Księży Młyn in Łódź

Księży Młyn ("Priest's Mill") is the largest historic factory complex in Łódź from the second half of the 19th century: a 207-metre spinning mill, brick workers' houses, a school, a fire station, a hospital and a manufacturer's palace, all laid out along straight cobbled streets. Karl Scheibler built a town within a town here, modelled on English industrial settlements. Today it is one of the best-preserved factory–residence–housing ensembles in Europe and, since 2015, part of a national Monument of History.

History: from the parish mill to a cotton empire

The name comes from an old mill settlement on the Jasień river that belonged to the parish priest of Łódź and is recorded in 1428 and 1521. In 1823 the authorities handed the local mills to the town for industrial use, and in 1827–1830 Christian Wendisch built a large spinning mill here. It was later run by Friedrich Karl Moes and Theodor Krusche until it burned down in 1870. That same year the whole estate was bought by Karl Wilhelm Scheibler.

Scheibler, who arrived in Łódź in 1854, opened his first spinning mill on the Water Market (today plac Zwycięstwa). At Księży Młyn he expanded on a scale never before seen in the city. His works accounted for about 60% of output and 55% of workers in the textile industry of the Kingdom of Poland, and his fortune at the end of his life exceeded 14 million roubles. Scheibler's empire covered more than 500 hectares, roughly 14% of the city at the time, and the factories were linked to the railway by about 5 km of sidings.

What to see

• The spinning mill at 25 Tymienieckiego Street, the largest industrial building of old Łódź, which looks like a castle from outside.
• The workers' houses (famuły) – eighteen in three rows on Księży Młyn Street (1873–1875) and more on Przędzalniana and Fabryczna streets.
• The school for workers' children (1877), the factory shop known as the konsum, the works fire station and St Anne's Hospital.
• Herbst Palace at 72 Przędzalniana Street, built in 1875 for Scheibler's son-in-law Edward Herbst and his wife Matylda. This Neo-Renaissance villa with a ballroom is now a branch of the Museum of Art in Łódź. Since April 2012 the former carriage house has held the Gallery of Old Art with Polish and European paintings.
• Scheibler Palace on plac Zwycięstwa, home since 1986 to the Museum of Cinematography with the exhibitions "Film Łódź" and "A Palace Full of Fairy Tales" and historic ground-floor interiors.

Did you know?

The restoration of Herbst Palace began in July 2011, cost more than PLN 19.7 million, and photographs from the 1930s were among the sources used to recreate the interiors. The winter garden, the villa's palm house, was rebuilt too. It was the first museum in Poland to introduce the "Podszepty" system, which lets blind visitors explore on their own. Scheibler Palace briefly appears in David Lynch's film "Inland Empire". In 2016 the National Bank of Poland issued a PLN 5 coin in its "Discover Poland" series showing the Księży Młyn spinning mill and chimney.

Tripto tips

Allow 1–1.5 hours for a walk around the estate and courtyards, and half a day if you add Herbst Palace and the Museum of Cinematography. The workers' houses are still lived in, so keep the noise down in the courtyards and don't peer into windows. Come on a warm day when the estate hosts picnics, fairs and concerts announced on the official Łódź tourism portal. Check museum opening hours on their websites before you go.