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Corleone

Corleone (Cunigghiuni or Curliuni ) is an Italian town and comune of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily.

Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano, Gaetano Reina, Jack Dragna, Giuseppe Morello, Michele Navarra, Luciano Leggio, Leoluca Bagarella, Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano. It is also the birthplace of several fictional characters in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather, including the eponymous Vito (Andolini) Corleone.

The local mafia clan, the Corleonesi, led the Mafia in the 1980s and 1990s, and were the most violent and ruthless group ever to take control of the organization.

Corleone municipality has an area of 22912 ha with a population density of 49 inhabitants per square kilometer. It is located in an inland area of the mountain, in the valley between the Rocca di Maschi, the Castello Soprano and the Castello Sottano. Corleone is located at 542 m above sea level.

Etymology
The etymology of the name is uncertain, undergoing various modifications from the Ancient Greek Kouroullounè to the Siculo-Arabic Qurlayun of the Emirate of Sicily, from Latin Curilionum to the Norman Coraigliòn, from the Aragonese Conillon, Coniglione from which the Sicilian Cunigghiuni originated. The modern name originates from 1556.

Another belief is that the name derives from an Arab fighter named Kurliyun (cf. Coeur Leon, "Lionheart"), who conquered it for the Aghlabids in 840.

Antiquity
The territory of Corleone has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Recent research has identified several settlements distributed around two main areas: Pietralunga and The Old One (La Vecchia). This name refers to a mountain that rises to about 1000 m, and is about 2 km from today's town. The site of Pietralunga was occupied from the final Neolithic Period to the Bronze Age (the presence of a glass bell decorated in pointillé) while the site of The Old One has been inhabited since the Middle Ages (the presence of an imposing castle with towers has recently been identified). However, the biggest part of the settlement was built in the archaic and classical period. "A few materials relating to the Hellenistic period found at the site have supported the identification of the ancient town situated on the Old One with the ancient town of Schera, cited by Cicero, Cluverio and Ptolemy, although the archaeological remains on which this theory is based are still too unstable. (D'Angelo - Spatafora).

Middle Ages
In 840, Corleone was conquered by the North African Aghlabids during the Muslim conquest of Sicily. It was during the Muslim occupation that it gained economic, military and strategic importance. In 1080 the city was conquered by the Normans, and in 1095 it was annexed to the Diocese of Palermo. Even in the 1170s it was recorded that over 80% of the population of the area was Muslim and that many bore Arabo-Islamic names derived from Greek. There was also a mosque, called Masgid al-Barid, within the town. Following the large-scale anti-Muslim attacks by Lombard settlers in eastern Sicily in 1161 led by future King of Sicily, Tancred, the town became a refuge for many fleeing Muslims. In 1208, a Muslim uprising succeeded in retaking the town from Christian rule. In 1222, while speaking with the pope, Frederick II of Sicily cited the need to fight the Muslims of Corleone as a reason for his inability to send a large crusader army to Jerusalem. To this day the rock formation Castello Soprano, has a Saracen lookout tower on top of it. While the town's other rock formation, Castello Sottano, did not preserve its own Saracen fortification, it is still also known as Castello di Saraceni.

Nearly a century later, in 1180, it was enfeoffed (deeded) to the new diocese of Monreale. In this period, Corleone was largely repopulated by Ghibellines from Alessandria (modern Piedmont), Brescia and elsewhere—"Lombards" led by Oddone de Camerana. The migrations were encouraged by Emperor Frederick II of Sicily, to strengthen his position against the Guelphs. In 1249, however, he revoked the privilege and gave the city to the royal property, though the migration of the inhabitants from the Po Valley continued until the beginning of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282. Another Camerana, named Boniface, distinguished himself in the revolution of the Sicilian Vespers. He led the insurrection against the Angevins with three thousand people from Corleone, in alliance with the city of Palermo. In recognition, the Senate of Palermo called Corleone soror mea (my sister).

During the reign of Frederick IV of Sicily, called The Simple, the city successfully rebelled against the crown but was recaptured in 1355. Corleone was besieged from Ventimiglia in 1358. During the reign of the four vicars, Corleone became the property of the powerful Chiaramonte family, but in 1391 was donated by Mary Queen of Sicily to Berardo Queralt, canon of Lerida, but he never took possession. Instead, it was occupied by Nicholas Peralta, vicar William's son, but King Martin the Younger returned it to the royal property, confirming its privileges in 1397 and giving it some tax relief.

Medieval history
In March 1434, King Alfonso the Magnanimous went to Corleone and conceded some tolls to the city with the aim of restoring the walls and to meet other needs, promising also the inalienability of the city to which he gave the title of Animosa Civitas (brave city). However, in 1440 Corleone was sold to Federico Ventimiglia for 19,000 florins. This concession was revoked in May 1447 by King Alfonso, to be resold in the same year to a certain John of Bologna. In 1452 the city was finally granted to attorney James Pilaya. In 1516, Corleone joined the revolutionary movements of Palermo against the Viceroy Moncada. The revolt of Corleone, led by Fabio La Porta, received popular support as its purpose was the request for tax relief. However, the revolt was violently repressed by the viceroy's troops led by the Vicar General Gerardo Bonanno. Towards the end of the same century, social conditions in the city worsened further because of the plague of 1575–77 and the famine of 1592. On June 3, 1625, Corleone was sold, with other cities, to some Genoese merchants from whom Corleone redeemed itself upon payment of 15,200 florins. The terms of sale were, however, very serious. In 1648, the city was sold to the jurist Joseph Sgarlata, who then accepted the redemption upon payment.

Remarkable demographic growth was reported in the 15th and 16th centuries, following the arrival of several religious orders.

Contemporary history
Corleone contributed to the events of the Unification of Italy through Francesco Bentivegna who, after participating in the riots of 1848, captained an insurrection against the Bourbons in the surrounding cities until he was arrested and then shot in Mezzojuso on December 20, 1856. On May 27, 1860, the city was the scene of a fierce battle between followers of Giuseppe Garibaldi, led by Colonel Vincenzo Giordano Orsini, and the bulk of the Bourbon army led by General Von Meckel, which had been diverted from Palermo via a ploy hatched by the same Garibaldi. On that occasion, a team of volunteers (Picciotti, Sicilian for "boys"), led by Ferdinando Firmaturi, joined the march of Garibaldi in Palermo.

The nineteenth century ended with the social action by Bernardino Verro, a leader of the social movement Fasci Siciliani. After founding the Fascio of Corleone on April 3, 1893, he founded the new Farm Lease that was entered into between farmers and agricultural Sicilian gabelloti in Congress on July 30, 1893, held in Corleone—so much so that the city began to assume the title of "peasant capital". Corleone contributed to World War I with 105 deaths and numerous injuries on the field. After World War II, a peasant movement occupied vacant lands, led by trade unionist Placido Rizzotto, who was killed by the Mafia.

In 1943, the Duke of Aosta created the title of Count of Corleone, awarded to Arturo Faini for his valour during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia.

Since World War II, Corleone has become notorious for being home to several dangerous bandits and mobsters (including: Michele Navarra, Luciano Leggio, Bernardo Provenzano, Salvatore Riina and his brothers-in-law Calogero and Leoluca Bagarella) who became the protagonists of a violent and bloody mafia power struggle. The mayor of Palermo, Vito Ciancimino, was also born in Corleone and linked to the Corleone clan.

Geography
Located in the southwestern area of its province, the municipality of Corleone has an area of 229.46 square kilometers (88.60 sq mi) and is located in a basin in a mountainous inland area, approximately 600 m above sea level, 10 km south of the prominent Rocca Busambra. It borders the municipalities of Bisacquino, Campofelice di Fitalia, Campofiorito, Contessa Entellina, Chiusa Sclafani, Godrano, Mezzojuso, Monreale, Palazzo Adriano, Prizzi and Roccamena. Its only hamlet (Frazione) is the village of Ficuzza, an enclave in the municipal territory of Monreale.

Mother Church
Work on the Chiesa Madre ("Mother Church"), dedicated to the 4th-century French bishop Saint Martin of Tours, started in the late 14th century. Its appearance today has been influenced by numerous changes and renovations. The interior has a nave and aisles divided into various chapels containing artwork, including a wooden statue representing San Filippo d'Agira from the 17th century, a 16th-century statue representing San Biagio (Saint Blaise) and a fine marble panel depicting the Baptism of Christ (also from this period).

Addolorata Church
The Chiesa dell'Addolorata is from the 18th century, dedicated to the Basilian abbot and patron saint San Leoluca

Other Churches
The Chiesa di Santa Rosalia, and the small Sant'Andrea (the latter two from the 17th century), all with important frescoes and paintings, are notable landmarks. The Santuario della Madonna del Rosario di Tagliavia, a religious building from the 19th century, is now a destination for pilgrims on Ascension Day.

Mafia and anti-Mafia Museum of Corleone
The CIDMA museum (Centro Internazionale di Documentazione sulla Mafia e del Movimento Antimafia) was inaugurated on 12 December 2000, in the presence of the highest authorities of the Republic, including the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and the deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Pino Arlacchi, on behalf of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The CIDMA intends to pursue "Culture, Progress and Legality" as its objectives.

CIDMA has several rooms for visitors: Room of the Folders of the Maxi Trial (Maxiprocesso di Palermo), the Room of the Messages, the Room of Pain and the final room dedicated to Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, an Italian general who campaigned against terrorism and was assassinated by the Mafia. The first room contains Maxi-Trial documents which marked a milestone in the fight against Cosa Nostra.

The documents, given to Corleone by the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Palermo, are a testimony to the work of magistrates like Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino who paid with their lives for their commitment to the fight against the Mafia. Among the folders there are the confessions of the famous pentito ("repentant") Tommaso Buscetta to Judge Falcone.

In the Room of the Messages, visitors may see the photos of the well-known, Sicilian photographer Letizia Battaglia who had the courage to go on site to capture tragic photographs of Mafia murders. She was able to capture significant details that made her shots documents detailing the murder methods used by the Mafia in the 1970s–1980s. The different positions of the bodies allow visitors to reconstruct the Mafia's strategy.

The Room of Pain houses a permanent exhibition of Shobha, Letizia Battaglia's daughter, who followed in her mother's footsteps, taking photos of the dismay, helplessness, and despair felt by those who have lost someone at the hands of the Mafia. In the room there are also photos of Letizia Battaglia documenting Mafia crimes. This approach allows visitors to understand the cause-effect relationships that exist between the crimes and the consequences they produce in the lives of affected families and the entire community.

The room Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa is dedicated to General Dalla Chiesa. It contains photos of some of the main bosses of the Mafia placed side by side with those in the legal system who fought organized crime.

Local guides also offer tours through the CIDMA.

