More features:

• Rivers of Łódź

  One question you might ask in a moment of rare contemplation is where the name Łódź came from....

• Łódź trivia

  Poland’s full of ‘well I never’ facts, and there’s no better way to impress a hot date than by telling them about Europe’s largest desert (close to Katowice), or the street in Warsaw named after Winnie the Poo....

• 1905 Revolution

  Mix a working class culture with a hatred for Imperial Russia and you get an volatile mix – and so it proved in 1905, when the people of Łódź rose in rebellion against their Russkie rulers....

• Parks

  On first sight Lodz looks frighteningly similar to the upturned contents of a rubbish bin. Her aesthetic glories are not obvious, however, they’re certainly there to anyone daring enough to look under her skirt....

• Daniel Libeskind

  
  Whilst most of us abandoned our architectural aspirations the moment the Lego set was mangled by the dog Daniel Libeskind has gone on to become one of the world’s most eminent architects and one of Łódź’s proudest exports....

• Jerzy Kosiński

  
  Born in Łódź, 1933, Jerzy Kosiński stands out as one of the 20th centuries great literary talents, with a life story every bit as sinister and dramatic as his books....

• Max Factor

  
  Max Faktor (or Faktorowicz), born in Łódź in 1877, has come to be regarded as the father of modern day cosmetics....

• Marcel Szytenchelm

  While much of Łódź looks like it’s ready to keel over the  main drag, Piotrkowska, is something of a feast for the eyes; scrubbed, beveled and back to its best this art nouveau masterpiece is, for many, the whole reason for visiting....

• In pursuit of Jacob Bronowski

  
  Best known as the presenter of the BBC’s genuinely groundbreaking 1973 documentary series The Ascent of Man (and the best-selling book which accompanied the series), Jacob Bronowski’s central belief was that the pursuit of knowledge, the production of art for art’s sake were what fundamentally made human beings human....

• Fountain of Love

  Standing in the shadow of the Kościuszko statue on pl. Wolnośći (right in front of Café Wiedeńska) is Łódź’s favourite fountain....

• David Lynch

  
  The iconic film director David Lynch, whose surrealist works range from Mulholland Drive to Twin Peaks, has completed work on his latest project, Inland Empire - currently in post-production....

• Roman Polański

  
  Born in Paris, 1933, to Polish parents, Roman Polanski and his family returned to Kraków, Poland two years before the outbreak of war....

• Krzysztof Kieślowski

  
  The late Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski (1941- 1996) is known and respected the world over as a maker of great feature films....

• pl. Wolności

  To find the spiritual centre of Lodz one must not go to ulica Piotrkowska, but to the bottom of it, namely to pl....