Old towns & squares

Old Market Square in Łódź

Rynek Starego Miasta (Old Market Square) is the oldest square in Łódź, the place where the city began. Its present look says little about the medieval layout, but it was here that the route from Piotrków to Łęczyca ran, and behind the southern frontage lay a mill pond fed by the waters of the Łódka stream. A small square, easy to miss, it is a memory of a phase of the city's history that predates the factories by centuries.

The wooden era

For centuries wooden buildings stood here, including the town hall, rebuilt many times. Only in the 19th century were brick buildings with modest, classicist facades erected in their place. In the western frontage stalls operated — the centre of local trade, around which the life of the settlement revolved.

The Jewish Square

In the 19th century this part of the town was inhabited mainly by Jews, and the square was called the Jewish Square. The name has disappeared from maps, but it recalls a layer of residents who shaped pre-industrial Łódź.

The Freedom Square neighbourhood

A few steps away lies Plac Wolności (Freedom Square) — the former New Town Market, the central square of Łódź at the northern end of Piotrkowska Street. Together, the two squares make a short walking route that shows in a quarter of an hour the city's path from a farming settlement to a great metropolis. The square is open at any time, without tickets, and the walk from Piotrkowska Street takes a moment.