Gorges of the Dragon
Along the road that connects Corleone with Ficuzza, following the old railway line connecting Palermo to San Carlo (a hamlet of Chiusa Sclafani) (now the bike path), is an old bridge where the Frattina River streams between the limestone rocks. The erosive action of water has produced karst topography over time forming chasms, reels and small waterfalls where the abundant water first disappears and then reappears in the boulders and lush vegetation. Of considerable size are the "pots of the Giants", i.e. cylindrical and deep holes where the water takes on a swirling pattern. Old mulberry trees, oranges, pomegranates, and figs are living testimony of the site where a mill once stood. In the section where the slope is gentler, clear water pools have formed allowing visitors to bathe surrounded by bracken, maidenhair ferns, willows and elms, in the company of tortoise, fish, and colorful dragonflies. The walls that enclose the slopes are clad in rock plants of great botanical interest such as wood spurge, cabbage mountain, the carnation, and capers. Among the crevices of the rock shelter are pigeons, jackdaws, and birds of prey such as kestrels and the peregrine falcon. Tours take visitors up to the top of the gorge where the Frattina River continues to flow, in a more gentle manner, down to the Belice.

Due Rocche Waterfall
Within the territory of Corleone, a short walk from the historic center of the city, is the "Natural Park of the cascade of two fortresses." After going through a series of narrow streets in the district of San Giuliano visitors come to the front of a small church dedicated to Our Lady of precisely two fortresses. To the left of this church winds a path that leads between the poplars, willows, and elms to the falls. Comfortably seated on the ancient square blocks in the shade of mulberry trees, nuts and frassinisi visitors have an unimpeded view of the waterfall. The flow of the water in the river has formed a large puddle among rocks through its erosive action. The canyon contains eroded, yellow-green glauconitic rocks occupied by vegetation.

Corleone in literature and film
The name of the town was used as the adopted surname of the title character in Mario Puzo's book and Francis Ford Coppola's film The Godfather. In the novel, Vito Andolini emigrates from the village of Corleone and adopts his birthplace's name as his own surname. In the cinematic release of The Godfather Part II, young Vito, shy and unable to speak English, cannot respond when asked for his proper name, and is given the surname Corleone by an immigration official at Ellis Island. Throughout the film series, various members of the Corleone family visit the town. In the films, the towns of Savoca and Forza d'Agrò were used as locations for those scenes set in Corleone. Michael Corleone is played by Al Pacino, whose real-life maternal grandparents were Corleonese.

The adaptation of the town's name into the name of a criminal gang leader in The Godfather is, however, predated by Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock, which was made into a popular film in 1947. The leading character crosses the rival gang leader "Colleoni" in the English seaside town of Brighton.

Notable people

 * Al Pacino's grandparents migrated to the US from Corleone.
 * Placido Rizzotto (1914–1948)
 * Bernandino Verro (1866–1915)
 * Richard Nicastro, NYC Chief of Detectives 1984–1986, had parents who migrated to the US from Corleone.
 * Gangster Tommaso Gagliano (1883–1951)
 * Gangster Ignazio Dragna (1891–1956)
 * Gangster Tom Dragna (1888–1977)
 * Gangster Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello (1867–1930)
 * Gangster Michele Navarra (1905–1958)
 * Gangster Luciano Leggio (1925–1993)
 * Gangster Leoluca Bagarella (b. 1942)
 * Gangster Salvatore Riina (1930–2017)
 * Gangster Bernardo Provenzano (1933–2016)
 * Gangster Gaetano Reina (1889–1930)
 * Gangster Ciro Terranova (1888–1938)
 * Saint Bernard of Corleone

title: Corleone


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Sicilian cuisine

Sicilian cuisine is the style of cooking on the island of Sicily. It shows traces of all cultures that have existed on the island of Sicily over the last two millennia. Although its cuisine has much in common with Italian cuisine, Sicilian food also has Greek, Spanish, French, Jewish, Maghrebi, and Arab influences.

The Sicilian cook Mithaecus, born during 5th century BC, is credited with having brought knowledge of Sicilian gastronomy to Greece: his cookbook was the first in Greek, therefore he was the earliest cookbook author in any language whose name is known.

History
Much of the island was initially settled by Greek colonists, who left a preference for fish, wheat, olives, grapes, broad beans, chickpeas, lentils, almonds, pistachios, and fresh vegetables. Arab influences on Sicilian cuisine trace to the Arab domination of Sicily in the 10th and early 11th centuries, and include the use of sugar, citrus, rice, raisins, pine nuts and spices such as saffron, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Norman influences are also found, such as in the fondness for meat dishes. The Jewish community, who lived in the island, also left their mark on the Sicilian cuisine, they were responsible for introducing garlic fried in olive oil into the sauce. Later, the Spanish introduced numerous items from the New World, including cocoa, maize, peppers, zucchini, potatoes, and tomatoes, along with other produce. Much of the island's cuisine encourages the use of fresh vegetables such as eggplant, artichoke, and tomatoes, and fish such as tuna, sea bream, sea bass, cuttlefish, and swordfish. In Trapani in the extreme western corner of the island, North African influences are clear in the use of couscous.

Starters
The starters (called antipasti) are an important aspect of Sicilian cuisine. Common Sicilian starters include caponata and gatò di patate (a kind of potato and cheese pie).

Soups
Maccu is a Sicilian soup and foodstuff prepared with fava beans as a primary ingredient. It is a peasant food and staple that dates back to ancient history. Maccu di San Giuseppe (lit. 'maccu of St. Joseph') is a traditional Sicilian dish that consists of various ingredients and maccu. The dish may be prepared on Saint Joseph's Day in Sicily, to clear out pantries and allow room for the spring's new crops of vegetables.

Pasta
Sicily is the oldest Italian and Western location on record where pasta worked into long and thin form was part of the local cuisine. This dates back to around the 12th century, as attested by the Tabula Rogeriana of Muhammad al-Idrisi, reporting some traditions about the Kingdom of Sicily.

Spaghetti ai ricci di mare (spaghetti prepared with sea urchin), pasta con le sarde (with sardines) and pasta alla Norma (a specialty that originated in Catania) are the most popular pasta dishes that are typically Sicilian. Cannelloni is another common dish. Another popular dish in eastern Sicily is pasta with capuliato.

Main dish
After the pasta, the typical Sicilian menu includes a second or main dish (secondi) based on meat or fish. Main dishes based on seafood are couscous al pesce and pesce spada alla ghiotta (swordfish).

Desserts and sweets
Sweets are another specialty. Examples include: frutta martorana, pignolata of Messina, buccellato, cannoli, granita, cassata siciliana and the crocetta di Caltanissetta, a sweet that disappeared and was rediscovered in 2014.

Candy in Sicily was heavily influenced by the Arab candymakers in the 9th century, and Sicilian candy has preserved more of that influence than almost any other place in Europe. Marzipan fruits may have been invented at the Convent of Eloise at Martorana in the 14th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, many Sicilian monasteries produced candies and pastries, some with sexual or fertility themes. The only surviving convent to follow this tradition is the Monastery of the Virgins of Palermo, which makes breast-shaped cakes in honor of Saint Agatha of Sicily. Traditional sugar statues, called pupa di cena, are still made, although now featuring modern celebrities or culture figures. Granita is particularly famous and well known. It is a semi-frozen dessert of sugar, water, and flavourings originally from the island, and is commonly associated with Messina or Catania, even though there is no evident proof that it hails from any particular Sicilian city. Related to sorbet and Italian ice, in most of Sicily it has a coarser, more crystalline texture. Food writer Jeffrey Steingarten says that "the desired texture seems to vary from city to city" on the island; on the west coast and in Palermo, it is at its chunkiest, and in the east it is nearly as smooth as sorbet. This is largely the result of different freezing techniques: the smoother types are produced in a gelato machine, while the coarser varieties are frozen with only occasional agitation, then scraped or shaved to produce separated crystals.

Fruits
Citrus fruits are a popular ingredient in Sicilian cuisine. Many were first introduced by the Arabs from the 9th to 11th centuries, but some, such as the Washington navel from Brazil, have been brought to the island more recently. Examples of citrus fruits found in Sicily are:
 * Biondo comune – the "common blonde" orange
 * Ovale – ripens between April and May, with a compact flesh
 * Sanguigno comune – common blood orange harvested between January and April
 * Washington navel – introduced from Brazil during the 1940s–1950s, grown chiefly near Ribera and Sciacca and harvested from November to January
 * Sanguinella – bitter orange of the blood orange variety, found in Paternò Santa Maria di Licodia, Palagonia, Scordia and Francofonte during January until April
 * Tarocco – high quality blood orange found in Catania, Siracusa and Francofonte from November to January
 * Tarocco dal muso - bell shaped orange found in Francofonte
 * Valencia – similar to the Ovale and used often in confectionery items
 * Moro – crimson colored flesh found in Lentini, Scordia, and Francofonte from mid-January until the end of April
 * Comune – common variety of the mandarin orange
 *  – a second variety of the mandarin orange found in Sicily
 * Femminello, Siracusa lemon – the lemon that makes up 80% of Sicily's lemon crop, found in Catania, Syracuse, Messina and Palermo
 * Monachello – "little monk" lemon harvested from October from March and able to withstand drought better that the Femminello
 * Verdello – a lime that grows particularly well and is harvested from May to September

Wines and drinks

The drink most often served with the main meal in Sicily is wine. The soil and climate in Sicily are ideal for growing grapes, mainly due to Mount Etna, and a wine-making tradition on the island has existed since at least 4000 BC. Today, all Sicilian provinces produce wine and Sicilian wine produced by modern methods has established itself on the European wine market.

Sicilian red wines have an alcoholic content of 12.5 to 13.5% and are usually drunk in the evening with roast or grilled meat. Well-known red wines include the Cerasuolo di Vittoria and the Nero d'Avola, mainly those produced around Noto (Siracusa). The dry and white wines and rosés usually have an alcoholic content from 11.5 to 12.5% and are mainly consumed with fish, poultry and pasta dishes. Sicily is also known for producing dessert wines, such as Marsala and the Malvasia delle Lipari.

Other common Sicilian alcoholic drinks include limoncello, a lemon liqueur, and Amaro Averna, a herbal drink, which is often consumed after meals as a digestive.

Street food
Sicilians eat large quantities of street food, including the renowned arancini (a form of deep-fried rice croquettes). Popular street foods include, pani câ meusa and pane e panelle in the Palermo region, ' and cipolline in the Catania region, and ' and  messinese (or pitone or pidune, in dialect) in the Messina area.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Sicilian cuisine


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Łódź

Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located 120 km south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's fourth largest city.

Łódź first appears in records in 14th-century. It was granted town rights in 1423 by the Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło and it remained a private town of the Kuyavian bishops and clergy until the late 18th century. In the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, Łódź was annexed to Prussia before becoming part of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw; the city joined Congress Poland, a Russian client state, at the 1815 Congress of Vienna. The Second Industrial Revolution (from 1870) brought rapid growth in textile manufacturing and in population owing to the inflow of migrants, notably Germans and Jews. Ever since the industrialization of the area, the city has been multinational and struggled with social inequalities, as documented in the novel The Promised Land by Nobel Prize–winning author Władysław Reymont. The contrasts greatly reflected on the architecture of the city, where luxurious mansions coexisted with red-brick factories and dilapidated tenement houses.

