Cool Street Art in Łódź, Poland

Łódź is a city of contrasts.

Our Polish friends (although Varsovians) wrinkled their noses in disgust when we said we were going to Łódź (which is pronounced like "Woodge"). However, none of them had visited Poland’s third largest city for more than 10 years!

I was shocked!

On our Polish road trip in August, we discovered that Łódź has a pretty side as you walk down ulica Piotrkowska, the longest pedestrian street in Europe. The ugly side rears its head as you wander off the side streets and see dozens and dozens of neglected, old tenement and factory buildings falling into ruins. But then, amidst the good and the ugly, you’ll discover a cool, artsy, hipster vibe to Łódź, which is home to more than 30 gigantic street art murals. This is why we decided to stay a night in Łódź so we could explore it properly.

This is one of my favorite murals located at ul. Pomorska 67 by Spanish artist ARYZ. 

Here’s the Galeria Urban Forms map we used as we walked more than 10 km around the city center trying to find as many murals as we could. In 2009, the Urban Forms Foundation was established to set up permanent street art in Łódź’s public spaces. Since then, artists from Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Spain and Poland have been invited to create street art throughout Łódź. (Here’s a list of the artists.)

We saw 16 out of 35 of the large Urban Forms murals plus a few extra that weren’t on the map. Hope you enjoy this photographic journey through Łódź as much as we did!