To understand exactly what Łódź is all about, and to really get under the city’s skin, a visit to the Textile Museum is a good place to start. Although everything is displayed in Polish only, the three floors of exhibition rooms containing a mind-boggling array of steam-driven looms, fabric-printing machines, contrasting recreations of how the workers and their factory-owning bosses lived and worked, original paintings of Łódź in its 19th-century heyday, lace, rugs and other paraphernalia connected to the textile industry speak volumes about the city that’s often referred to as the Manchester of Poland. The icing on the cake: the museum is housed inside Ludwig Geyer’s mammoth 19th-century White Factory, an extraordinary building worthy of a journey in itself.

Admission 10/6zł. Sat free for permanent exibitions. Last entrance 30 minutes before closing.