“Each city promises something different. What does Lodz promise? What
would be a dictionary definition of „Lodz”? It is a hard task to capture the
spirit of the place or even the atmosphere of Lodz. Those who succeed in
it are interacting with the public space artist and that is why you can see
their attempts on the following pages. This challenge also involved the
authors of texts and photographs – guiding you through what is local,
intriguing and the real spirit ‘of Lodz’. They guide you to where you can find
neon lights and murals, to where textile workers ladies can be met and to
where you can make sure if Lodz really was the city which dressed the
whole of Poland. They also help you to look from the viewing point called,
“the present” to see what the city is going to look like in the future. These
most interesting aids guide you so that you can find yourself precisely
where „yesterday”, „today” and „tomorrow” meet – and Lodz is there.
The future vision involves their attempts to achieve the title of European
Cultural Capital in 2016. But it is not only them. The title of the most
famous story on the birth of the industrial, multicultural Lodz – The Promised
Land by Wladyslaw Reymont also refers to the future. The Great Myth
is of the journey to the „new and better world”, which can be seen on the
horizon, but which is so difficult to reach. The phrase which the Nobel
Prize winner used, which is full of Irony as well as full of Hope, stayed
with Lodz through good and bad. This is why the year 1899, when the novel
was first published, seems to be the most appropriate moment to start our
walk around the city. The city with its secrets.”

Sorry, this entry is only available in Polski.