The industrial development and demographic surge made Łódź one of the largest cities in Poland. Under the German occupation during World War II Łódź was briefly renamed Litzmannstadt after Karl Litzmann. The city's population was persecuted and its large Jewish minority was forced into a walled zone known as the Łódź Ghetto, from where they were sent to German concentration and extermination camps. The city became Poland's temporary seat of power in 1945.

Łódź experienced a sharp demographic and economic decline after 1989. It was only in the 2010s that the city began to experience revitalization of its neglected downtown area. Łódź is ranked by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network on the "Sufficiency" level of global influence and is internationally known for its National Film School, a cradle for the most renowned Polish actors and directors, including Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski. In 2017, the city was inducted into the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and named UNESCO City of Film.

Name and toponymy
The Polish name for the city, Łódź, directly translates to 'boat' in the English language. There is no unanimous consensus on its precise origin, but popular theories link it with the medieval village of Łodzia and the canalised River Łódka on which the modern city was founded. It may have also derived from the term łoza denoting a willow tree and the personal Old Polish name Włodzisław.

Early beginnings (1332–1815)

Łódź first appears in a 1332 written record issued by Władysław the Hunchback, Duke of Łęczyca, which transferred the village of Łodzia to the Bishopric of Włocławek. The document enumerated the privileges of its inhabitants, notably the right to graze land, establish pastures and engage in logging. In 1423, King of Poland Władysław II Jagiełło officially granted town rights to the village under Magdeburg Law. For centuries, it remained a small remote settlement situated among woodlands and marshes, which was privately held by the Kuyavian bishops. It was administratively located in the Brzeziny County in the Łęczyca Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. The economy was predominantly driven by agriculture and farming until the 19th century. The earliest two versions of the coat of arms appeared on seal emblems in 1535 and 1577, with the latter illustrating a boat-like vessel and a turned oar.

With the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, Łódź was annexed by Prussia. In 1798, the Kuyavian bishops' ownership over the region was formally revoked during the secularisation of church property. The town, governed by a burgomaster (burmistrz), at the time had only 190 residents, 44 occupied dwellings, a church and a prison. In 1806, Łódź was incorporated into the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw. In the aftermath of the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the duchy was dissolved and the town became part of the Congress Kingdom of Poland, a client state of the Russian Empire.

Partitions and development (1815–1918)

In 1820, the government of the Congress Kingdom designated Łódź and its rural surroundings for centrally planned industrial development. Rajmund Rembieliński, head of the Administrative Council and prefect of Masovia, became the president of a commission that subdivided the works two major phases; the first (1821–23) comprised the creation of a new city centre with an octagonal square (contemporary plac Wolności; Liberty Square) and arranged housing allotments on greenfield land situated south of the old marketplace; the second stage (1824–28) involved the establishment of cotton mill colonies and a linear street system along with an arterial north-south thoroughfare, Piotrkowska. Many of the early dwellings were timber cottages built for housing weavers (domy tkaczy).

During this time, a sizeable number of German craftsmen settled in the city, encouraged by exemptions from tax obligations. Their settlement in Poland was encouraged by renowned philosopher and statesman Stanisław Staszic, who acted as the director of the Department of Trade, Crafts and Industry.

In 1851, the Imperial authorities abolished a customs barrier which was imposed on Congress Poland following the failed November Uprising (1830–1831). The suppression of tariffs allowed the city to freely export its goods to Russia, where the demand for textiles was high. Poland's first steam-powered loom commenced operations at Ludwik Geyer's White Factory in 1839. During the first weeks of the January Uprising (1863–1864), a unit of 300 Polish insurgents entered the city without resistance and seized weapons, and later on, there were also clashes between Polish insurgents and Russian troops in the city. In 1864, the inhabitants of adjacent villages were permitted to settle in Łódź without restrictions. The development of railways in the region was also instrumental in expanding the textile industry; in 1865 the Łódź–Koluszki line, a branch of the Warsaw–Vienna railway, was opened, thus providing a train connection to larger markets. In 1867, the city was incorporated into the Piotrków Governorate, a local province.

The infrastructure and edifices of Łódź were built at the expense of industrialists and business magnates, chiefly Karl Wilhelm Scheibler and Izrael Poznański, who sponsored schools, hospitals, orphanages, and places of worship. From 1872 to 1892, Poznański established a major textile manufactory composed of twelve factories, power plants, worker tenements, a private fire station, and a large eclectic palace. By the end of the century, Scheibler's Księży Młyn became one of Europe's largest industrial complexes, employing 5,000 workers within a single facility. The years 1870–1890 saw the most intense industrialisation, which was marked by social inequalities and dire working conditions. Łódź soon became a notable centre of the socialist movement and the so-called Łódź rebellion(pl) in May 1892 was quelled by a military intervention.

The turn of the 20th century coincided with cultural and technological progress; in 1899, the first stationary cinema in Poland (Gabinet Iluzji) was opened in Łódź. In the same year, Józef Piłsudski, the future Marshal of Poland, settled in the city and began printing the Robotnik (The Worker; p. 1894–1939), an underground newspaper published by the Polish Socialist Party. During the June Days (1905), approximately 100,000 unemployed labourers went on a mass strike, barricaded the streets and clashed with troops. Officially, 151 demonstrators were killed and thousands were wounded. In 1912, the Archcathedral of St. Stanislaus Kostka was completed and its tower at 104 m is one of the tallest in Poland.

Despite the impending crisis preceding World War I, Łódź grew exponentially and was one of the world's most densely populated industrial cities, with a population density of 13200 PD/km2 by 1914. In the aftermath of the Battle of Łódź (1914), the city came under Imperial German occupation on 6 December. With Polish independence restored in November 1918, the local population disarmed the German army. Subsequently, the textile industry of Łódź stalled and its population briefly decreased as ethnic Germans left the city.

Restored Poland (1918–1939)

Despite its large population and economic output, Łódź did not serve as the seat of its province until the 20th century. Following the establishment of the Second Polish Republic, it became the capital of the Łódź Voivodeship in 1919. The early interwar period was characterised by considerable economic hardship and industrial stagnation. The Great Depression and the German–Polish customs war closed western markets to Polish textiles while the Bolshevik Revolution and the Civil War in Russia put an end to the most profitable trade with the East.

Because of rapid and, consequently, chaotic development in the previous century, Łódź did not possess the adequate infrastructure and living standards for its inhabitants. Pollution was acute, sanitary conditions were poor and the authorities did not invest in a sewage treatment system until the 1920s. From 1918 to 1939, many cultural, educational and scientific institutions were created, including elementary schools, museums, art galleries and public libraries which prior to the First World War did not exist. Łódź also began developing an entertainment scene, with 34 movie theatres opened by 1939. On 13 September 1925, the city's first airport, Lublinek, commenced operations. In 1930, the first radio transmission from a newly-founded broadcasting station took place.

The ideological orientation of Łódź was strongly left-wing and the city was a notable centre of socialist, communist and bundist activity in Polish politics during the interbellum.

Second World War (1939–1945)

During the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Polish forces of General Juliusz Rómmel's Army Łódź defended the city against the German assault by forming a line of resistance between Sieradz and Piotrków Trybunalski. The attack was conducted by the 8th Army of Johannes Blaskowitz, who encircled the city with the X Army Corps. After fierce resistance, a Polish delegation surrendered to the Germans on 8 September, and the first Wehrmacht troops entered in the early hours of 9 September. The German Einsatzgruppe III paramilitary death squad entered the city on 12 September. Arthur Greiser incorporated Łódź into a new administrative subdivision of Nazi Germany called Reichsgau Wartheland on 9 November 1939, and on 11 April 1940 the city was renamed to Litzmannstadt after German general and NSDAP member Karl Litzmann.

The city became subjected to immediate Germanisation, with Polish and Jewish establishments closed, and Polish-language press banned. Low-wage forced labour was imposed on the city's inhabitants aged 16 to 60; many were subsequently deported to Germany. As part of the Intelligenzaktion, Polish intellectuals from the city and region were imprisoned at Radogoszcz and then either sent to concentration camps or murdered in the forests of Łagiewniki and the village of Lućmierz-Las. Polish children were forcibly taken from their parents, and from 1942 to 1945 the German Sicherheitspolizei operated a camp for kidnapped Polish children from various regions in Łódź.

The German authorities established the Łódź Ghetto (Ghetto Litzmannstadt) in the city and populated it with more than 200,000 Jews from the region, who were systematically sent to German extermination camps. It was the second-largest ghetto in occupied Europe, and the last major ghetto to be liquidated, in August 1944. The Polish resistance movement (Żegota) operated in the city and aided the Jewish people throughout its existence. However, only 877 Jews were still alive by 1945. Of the 223,000 Jews in Łódź before the invasion, 10,000 survived the Holocaust in other places. The Germans also created camps for non-Jews, including the Romani people deported from abroad, who were ultimately murdered at Chełmno, as well as a penal forced labour camp, four transit camps for Poles expelled from the city and region, and a racial research camp.

Post World War II (1945–1989)
Following liberation by Soviet forces on 19 January 1945, and the end of the World War II, Łódź informally and temporarily took over the functions of Poland's capital, and most of the government and country administration resided in the city prior to the reconstruction of Warsaw.

Łódź also experienced an influx of refugees from Kresy. Many migrated into the suburbs and occupied the empty properties. Under the Polish People's Republic, the city's industry and private companies were subject to nationalisation. On 24 May 1945, the University of Łódź was inaugurated. On 8 March 1948, the National Film School was opened, later becoming Poland's primary academy of drama and cinema.

The spatial and urban planning after World War II was conducted in accordance with the Athens Charter, where the population from the old core was relocated into new residential areas. However, as a result, the inner-city and historical areas fell in significance and degenerated into a slum. A number of extensive panel block housing estates, including Retkinia, Teofilów, Widzew, Radogoszcz, and Chojny. These block housing estates were constructed between 1960 and 1990, covering an area of almost 30 km2 and accommodating a large part of the populace.

In mid-1981 Łódź became famous for its massive hunger demonstration of local mothers and their children.

Contemporary history (1990–present)
After 1989 the textile industry in Łódź collapsed and the city suffered from social and economic decline. The city's industrial heritage and examples of Polish Art Nouveau became an early tourist attraction. In the 2000s the city's main street, the Piotrkowska Street, was revitalized, providing space for shops and restaurants. By 2011 the city hosted around 60 festivals per year.

The local government's efforts to transform the former industrial city into a thriving urban environment and tourist destination formed the basis for the city's failed bid to organise the 2022 International EXPO exhibition on the subject of urban renewal.

