Robert Scheikert and Julius Heinzl. The newly built textile factories attracted workers from another regions of Poland and countries, so that the number of citizens of the city increased from 4000 up to 500 000 in less than 100 years.

Lodz was attracting workers of different nationalities but most of them were Polish, Jewish, German and Russian. The mixture of those four languages and cultures resulted in unique atmosphere of Lodz.
 
This extreme development of Lodz resulted in development of industrial architecture. Lots of factories were built, many of which are famous nowadays. One example is the factory at Ogrodowa Street which serves today as famous Manufaktura commercial centre.
Another example is the factory at Ksiezy Mlyn, which is being adopted for luxury apartments. Moreover, luxury villas for businessmen were built, many of which were situated at famous Piotrkowska Street. Due to industrial development of Lodz, the city is sometimes called ?Polish Manchester? 20th century, two world wars and soviet occupation of Poland stopped the development of Lodz. The unique industrial architecture was devastated. However, Lodz has been developing fast recently. Factories are being adopted for modern business or luxury apartments and villas are renovated. In addition, international companies are locating their factories in Lodz and the city authorities are building infrastructure due to European Union funds.

Developments

Recently, Lodz has become an ideal place for international business. In 2008 it is assumed that international companies will invest over 700 millions euro in the city. Its central location in Poland attracts companies which concentrate on production and logistics. Furthermore, universities in Lodz are regarded as one of the best in Poland, which attracts companies requiring well-educated staff. The most important companies, which have already invested in Lodz are:
 

• ABB
• Accenture
• Amcor
• AMGnet
• Barry Callebaut
• Bosch-Siemens
• Coca-Cola
• Dalkia
• Dell
• DHL Logistics
• General Electric
• Gillette
• Hutchinson
• Indesit Company
• Phillips
• Procter & Gamble
• Schaumaplast ? Organika
• Sonoco Packaging
• Transition Technologies