Rose Passage (Pasaż Róży) in Łódź

The walls of the courtyard at 3 Piotrkowska Street are covered with a mosaic of hundreds of thousands of hand-cut pieces of mirror arranged in shapes that resemble rosebuds. Rose Passage (Pasaż Róży) is the work of artist Joanna Rajkowska, completed in 2014, and one of the most popular sights in Łódź. Behind the glittering surface lies a very personal story: her daughter's eye illness.

History: a mirror broken into thousands of pieces

The tenement at 3 Piotrkowska Street was once part of the Hotel Polski complex, the first hotel in Łódź, and for decades its courtyard was a typical cramped, dark Łódź back yard. The installation was created for the Łódź of Four Cultures Festival and took almost two years to complete. Local residents helped lay the mosaic, which gave the project a social dimension. The RWSL studio handled the technical side – permanently fixing the delicate mirrors to the walls of a historic building.

The name comes from Rajkowska's daughter, Róża (Rose), who was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer. The shattered mirror refers to the way the eye and brain build an image from tiny impulses. Viewers do not get a finished reflection; they have to piece it together from scattered fragments, just as sight reconstructs reality.

What to see

By day the walls sparkle with reflected light, and the sky, passers-by and building details break up into hundreds of shifting reflections. After dark, pinpoint glints give the courtyard a more intimate, almost theatrical feel. In 2021 the city enlarged and greened the passage as part of its regeneration programme: on about 700 m² it planted 13 large trees, eight varieties of roses, 1,300 shrubs and 113 climbers, and three green walls covered with ivy were created on neighbouring buildings. The paving is granite, similar to Piotrkowska Street, and there are benches for visitors.

Tripto tip

The passage is a walkway, not a museum – there is no ticket office and no admission charge. Since the redevelopment you can enter from three sides: from 3 Piotrkowska Street, from Plac Wolności and from Zachodnia Street. Fifteen to 20 minutes is enough for looking and taking photos. The best reflections come on a sunny day when light falls into the courtyard, but an evening visit is worthwhile too. People live around the passage, so keep the noise down and do not touch the mirrors.