Geography
Łódź covers an area of approximately 293 km2 and is located in the centre of Poland. The city lies in the lowlands of the Central European Plain, not exceeding 300 metres in elevation. Topographically, the Łódź region is generally characterised by a flat landscape, with only several highlands which do not exceed 50 metres above the terrain level. The soil is predominantly sandy (62%) followed by clay (24%), silt (8%), and organogenic formations (6%) from regional wetlands. The forest cover (equivalent to 4.2% of the whole country) is considerably low compared to other cities, regions, and provinces of Poland.

Climate
Łódź has a humid continental climate (Dfb in the Köppen climate classification). The lowest temperature was recorded in January 1987.

Districts
Łódź was previously subdivided into five boroughs (dzielnica): Bałuty, Widzew, Śródmieście, Polesie, Górna.

However, the city has since been divided into 36 osiedla ('districts'): Bałuty-Centrum, Bałuty-Doły, Bałuty Zachodnie, Julianów-Marysin-Rogi, Łagiewniki, Radogoszcz, Teofilów-Wielkopolska, Osiedle Wzniesień Łódzkich, Chojny, Chojny-Dąbrowa, Górniak, Nad Nerem, Piastów-Kurak, Rokicie, Ruda, Wiskitno, Osiedle im. Józefa Montwiłła-Mireckiego, Karolew-Retkinia Wschód, Koziny, Lublinek-Pienista, Retkinia Zachód-Smulsko, Stare Polesie, Zdrowie-Mania, Złotno, Śródmieście-Wschód, Osiedle Katedralna, Andrzejów, Dolina Łódki, Mileszki, Nowosolna, Olechów-Janów, Stary Widzew, Stoki, Widzew-Wschód, Zarzew, and Osiedle nr 33.

Demographics

According to Statistics Poland (GUS), Łódź was inhabited by 672,185 people and had a population density of 2,292 persons per square kilometre (5,940/sq mi), Approximately 55.7 per cent of inhabitants are of working age (18–64 years), which is a considerable decrease from 64.1 per cent in 2010. An estimated 29.1 per cent is of post-working age compared to 21.8 per cent ten years earlier. In 2020, 54.39 per cent (365,500) of all residents were women. Łódź has one of the highest feminisation rates among Poland's major cities, a legacy of the city's industrial past, when the textile factories attracted large numbers of female employees.

At its peak in 1988 the population was around 854,000; however, this has since declined due to low fertility rates, outward migration and a lower life expectancy than in other parts of Poland. Łódź was the country's second largest city until 2007, when it lost its position to Kraków. A major contributing factor was the abrupt transition from socialist to market-based economy after 1989 and the resulting economic crisis, but the economic growth which followed has not reversed the trend. Depopulation and ageing are major impediments for the future development of the city, putting strain on social infrastructure and medical services.

Historically, Łódź was multi-ethnic and its diverse population comprised migrants from other regions of Europe. In 1839, approximately 78 per cent (6,648) of the total population was German. In 1913, Łódź had a population of 506,100 people, of whom 251,700 (49.7%) were Poles, 171,900 (34%) were Jews, 75,000 (14.8%) were Germans, and 6,300 (1.3%) were Russians. According to the 1931 Polish census, the total population of 604,000 included 375,000 (59%) Poles, 192,000 (32%) Jews and 54,000 (9%) Germans. By 1939, the Jewish minority had grown to well over 200,000.

Places of interest

The most notable and recognizable landmark of the city is Piotrkowska Street, which remains the high-street and main tourist attraction in the city, runs north to south for a little over 5 km. This makes it one of the longest commercial streets in the world. Most of the building façades, many of which date back to the 19th century, have been renovated. It is the site of most restaurants, bars and cafes in Łódź's city centre. Important monuments of achitecture along Piotrkowska Street are the Old Town Hall, the Descent Of The Holy Spirit Church, the Łódź Catholic Cathedral and the St. Matthew's Lutheran Church. Other important churches in the city center include the Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral and the Karol Scheibler's Chapel in the Lutheran part of the Old Cemetery at Ogrodowa Street.

Many neglected tenement houses and factories throughout the entire city centre have been renovated in recent years as part of the ongoing revitalization project run by the local authorities. The best example of urban regeneration in Łódź is the Manufaktura complex, occupying a large area of a former cotton factory dating back to the nineteenth century. The site, which was the heart of Izrael Poznański's industrial empire, hosts a shopping mall, numerous restaurants, 4-star hotel, multiplex cinema, factory museum, bowling and fitness facilities and a science exhibition centre. Opened in 2006, it quickly became a centre of cultural entertainment and shopping, as well as a recognizable city landmark attracting both domestic and foreign tourists. Another example is the former factory of Karl Scheibler on Księży Młyn, which was turned into a mixed-use complex of offices and housing.

Łódź has one of the best museums of modern art in Poland. Muzeum Sztuki has three branches, two of which (ms1 and ms2) display collections of 20th and 21st-century art. The newest addition to the museum, ms2 was opened in 2008 in the Manufaktura complex. The unique collection of the Museum is presented in an unconventional way. Instead of a chronological lecture on the development of art, works of art representing various periods and movements are arranged into a story touching themes and motifs important for the contemporary public. The third branch of Muzeum Sztuki, located in one of the city's many industrial palaces, also has more traditional art on display, presenting works by European and Polish masters such as Stanisław Wyspiański and Henryk Rodakowski.

Among the 14 registered museums to be found in Łódź, there is the independent Book Art Museum, awarded the American Printing History Association's Institutional Award for 2015 for its outstanding contribution to the study, recording, preservation, and dissemination of printing history in Poland over the last 35 years. Other notable museums include the Central Museum of Textiles with its open-air display of wooden architecture, the Cinematography Museum, located in Scheibler Palace, and the Museum of Independence Traditions, occupying the building of a historical Tsarist prison from the late 19th century. A more unusual establishment, the Dętka museum offers tourists a chance to visit the municipal sewer designed in the early years of the 20th century by the British engineer William Heerlein Lindley.

Łódź also provides plenty of green spaces for recreation. Woodland areas cover 9.61% of the city, with parks taking up an additional 2.37% of the area of Łódź ( Las Łagiewnicki ('Łagiewnicki Forest') is recognized as the largest forested area within the administrative borders of any city in Europe. It has an area of 1,245 ha and is cut across by a number of hiking trails that traverse the hilly landscape on the western edge of Łódź Hills Landscape Park. A "natural complex which has remained nearly intact as oak-hornbeam and oak woodland," the forest is also rich in history, and its attractions include a Franciscan friary dating back to the early 18th century and two 17th-century wooden chapels.

Out of a total of 44 parks in Łódź ( 11 have historical status, the oldest of them dating back to the middle of the 19th century. The largest of these, Józef Piłsudski Park (188.21 ha), is located near the Łódź Zoo and the city's botanical garden, and together with them it comprises an extensive green complex known as Zdrowie serving the recreational needs of the city. Another notable park located in Łódź is the Józef Poniatowski Park.

The Jewish Cemetery at Bracka Street, one of the largest of its kind in Europe, was established in 1892. After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939, this cemetery became a part of Łódź's eastern territory known as the enclosed Łódź ghetto (Ghetto Field). Between 1940 and 1944, approximately 43,000 burials took place within the grounds of this rounded-up cemetery. In 1956, a monument by Muszko in memory of the victims of the Łódź Ghetto was erected at the cemetery. It features a smooth obelisk, a menorah, and a broken oak tree with leaves stemming from the tree (symbolizing death, especially death at a young age). the cemetery has an area of 39.6 ha. It contains approximately 180,000 graves, approximately 65,000 labelled tombstones, ohels and mausoleums. Many of these monuments have significant architectural value; 100 of these have been declared historical monuments and have been in various stages of restoration. The mausoleum of Izrael and Eleanora Poznański is perhaps the largest Jewish tombstone in the world and the only one decorated with mosaics.

Economy and infrastructure
Before 1990, the economy of Łódź was heavily reliant on the textile industry, which had developed in the city in the nineteenth century owing to the abundance of rivers used to power the industry's fulling mills, bleaching plants and other machinery. Because of the growth in this industry, the city has sometimes been called the "Polish Manchester" and the "lingerie capital of Poland". As a result, Łódź grew from a population of 13,000 in 1840 to over 500,000 in 1913. By the time right before World War I Łódź had become one of the most densely populated industrial cities in the world, with 13,280 inhabitants per km2, and also one of the most polluted. The textile industry declined dramatically in 1990 and 1991, and no major textile company survives in Łódź. However, countless small companies still provide a significant output of textiles, mostly for export. Łódź is no longer a significant industrial centre, but it has become a major hub for the business services sector in Poland owing to the availability of highly skilled workers and active cooperation between local universities and the business sector.

The city benefits from its central location in Poland. A number of firms have located their logistics centres in the vicinity. Two motorways, A1 spanning from the north to the south of Poland, and A2 going from the east to the west, intersect northeast of the city. the A2 is complete to Warsaw and the northern section of A1 is largely completed. With these connections, the advantages of the city's central location should increase even further. Work has also begun on upgrading the railway connection with Warsaw, which reduced the 2-hour travel time to make the 137 km journey 1.5 hours in 2009. travel time from Łódź to Warsaw is around 1.2 hours with the modern Pesa SA Dart trains.

Recent years have seen many foreign companies opening and establishing their offices in Łódź. The Indian IT company Infosys has one of its centres in the city. In January 2009 Dell announced that it will shift production from its plant in Limerick, Ireland to its plant in Łódź, largely because the labour costs in Poland are a fraction of those in Ireland. The city's investor friendly policies have attracted 980 foreign investors by January 2009. Foreign investment was one of the factors which decreased the unemployment rate in Łódź to 6.5 per cent in December 2008, from 20 per cent four years earlier.

Transport
Łódź is situated near the geographical centre of Poland, only a short distance away from the motorway junction in Stryków where the two main north–south (A1) and east–west (A2) Polish transport corridors meet, which positions the city on two of the ten major trans-European routes: from Gdańsk to Žilina and Brno and from Berlin to Moscow via Warsaw. It is also part of the New Silk Road, a regular cargo rail connection with the Chinese city of Chengdu operating since 2013. Łódź is served by the national motorway network, an international airport, and long-distance and regional railways. It is at the centre of a regional and commuter rail network operating from the city's various train stations. Bus and tram services are operated by a municipal public transport company. There are 193 km of bicycle routes throughout the city (as in January 2019).

Major roads include:
 * A1: Gdańsk – Toruń – Łódź – Częstochowa – Cieszyn (national border)
 * A2: Świecko (national border) – Poznań – Łódź – Warszawa
 * S8: Wrocław – Sieradz – Łódź – Piotrków Trybunalski – Warszawa – Białystok
 * S14: Pabianice – Konstantynów Łódzki – Aleksandrów Łódzki – Zgierz
 * DK14: Łowicz – Stryków – Łódź – Zduńska Wola – Sieradz – Złoczew – Walichnowy
 * DK72: Konin – Turek – Poddębice – Łódź – Brzeziny – Rawa Mazowiecka
 * DK91: Gdańsk – Tczew – Toruń – Łódź – Piotrków Trybunalski – Radomsko – Częstochowa

Airport
The city has an international airport: Łódź Władysław Reymont Airport located 6 km from the city centre. Flights connect the city with destinations in Europe including Turkey. In 2014 the airport handled 253,772 passengers. It is the 8th largest airport in Poland.

