Lodz is the second largest urban centre in Poland with a population of about 900,000. Although the history of Lodz goes back a long way (it obtained city rights in the 15th century), its greatest development and later boom happened in the 19th century, when Lodz became a centre of the cloth industry.

Since then, the town has struggled with many difficulties, contradictions and differences, which were vividly documented in the novel The Promised Land written by Polish Nobel Prize-winning author Wladyslaw Reymont. He portrayed the multinational society of Lodz, where Poles, Jews and Germans lived together, with the inhuman face of early Polish capitalism where the rich exploited the poor. The contrasts can still be seen in the architecture of the city, where luxurious mansions coexist with redbrick factories and old tenement houses.

Today Lodz is a significant cultural centre, internationally known for its Film School, a cradle for the best Polish cameramen, actors and directors, including Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski. The local Museum of Art has the best collection of contemporary Polish art in the country. The city is thriving with industry and business rapidly developing, moving away from textiles, which has been in decline since 1991.