Public transport
The Municipal Transport Company – Łódź (Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne – Łódź), owned by the Łódź City Government, is responsible for operating 58 bus routes and 19 tram lines.

Rail
Łódź has a number of long distance and local railway stations. There are two main stations in the city, but with no direct rail connection between them—a legacy of 19th-century railway network planning. Originally constructed in 1866, the centrally-located Łódź Fabryczna was a terminus station for a branch line of the Warsaw-Vienna railway, whereas Łódź Kaliska was built more than thirty years later on the central section of the Warsaw-Kalisz railway. For this reason most intercity train traffic goes to this day through Łódź Kaliska station, despite its relative distance from the city centre, and Łódź Fabryczna serves mainly as a terminal station for trains to Warsaw. The situation will be remedied in 2026 after the construction of a tunnel connecting the two, which is likely to make Łódź Poland's main railway hub. The tunnel will additionally serve Łódź Commuter Railway, providing a rapid transit system for the city, dubbed the Łódź Metro by the media and local authorities. Three new stations are being constructed on the underground line, one serving the needs of the Manufaktura complex, another one serving Koziny district and the third one located in the area of Piotrkowska Street.

In December 2016, a few years after the demolition of the old building of Łódź Fabryczna station, a new underground station was opened. It is considered to be the largest and most modern of all train stations in Poland and is designed to handle increased traffic after the construction of the tunnel. It also serves as a multimodal transport hub, featuring an underground intercity bus station, and is integrated with a new transport interchange serving taxis and local trams and buses. The construction of the new Łódź Fabryczna station was part of a broader project of urban renewal known as Nowe Centrum Łodzi (New Centre of Łódź).

The third-largest train station in Łódź is Łódź Widzew. There are also many other stations and train stops in the city, many of which were upgraded as part of the Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna commuter rail project. The rail service, founded as part of a major regional rail upgrade and owned by Łódź Voivodeship, operates on routes to Kutno, Sieradz, Skierniewice, Łowicz, and on selected days to Warsaw, with plans for further expansion after the construction of the tunnel.

Education
Łódź is a thriving center of academic life. Łódź hosts three major state-owned universities, six higher education establishments operating for more than a half of the century, and a number of smaller schools of higher education. The tertiary institutions with the most students in Łódź include:

 * University of Łódź (UŁ – Uniwersytet Łódzki)
 * Lodz University of Technology (PŁ – Politechnika Łódzka)
 * Medical University of Łódź (Uniwersytet Medyczny w Łodzi)
 * National Film School in Łódź (Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa, Telewizyjna i Teatralna w Łodzi)
 * Academy of Music in Łódź (Akademia Muzyczna im. Grażyny i Kiejstuta Bacewiczów w Łodzi)
 * Academy of Fine Arts In Łódź (Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Wł. Strzemińskiego w Łodzi)

In the 2018 general ranking of state-owned tertiary education institutions in Poland, the University of Łódź came 20th (6th place among universities) and Lodz University of Technology 12th (6th place among technical universities). The Medical University of Łódź was ranked 5th among Polish medical universities. Leading courses taught in Łódź include administration (3rd place), law (4th) and biology (4th).

There is also a number of private-owned institutions of higher learning in Łódź. The largest of these are the University of Social Sciences (Społeczna Akademia Nauk) and the University of Humanities and Economics in Łódź (Akademia Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna w Łodzi). In the 2018 ranking of private universities in Poland the former was ranked 9th, and the latter 23rd.

National Film School in Łódź
The Leon Schiller National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź (Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa, Telewizyjna i Teatralna im. Leona Schillera w Łodzi) is the most notable academy for future actors, directors, photographers, camera operators and TV staff in Poland. It was founded on 8 March 1948 and was initially planned to be moved to Warsaw as soon as the city was rebuilt following the Warsaw Uprising. However, in the end the school remained in Łódź and became one of the best-known institutions of higher education in the city.

At the end of the Second World War Łódź was the only large Polish city besides Kraków which war had not destroyed. The creation of the National Film School gave Łódź a role of greater importance from a cultural viewpoint, which before the war had belonged exclusively to Warsaw and Kraków. Early students of the School include the directors Andrzej Munk, Roman Polanski, Andrzej Wajda, Kazimierz Karabasz (one of the founders of the so-called Black Series of Polish Documentary) and Janusz Morgenstern, who at the end of the 1950s became famous as one of the founders of the Polish Film School of Cinematography.

Museums in Łódź

 * Archaeological and Ethnographical Museum
 * Book Art Museum
 * Central Museum of Textiles
 * City of Lodz History Museum
 * Film Museum
 * Herbst Palace Museum
 * Muzeum Sztuki (Museum of Art)
 * Natural History Museum, University of Łódź
 * Muzeum Tradycji Niepodległościowych (Independence Traditions Museum) with three parts:
 * Radegast train station
 * Mausoleum and museum in Radogoszcz – Radogoszcz prison
 * exhibition Kuźnia Romów (Roma forge) in former Łódź Ghetto
 * Se-ma-for museum of stop-motion film animation
 * The Centre for Science and Technology EC1 in former Łódź power plant

Łódź in literature and cinema
Three major novels depict the development of industrial Łódź: Władysław Reymont's The Promised Land (1898), Joseph Roth's Hotel Savoy (1924) and Israel Joshua Singer's The Brothers Ashkenazi (1937). Roth's novel depicts the city on the eve of a workers' riot in 1919. Reymont's novel was made into a film by Andrzej Wajda in 1975. In the 1990 film Europa Europa, Solomon Perel's family flees pre-World War II Berlin and settles in Łódź. Paweł Pawlikowski's film Ida was partially shot in Łódź. Łódź. Chava Rosenfarb's Yiddish trilogy "The Tree of Life" (1972; English translation 1985) portrays life within the Łódź Ghetto.

Theatre

 * Studio Theatre

Sport
The city has experience as a host for international sporting events such as the 2009 EuroBasket, the 2011 EuroBasket Women, the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship and the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, with the opening and final of the latter taking place at Stadion Widzewa. Łódź will also host the sixth edition of the European Universities Games in 2022.

Under communism it was common for clubs to participate in many different sports for all ages and sexes. Many of these traditional clubs still survive. Originally they were owned directly by a public body, but have become independently operated by clubs or private companies. However, they get public support through the cheap rent of land and other subsidies from the city. Some of their sections have gone professional and separated from the clubs as private companies. For example, Budowlani S.A is a private company that owns the only professional rugby team in Łódź, while Klub Sportowy Budowlani remains a community amateur club.

 * Budowlani Łódź – rugby (six times Polish champions), hockey, wrestling, volleyball
 * ŁKS Łódź – association football (two times Polish champions), basketball (Polish champions 1953), volleyball (two times Polish champions), handball, boxing
 * SMS Łódź – association football, volleyball, basketball
 * KS Społem Łódź – road and track cycling
 * SKS Start Łódź – football, swimming
 * Widzew Łódź – association football (four time Polish champions, semi-finalists of the 1982–83 European Cup)
 * Orzeł Łódź - motorcycle speedway team
 * Sroki Łódź - Rugby league (three times Polish champions)

In Ekstraklasa of Polish beach soccer Łódź have three professional clubs: Grembach, KP and BSCC Łódź.

Horticultural Expo 2029
Łódź bid for the Specialized Expo 2022/2023 but lost out to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Łódź was planned to host the Horticultural Expo in 2024. However, multiple Expo events were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Horticultural Expo in Doha, Qatar from 2021/22 to 23/24 among them. As a result, the Horticultural Expo in Łódź has been rescheduled to 2029 to maintain a required time interval between them.

Notable residents

 * Daniel Amit (1938–2007), Israeli physicist
 * Yehuda Ashlag (1885–1954), Rabbi
 * Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969), composer
 * Aleksander Bardini (1913–1995), theatre director and actor
 * Andrzej Bartkowiak (born 1950), cameraman and film director
 * Jurek Becker (1937–1997), writer
 * Sylwester Bednarek (born 1989), high jumper
 * Marek Belka (born 1952), politician, former Prime Minister
 * Karolina Bielawska (born 1999), model and Miss World 2021
 * Kazimierz Brandys (1916–2000), writer
 * Artur Brauner (1918–2019), film producer
 * Edward G. Brisch (1901–1960), industrial coding and classification expert
 * Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974), writer, mathematician and Britain's leading academic TV figure of the 1970s
 * Sabina Citron (1928–2023), Holocaust survivor, activist and author
 * Bat-Sheva Dagan (1925–2024), Holocaust survivor, teacher, psychologist and author
 * Karl Dedecius (1921–2016), translator
 * Elizabeth Diller (born 1954), American architect
 * Karl Dominik (born 1980), China's first Chinese speaking Polish actor
 * Marek Edelman (1919/1922–2009), politician, human rights activist and Holocaust survivor
 * Jacob Eisner (born 1947), Israeli basketball player
 * Max Factor Sr. (1877–1938), businessman, founder of the Max Factor cosmetics company
 * Magdalena Fręch (born 1997), tennis player
 * Dov Freiberg (1927–2008), Holocaust survivor and writer
 * Joseph Friedenson (1922–2013), Holocaust survivor and writer
 * Piotr Fronczewski (born 1946), Polish actor
 * Maciej Golubiewski (born 1976), Polish political scientist and diplomat, Consul General at the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York City
 * Marcin Gortat (born 1984), basketball player
 * Mendel Grossman (1913–1945), Łódź ghetto photographer
 * Józef Hecht (1891–1951), engraver and printmaker
 * Jerzy Janowicz (born 1990), tennis player
 * Josef Joffe (born 1944), journalist
 * Michał Kalecki (1899–1970), Marxian economist
 * Roman Kantor (1912–1943), épée fencer
 * Jan Karski (1914–2000), diplomat and anti-nazi resistant
 * Aharon Katzir (1914–1972), Israeli pioneer in study of electrochemistry of biopolymers; killed in Lod Airport Massacre
 * Paul Kletzki (1900–1973), conductor
 * Katarzyna Kobro (1898–1951), sculptor
 * Lea Koenig (born 1929), Israeli actress
 * Tomasz Konieczny (born 1972), opera singer
 * Jerzy Kosinski (1933–1991), writer
 * Jan Kowalewski (1892–1965), cryptologist
 * Karolina Kowalkiewicz (born 1985), mixed martial artist
 * Feliks W. Kres (1966-2022), fantasy writer
 * Anna Lewandowska (born 1988), karateka and nutrition expert
 * Nathan Lewin, Washington, D.C. attorney
 * Daniel Libeskind (born 1946), architect
 * Mikołaj Marczyk (born 1995), rally driver
 * Tadeusz Miciński (1873–1918), poet
 * Izabella Miko (born 1981), actress
 * Stanisław Mikulski (1929–2014), actor
 * Ruth Minsky Sender (born 1926), author and survivor
 * Zew Wawa Morejno (1916–2011), Chief Rabbi
 * Henry Morgentaler (1923–2013), physician
 * Konstantin Petrovich Nechaev (1883–1946), White movement leader and mercenary commander in China
 * Zbigniew Nienacki (1929–1994), writer
 * Marek Olędzki (born 1951), archaeologist
 * Marian P. Opala (1921–2010), Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice
 * O.S.T.R. (born 1980), rapper
 * Adam Palma (born 1974), Polish-British guitarist and teacher
 * Władysław Pasikowski (born 1959), film director
 * Roman Polanski (born 1933), film director
 * Piotr Pustelnik (born 1951), alpine and high-altitude climber, the 20th man to climb all 14 eight-thousanders
 * Ze'ev Raban (1890–1970), Israeli painter and sculptor
 * Adolph Moses Radin (1848–1909), rabbi
 * Damian Radowicz (born 1989), footballer
 * Władysław Reymont (1867–1925), writer, Nobel Prize winner
 * Joseph Rotblat (1908–2005), physicist, Nobel Prize winner
 * Stefan Rozental (1903–1994), nuclear physicist
 * Arthur Rubinstein (1887–1982), pianist
 * Arnold Rutkowski, opera singer
 * Zbigniew Rybczyński (born 1949), animator
 * Marek Saganowski (born 1978), footballer
 * Andrzej Sapkowski (born 1948), fantasy writer
 * Karl Wilhelm Scheibler (1820–1881), industrialist
 * Ebi Smolarek (born 1981), footballer
 * Piotr Sobociński (1958–2001), cinematographer
 * Andrzej Sontag (born 1952), track-and-field athlete
 * Natan Spigel (1900–1942), painter
 * Władysław Strzemiński (1893–1952), painter
 * Borys Szyc (born 1978), actor and musician
 * Arthur Szyk (1894–1951), artist
 * Adam Szymczyk (born 1970), art critic and curator
 * Alexandre Tansman (1897–1986), composer and pianist
 * Jack Tramiel (1928–2012), computer manufacturer, the founder of Commodore
 * Julian Tuwim (1894–1953), poet
 * Andrzej Udalski (born 1957), astronomer and astrophysicist
 * Miś Uszatek, cartoon character
 * Sławosz Uznański (born 1984), engineer and reserve astronaut of the European Space Agency
 * Michał Wiśniewski (born 1972), singer
 * Paweł Zatorski (born 1990), volleyball player
 * Hanna Zdanowska (born 1959), politician, Mayor of Łódź
 * Aleksandra Ziółkowska-Boehm (born 1949), writer

International relations
Łódź is home to nine foreign consulates, all of which are Honorary. They are subordinate to the following states' main representation in Poland: French, Danish, German, Austrian, British, Belgian, Latvian, Hungarian and Moldavian.

Twin towns – sister cities
Łódź is twinned with:

 * 🇩🇪 Chemnitz, Germany (since 1972)
 * 🇩🇪 Stuttgart, Germany (since 1988)
 * 🇫🇷 Lyon, France (since 1991)
 * 🇱🇹 Vilnius, Lithuania (since 1991)
 * 🇺🇦 Odesa, Ukraine (since 1993)
 * 🇨🇳 Tianjin, China (since 1993)
 * 🇮🇱 Tel Aviv, Israel (since 1994)
 * Rustavi, Georgia (since 1995)
 * Barreiro, Portugal (since 1996)
 * 🇫🇮 Tampere, Finland (since 1996)
 * 🇲🇽 Puebla, Mexico (since 1996)
 * 🇪🇸 Murcia, Spain (since 1999)
 * 🇺🇦 Lviv, Ukraine (since 2003)
 * 🇭🇺 Szeged, Hungary (since 2008)
 * 🇨🇳 Guangzhou, China (since 2014)
 * 🇨🇳 Chengdu, China (since 2015)

Łódź belongs also to the Eurocities network.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Łódź terminated the partnership with Russian cities Ivanovo and Kaliningrad, and with Minsk, the capital of Belarus on 2 March 2022.

title: Łódź


text:
Frutta martorana

Frutta martorana (also called frutta di Martorana or, in Sicilian, frutta marturana) is a Sicilian marzipan sweet in the form of fruits and vegetables from the provinces of Palermo and Trapani.

Realistically coloured with vegetable dyes, it is said to have originated at the Benedictine nunnery of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, Palermo, known as La Martorana after its foundress, when nuns decorated empty fruit trees with marzipan fruit to impress an archbishop visiting at a season when the trees were not fruiting. It is traditionally put by children's bedsides on All Souls' Day.

title: Frutta martorana


text:
Olsztyn

Olsztyn (, ; Allenstein ; Old Prussian: Alnāsteini ) is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. The population of the city was estimated at 169,793 residents

Olsztyn is the largest city in Warmia, and has been the capital of the voivodeship since 1999. In the same year, the University of Warmia and Masuria was founded from the fusion of three other local universities. Today, the Castle of Warmian Cathedral Chapter houses a museum and is a venue for concerts, art exhibitions, film shows and other cultural events, which make Olsztyn a popular tourist destination. The city is the seat of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warmia.

The most important sights of the city include the medieval Old Town and the St. James Pro-cathedral (former St. James Parish Church), which dates back more than 600 years. The market square is part of the European Route of Brick Gothic and the pro-cathedral is regarded as one of the greatest monuments of Gothic architecture in Poland.

Olsztyn, for a number of years, has been ranked very highly in quality of life, income, employment and safety. It is one of the best places in Poland to live and work. It is also one of the happiest cities in the country.

Middle Ages
In 1334, a watchtower was established on the Łyna River. In 1346, the forest was cleared at the location for a new settlement, mentioned in a historical document from 1348. The following year, the Teutonic Knights began the construction of an Ordensburg (castle) as a stronghold against the Baltic Prussians. Allenstein was granted municipal rights by the cathedral chapter of the Bishopric of Warmia in October 1353. The German "Allenstein" referred to the river's Baltic Prussian name Alna, which meant a hind. Local Poles, having arrived along with German settlers, called it Holstin and Olsztyn, which are Polonizations of the German name. The castle was completed in 1397. The town was captured by the Kingdom of Poland during the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War in 1410, and again in 1414 during the Hunger War, but it was returned to the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights after hostilities ended.

The city joined the Prussian Confederation in 1440, and rebelled against the Teutonic Knights in 1454 upon the outbreak of the Thirteen Years' War to join the Kingdom of Poland under King Casimir IV Jagiellon. In 1454, upon the request of the Confederation, King Casimir IV signed the act of incorporation of the region to Poland, and the townspeople took the castle and recognized the Polish king as the rightful ruler. Although the Teutonic Knights recaptured the city the following year, it was retaken by Polish troops in 1463. The Second Peace of Thorn in 1466 confirmed Allenstein as part of the Kingdom of Poland. Administratively it was located in the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia within the provinces of Royal Prussia and Greater Poland.

Modern era
From 1516 to 1521, Nicolaus Copernicus lived in the town castle as an administrator and then in Mehlsack (Melzak, now Pieniężno). Copernicus was in charge of the Polish defences in the Siege of Allenstein during the Polish-Teutonic War of 1519–21. He also started and managed the repopulation of the region, inviting a new wave of Polish settlers from Mazovia. The town along with Warmia then entered what is considered the region's golden age, when crafts and trade developed, thanks also to the city's location on the Warsaw-Königsberg trade route. During this period, the city was still visited several times by Copernicus, as well as leading figures of the Polish Renaissance, writers, royal secretaries and diplomats: Johannes Dantiscus, called the "father of Polish diplomacy", and Marcin Kromer, who was also a historian and music theorist. St. James' Pro-Cathedral, one of the most distinctive landmarks of the cityscape, was completed at that time.

Prosperity was halted in the 1620s, when the town suffered a fire and an epidemic. In 1626, during the Swedish invasion, clerics from Frauenburg (Frombork) took refuge in the town, which the Swedes did not reach. The city was sacked by Swedish troops later, in 1655 and 1708, during the next Polish-Swedish wars, and its population was nearly wiped out in 1710 by epidemics of the bubonic plague and cholera.

The town became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1772 after the First Partition of Poland and its economy initially collapsed. Poles became subject to extensive Germanisation policies. A Prussian census recorded a population of 1,770 people, predominantly farmers, and Allenstein was administered within the newly created Province of East Prussia.

On February 3, 1807, the Battle of Allenstein took place. The French Army clashed with the Imperial Russian army. On that day, Allenstein was visited by Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon gathered enormous forces in the city and planned to engage the Russians and Prussians in a decisive battle. The Russian army was stationed in Jonkowo, but retreated after the French attack. Thanks to the victory at Allenstein, Napoleon's army was able to move north and a few days later the general Battle of Eylau took place.

The growth of the city started again after it became a district seat in 1818, a significant influx of German settlers began and by 1825, the town was inhabited by 1,341 Germans and 1,266 Poles. In the early 1830s the city suffered from a cholera epidemic and a hunger crisis, however afterwards it flourished again, when despite Germanisation policies it was administered by Polish mayor Jakub Rarkowski from 1836 to 1865. Under Rarkowski the city was expanded and modernized, and the mayor also hid Polish insurgents in the city during the January Uprising. The first German-language newspaper, the Allensteiner Zeitung, began publishing in 1841. Polish historian Wojciech Kętrzyński was arrested in Jomendorf (the present-day district of Jaroty), and imprisoned in the city's High Gate in 1863 for smuggling weapons for the Polish January Uprising in the Russian Partition of Poland. The town hospital was founded in 1867. In 1871, with the unification of Germany, Allenstein became part of the German Empire. Two years later, the city was connected by railway to Thorn (Toruń). Despite Germanisation attempts the city remained an important Polish centre. Its first Polish language newspaper, the Gazeta Olsztyńska, was founded in 1886. Allenstein's infrastructure developed rapidly: gas was installed in 1890, telephones in 1892, public water supply in 1898, and electricity in 1907. The Provincial Mental Sanatorium Kortau was established in 1886 just south of Allenstein (today part of Olsztyn-Kortowo). In 1905, the city became the capital of Regierungsbezirk Allenstein, a government administrative region in East Prussia. From 1818 to 1910, the city was administered within the East Prussian Allenstein District, after which it became an independent city.

World War I, interbellum and World War II
Shortly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Russian troops captured Allenstein, but it was recovered by the Imperial German Army in the Battle of Tannenberg.

After the defeat of Germany in World War I, the East Prussian plebiscite was held in 1920 to determine whether the populace of the region, including Allenstein, wished to remain in German East Prussia or become part of Poland, which had just regained independence. In order to advertise the plebiscite, special postage stamps were produced by overprinting German stamps and sold on 3 April of that year. One kind of overprint read PLÉBISCITE / OLSZTYN / ALLENSTEIN, while the other read ''TRAITÉ / DE / VERSAILLES / ART. 94 et 95'' inside an oval whose border gave the full name of the plebiscite commission. Each overprint was applied to 14 denominations ranging from 5 Pfennigs to 3 Marks. The Polish community faced discrimination, Polish rallies were dispersed, the participants were threatened and beaten. In March, Polish activist Bogumił Linka died in Allenstein, a few weeks after being attacked by the German militia in nearby Szczytno in Masuria. He was buried in Allenstein, however, his grave was soon devastated by local German nationalists. A monument to Linka was unveiled after Poland regained control of the city after World War II. The presence of a Royal Irish battalion ensured a relative peace in Allenstein. The plebiscite, held on 11 July, produced 16,742 votes for Germany and 342 votes for Poland.

In the interwar period, numerous Polish organisations operated in the city, including the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, Union of Poles in Germany, a People's Bank (Bank Ludowy), local Poles organised a school, library, puppet theatre. The Polish Consulate also operated. After the January 1933 Nazi seizure of power in Germany, Poles and Jews in Allenstein were increasingly persecuted. In 1935, the German Wehrmacht made the city the seat of the Allenstein Militärischer Bereich. It was then home of the 11th and 217th infantry divisions and 11th Artillery Regiment. At the same time, the football club SV Hindenburg Allenstein played in Allenstein from 1921 to 1945.

Beginning in 1936, members of the Polish minority were increasingly persecuted, especially members of the Union of Poles in Germany. In early 1939, many local Polish activists were expelled. In an attempt to rig the results of an upcoming census and understate the number of Poles in the city and region, the Germans terrorized the Polish population and, in May 1939, the Gestapo confiscated 10,000 Polish information leaflets in the headquarters of the Gazeta Olsztyńska. In August 1939, Germany introduced martial law in the region, which allowed for even more blatant persecution of Poles. In August and September 1939, the authorities carried out mass arrests of local Poles, including the chairman of the local Polish bank and his assistant, the chief of the "Rolnik" Cooperative, and the principal of the local Polish school.

Nazi Germany co-formed the Einsatzgruppe V in the city, which then entered several Polish cities and towns, including Grudziądz, Mława, Ciechanów, Łomża and Siedlce, to commit various atrocities against Poles during the German invasion of Poland that began World War II in 1939. German troops invaded Poland also from Olsztyn (then called Allenstein). After the German invasion of Poland, local Poles were also subjected to mass executions and deportations to occupied Poland. Arrested Poles were held in a local prison and then forced to remove Polish signs and inscriptions in the city, while the German population gathered and insulted them. The Gazeta Olsztyńska was abolished by the German authorities, the newspaper's headquarters was demolished and the editor-in-chief Seweryn Pieniężny was arrested and executed in the  along with co-publisher Wojciech Gałęziewski and the "Rolnik" Cooperative chief Leon Włodarczyk, while Pieniężny's wife was deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. The last pre-war Polish consul in Allenstein, Bohdan Jałowiecki, along with the consulate staff, was imprisoned in the Hohenbruch and Soldau concentration camps, and then murdered. Polish teachers were deported to the Dachau concentration camp.

During the war five forced labour camps were established in the city. On 12 October 1939, the Wehrmacht established an area headquarters for one of its military districts, Wehrkreis I (headquartered at Königsberg), that controlled the environs of Allenstein, including Lötzen (now Giżycko), and Ciechanów in occupied Poland. As part of the Aktion T4, Nazi Germany conducted medical experiments on the patients of the psychiatric hospital in the present-day district of Kortowo, in which at least 5,000 people were killed.

On 22 January 1945, near the end of the war, the city was plundered and burned by the conquering Soviet Red Army, and much of its German population fled. The remaining, mostly Polish population, was subjected to various crimes, including murder, rape and looting. The Soviets also murdered the remaining patients and staff of the psychiatric hospital, who were either burned alive or shot. Remains of three Roman Catholic nuns who served as nurses at Olsztyn's St. Mary's Hospital and were killed by Soviet soldiers in 1945 were excavated in October 2020.

On 23 May 1945, the Soviets established a Polish administration in the region which aroused British and American protest. The Polish rule was accepted under the preliminary provisions of the Potsdam Conference. In October 1945, the remaining German population was expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, and remaining Poles were joined by new Polish settlers, mostly those expelled from pre-war Polish regions of Vilnius, Grodno and Volhynia, annexed by the Soviet Union, as well as settlers from Warsaw, which had been destroyed by German forces during World War II. Reconstruction and removal of damage lasted until the 1950s.

Contemporary history
In December 1945, a match factory was launched in Olsztyn, as the city's first post-war industrial plant of national importance. A tyre factory was founded in Olsztyn in 1967. Its subsequent names included OZOS, Stomil and Michelin. City limits were greatly expanded in 1966 and 1987.

In 1956, Olsztyn was the site of the largest Polish demonstration of support for the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. On the 500th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus, in 1973, a planetarium was opened in Olsztyn. In 1989 the former Gazeta Olsztyńska headquarters was rebuilt and re-opened as a museum. In 1991 Pope John Paul II visited the city. In 1999 the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn was established, which is now one of the largest universities in northeastern Poland.

Olsztyn became the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in 1999. It was previously in the Olsztyn Voivodeship.

Olsztyn Castle
The Olsztyn Castle was built between 1346–1353 and by then it had one wing on the north-east side of the rectangular courtyard. Access to the castle leads from the drawbridge over the river Łyna, surrounded by a belt of defensive walls and a moat. The south-west wing of the castle was built in the 15th century, the tower situated in the west corner of the courtyard, from the middle of the 14th century, was rebuilt in the early 16th century and had a round shape on a square base and was 40 meters high. At the same time, the castle walls were raised to a height of 12 meters and a second belt of the lower walls was built. The castle walls were partly combined with city walls, which made the castle look as if it had been a powerful bastion defending access to the city. The castle was owned by Warmia Chapter, which until 1454, together with the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia, was under the military protection of the Teutonic Knights and their Monastic State in Prussia.

The castle had played a huge role in the Polish-Teutonic wars by then. After the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, the Poles took it after a few days siege. In the Thirteen Years' War (1454–66) it was jumping from rule to rule. The Knights threatened the castle and the town in 1521, but the defense was very effective. They contained one failed assault. There is a connection between the history of the castle, the city of Olsztyn, and Nicolaus Copernicus. He prepared the defense of Olsztyn against the invasion of the Teutonic Knights in 1520.

In the sixteenth century, there were two prince-bishops of Warmia that stayed there: Johannes Dantiscus – the first Sarmatian poet, endowed with the imperial laurel wreath for "Latin Songs" (1538, 1541) and Marcin Kromer, who wrote with equal ease in Latin and Polish scientific and literary works (1580). Kromer consecrated the chapel of St. Anna, which was built in the south-west wing of the castle. In the course of time, both wings of the castle lost military importance, which for residential purposes has become very convenient. In 1779, Prince-Bishop Ignacy Krasicki stopped here as well.

After the Prussian annexation of Warmia during the First Partition of Poland in 1772, the castle became the property of the state board of estates (Kriegs- und Domänenkammer — War and Domain Chamber). In 1845, the bridge over the moat was replaced by a causeway better connecting the castle with the city. In 1901–1911 a general renovation of the castle was performed, however, several sections of the building were violated at the same time where they changed the original look of the castle e.g. putting on window frames in a cloister. The tower was topped off in 1921 and again in 1926.

In 1945, the whole castle became home to the Masurian Museum, which today is called the Museum of Warmia and Masuria. In addition, there are also popular events held within the frameworks of the Olsztyn Artistic Summer and so-called "evenings of the castle" and "Sundays in the Museum".

Jewish community
Although Jews were permitted to trade in the city itself and its fairs during the medieval times, they were restricted from trading freely in the villages surrounding the town. In 1718, Bishop Teodor Andrzej Potocki imposed a ban on Jewish trade in the city as well. The ban, even if continued by successive bishops, proved not to be particularly successful in the light of repeated complains by the local merchants about Jewish dealing in animal leather and similar products as the one recorded in 1742. Permanent Jewish settlement can be dated to 1780 when the Jews were finally permitted to settle in the city albeit outside the immediate city walls. In 1814, the Simonson brothers opened the first Jewish store. Yet, the growth of the Jewish community worried city authorities that attempted to curb it with various restrictions and punitive measures. For example, in 1850, a new law was enacted imposing fines and imprisonment on anyone harbouring a 'wandering' Jew in their home. The roots of the Jewish congregation in the town can be traced to 1820. Shortly after that date, an official prayer room was established on Richterstraße. In 1877, the congregation bought a plot of land on Liebstädterstraße and built a synagogue there. A Jewish cemetery was built on Seestraße (present-day Grunwaldzka). At its peak, the town's Jewish population reached 448 people (1933).

During the Kristallnacht, the town synagogue was destroyed by Nazi Germans, only to be later used as a bomb shelter. Today, the site of the former synagogue is occupied by a local sports club.

By 1939, only 135 Jews were left in the city. The remainder fled the country. Those who still lived in the town by 1940 were deported to Nazi concentration camps. In June 1946, 16 Holocaust survivors settled in the city and in 1948, the congregation had 190 worshipers. Most of them emigrated to Israel throughout the next few decades. There is no trace of the Jewish cemetery.

The city was the birthplace of world-famous Jewish architect Erich Mendelsohn. In town, Mendelsohn planned the mourners' chapel (called the Mendelsohn house) next to the cemetery. The building is restored. In addition, it was the birthplace of German Socialist and SPD leader Hugo Haase. Frieda Strohmberg, an Impressionist, lived and worked in the city from 1910 to 1927. Documentation of the Jewish owned shops in town exists.

Geography
Olsztyn is located in the north-east part of Poland in the region known as the "Thousand Lakes".

Greenbelt
More than half of the forests occupying 21.2% of the city area form a single complex of the Municipal Forest (1050 ha) used mainly for recreation and tourism purposes. Within the Municipal Forest area are situated two peat-land flora sanctuaries, Mszar and Redykajny. Municipal greenery (560 ha, 6.5% of the town area) developed in the form of numerous parks, green spots and three cemeteries over a century old. The greenery includes 910 monuments of nature and groups of protected trees in the form of beech, oak, maple and lime-lined avenues.

Lakes
The city is situated in a lake region of forests and plains. There are 15 lakes inside the administrative bounds of the city (13 with areas greater than 1 ha). The overall area of lakes in Olsztyn is about 725 ha, which constitutes 8.25% of the total city area.

Climate
Olszytn has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb) using the -3 C isotherm or a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb) using the 0 C isotherm.

Administrative division

Olsztyn is divided into 23 districts:

There are many smaller districts: Jakubowo, Karolin, Kolonia Jaroty, Kortowo II, Łupstych, Niedźwiedź, Piękna Góra, Podlesie, Pozorty, Skarbówka Poszmanówka, Słoneczny Stok, Stare Kieźliny, Stare Miasto, Stare Zalbki, Stary Dwór, Track. These do not have council representative assemblies.

Theatres

 * Stefan Jaracz Theatre (est. 1925) the host of International Theatre Festival DEMOLUDY
 * Puppet Theatre

Cinemas

 * Helios
 * Multikino

Museums

 * Museum of Warmia and Mazury (Muzeum Warmii i Mazur) – Olsztyn's largest museum.
 * Gazeta Olsztyńska House (Dom "Gazety Olsztyńskiej")
 * Museum of Nature (Muzeum Przyrody)
 * Museum of Sports (Muzeum Sportu)
 * Muzeum Nowoczesności

Architecture
The historic central district of Olsztyn is the Old Town (Stare Miasto), which contains various historic buildings and structures, including:
 * the Gothic castle of Warmian Chapter, built during the 14th century, former home of Nicolaus Copernicus, now a museum
 * Gothic St. James' Pro-cathedral with Gothic-Renaissance-Baroque interior
 * Old Town Hall on the Market Square – built in the mid-14th century.
 * Gazeta Olsztyńska House at the Targ Rybny ("Fish Market"), now a museum.
 * the town walls and the High Gate (until the mid-19th century known as the Upper Gate).
 * Our Lady Queen of Poland church
 * Monument to Nicolaus Copernicus
 * Park Zamkowy (Castle Park)
 * Baroque Archpresbyter's Palace (Pałac Archiprezbitera)
 * Gothic Revival Church of the Salvator

Notable structures outside of the Old Town include:
 * the New City Hall
 * Jewish Tahara house in Olsztyn built in 1911-1912 by Erich Mendelsohn
 * Modernist planetarium with mosaics by Stefan Knapp
 * the, built in 1565
 * Neogothic Sacred Heart church, built during the years 1901–1902
 * Church of St. Lawrence in the Gutkowo district, built in the late 14th century
 * Home Army and Stefan Jaracz monuments and the White Eagle Column
 * the Railway Bridge over the River Łyna gorge near Artyleryjska and Wyzwolenia streets, built during the years 1872–1873
 * Main Post Office
 * Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship office
 * Instytut Północny im. Wojciecha Kętrzyńskiego ("Wojciech Kętrzyński Northern Institute")
 * Park Centralny (Central Park)
 * the Książnica Polska building with one of the oldest active passenger elevators in Poland and Europe
 * FM- and TV-mast Olsztyn-Pieczewo – 360 metres high, since the collapse of the Warsaw radio mast the tallest structure in Poland

Music
The city is home to the National Symphony Orchestra.

Economy
The Michelin Polska tyre company (former Stomil Olsztyn) is the largest employer in the region of Warmia and Masuria. Other important industries are food processing and furniture manufacturing.

Bus
A bus network with 36 bus lines exists, including 6 suburban lines and 2 night-time lines.

Trolleybus
In 1939, due to poor economic situation throughout the interwar period and the city's growing population, a trolleybus line began operation, partially replacing the original tram network. During the Second World War the cars were mainly driven by women.

The trolleybus network consisting of 4 lines was decommissioned on 31 July 1971.

Rail
Olsztyn has train connections to various major cities in Poland, including Warsaw, Kraków, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Poznań, Bydgoszcz, Białystok, Wrocław, Łódź, Toruń, and various towns in the region, including Elbląg, Iława, Działdowo and Ełk. Olsztyn Główny is the main railway station in the city. Plans exist to demolish the building and replace it with new infrastructure, contrary to previous information about the current building being renovated.

Tram

Historically, the city's first tram line was built in 1907 and gradually expanded over the years. It ceased operation in 1965.

In 2006, authorities considered the reintroduction of trams in the city to address transport problems and subsequently concluded feasibility studies on the matter in 2009. An 11 km long tram network was built between 2011 and 2015. The contract was signed in 2011 and construction commenced in 2012. It was a first new tram system built in Poland in 55 years; 15 low-floor Tramino trams were ordered from Solaris in September 2012. There are five tram lines in operation.

In 2024, a 6 km long extension was completed and Turkish manufacturer Durmazlar had been selected to supply 24 trams for the network.

Air
The region and city is served by Olsztyn-Mazury Airport with scheduled international passenger flights. It is located in Szymany, 10 km off Szczytno and 58 km south of the city of Olsztyn. The airport operates flights to London, Dortmund, Kraków and seasonal flights to Rzeszów and Wrocław.

Education

 * University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn
 * Masurian Institute (est. 1943)

Sports

 * Indykpol AZS Olsztyn – men's volleyball team playing in the Polish Volleyball League (PLS, Polska Liga Siatkówki), five time Polish champions
 * Stomil Olsztyn – men's football team, playing in the I liga (second tier). It played in the Ekstraklasa, the country's top flight, from 1994 to 2002.
 * – men's handball team playing in the I liga (second tier). It played in the Superliga, the country's top flight, most recently from 2005 to 2012.
 * – one of the oldest football clubs in the city, playing in the lower leagues. It played on the second tier, most recently in the 1990s
 * AZS UWM Trójeczka Olsztyn – men's basketball team playing in the Polish Second League
 * WMPD Olsztyn – men's rugby team, playing in the First Polish League
 * Budowlani Olsztyn – a wrestling team
 * Joanna Jędrzejczyk (born 1987), Polish Muay-Thai and MMA fighter, former UFC Women's Strawweight Champion
 * Łukasz Gikiewicz (born 1987), Polish footballer
 * Rafał Gikiewicz (born 1987), Polish footballer
 * Filip Kurto (born 1991), Polish footballer
 * Olsztyn Lakers – American football team

The Memorial of Hubert Jerzy Wagner, an international volleyball friendly tournament, was organized in Olsztyn from 2003 to 2008. The Tour de Pologne, one of UCI World Tour races, was organized in Olsztyn numerous times, most recently in 2008 (as of 2019).

Politics
Members of the Sejm elected from Olsztyn constituency in 2005:

 * Mieczysław Aszkiełowicz, Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (Samoobrona Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej)
 * Beata Bublewicz, Civic Platform (PO, Platforma Obywatelska)
 * Jerzy Gosiewski, Law and Justice (PiS, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość)
 * Tadeusz Iwiński, Democratic Left Alliance (SLD, Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej)
 * Edward Ośko, League of Polish Families (LPR, Liga Polskich Rodzin)
 * Adam Puza, Law and Justice (PiS, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość)
 * Sławomir Rybicki, Civic Platform (PO, Platforma Obywatelska)
 * Lidia Staroń, Civic Platform (PO, Platforma Obywatelska)
 * Aleksander Marek Szczygło, Law and Justice (PiS, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość)
 * Zbigniew Włodkowski, Polish Peasant Party (PSL, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe)

Members of Senate elected from Olsztyn constituency in 2005:

 * Ryszard Józef Górecki, Civic Platform (PO, Platforma Obywatelska)
 * Jerzy Szmit, Law and Justice (PiS, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość)

Notable people

 * Johannes von Leysen (1310–1388), town founder and mayor
 * Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), astronomer, administrator, and town commander
 * Johannes Knolleisen (+1511), German academic and provider of academic stipends
 * Lucas David (1503–1583), German historian of Prussia
 * Marcin Kromer (1512–1589), Polish cartographer, diplomat and historian, personal secretary of Kings of Poland, Bishop of Warmia
 * Antoni Blank (1785–1844), Polish painter
 * Hugo Haase (1863–1919), Jewish-German politician, jurist and pacifist
 * Franz Justus Rarkowski (1873–1950), military bishop (1938–1945)
 * August Trunz (1875–1963), founder of the Prussica-Sammlung Trunz
 * Feliks Nowowiejski (1877–1946), Polish composer, conductor, concert organist
 * Maximilian Kaller (1880–1947) German prelate, bishop of Ermland in 1930–1945
 * Erich Mendelsohn (1887–1953), German-Jewish architect who fled the Nazis
 * Olga Desmond (1891–1964), German dancer and actress
 * Hermann Dohna-Finckenstein (1894–1942), German estate owner and politician
 * Günter Wand (1912–2002), German conductor
 * Kurt Baluses (1914–72) German football (soccer) player and manager
 * Herbert Schachtschneider (1919–2008), German operatic tenor
 * Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski (1922–2005), German politician
 * Curt Lowens (1925–2017), German actor
 * Leonhard Pohl (1929–2014), German gymnast
 * Józef Glemp (1929–2013), Polish prelate, bishop of Warmia 1979–1981
 * Jörg Kuebart (1934–2018) German general of the German Air Force
 * Karl-Heinz Hopp (1936–2007) German rower who competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics
 * Wolf Lepenies (born 1941), German sociologist, political scientist and author
 * Eugeniusz Geno Malkowski (1942–2016), Polish artist, painter and academic
 * Ulrich Schrade (1943–2009), German-Polish philosopher and pedagogue
 * Marian Bublewicz (1950–1993), Polish rally and race driver of the 1980s and 1990s
 * Juliusz Machulski (born 1955), Polish film director
 * Izabela Trojanowska (born 1955), Polish actress and singer
 * Andrzej Friszke (born 1956), Polish historian
 * Krzysztof Hołowczyc (born 1962), Polish rally driver
 * Piotr "Peter" Wiwczarek (born 1965), Polish musician, vocalist and lead guitarist of the death metal band Vader
 * Artur Wojdat (born 1968), swimmer
 * Elżbieta Jabłońska (born 1970), Polish multidisciplinary artist, born in Olsztyn
 * Mamed Khalidov (born 1980), Russian-Polish mixed martial artist
 * Wojciech Grzyb (born 1981), Polish volleyball player
 * Julia Marcell (born 1982), Polish singer/songwriter and pianist
 * Małgorzata Jasińska (born 1984), Polish professional cyclist (retd.)
 * Michał Trzeciakiewicz (born 1984), retired Polish footballer
 * Marcin Możdżonek (born 1985), volleyball player
 * Adrian Mierzejewski (born 1986), Polish footballer
 * Łukasz Gikiewicz (born 1987), Polish footballer
 * Rafał Gikiewicz (born 1987), Polish footballer
 * Joanna Jędrzejczyk (born 1987), Muay-Thai and MMA fighter, former UFC Women's Strawweight Champion
 * Paweł Dawidowicz (born 1995), Polish footballer
 * Artur Szalpuk (born 1995), Polish volleyball player, 2018 World Champion

Twin towns – Sister cities
Olsztyn is twinned with: Olsztyn belongs to the Federation of Copernicus Cities, an association of cities where Copernicus lived and worked, such as Bologna, Frombork, Kraków, and Toruń. The main office of the federation is situated at Olsztyn Planetarium and Astronomical Observatory, located on St. Andrew's Hill (143 m) in a former water tower erected in 1897.

title: Olsztyn