Of course there were colours in Łódź as well. And, when I think of the country road in my post this morning…with the oak trees on parade…These city alleyways seem truly related – even the one without trees. Somehow the urban equivalents?
Byggnader
The Unicorn Stable
Łódź is a tram city since 23 December 1898, and was the first city to have electrified trams in Poland.
In the years 1910-1931 suburban tram lines connected many important places around the city, creating the largest such network in Poland, unchanged until the end of the 1980s. In the first half of the 1990s, some of them were closed down, but Łódź is still the only city in the country to have such a system of commuter trams.
Personally, I love trams – the narrowness, the on-and-off and the streetscape they create. I am glad they kept them – and developed them as well!
According to Wikipedia, the Municipal Communication Company of Łódź (MPK), currently operates 16 urban and 4 regional (or suburban) lines. The longest of these, and in fact the longest of all of Poland, is number 46, which has a length of 38 kilometres.
Trivia: Łódź once boasted a small cemetery where tram drivers were buried. Sadly, nothing remains of this graveyard, which was situated on Lindley Street near the aptly named Tram Street (ul. Tramwajowa).
When looking for more facts about the beautiful rainbow station, I came across this interesting blog by Daniel Wright, a freelance transport writer. And he describes it so well:
The Unicorn Stable (Piotrkowska Centrum tram station, Łódź, Poland)
Designed by Warsaw-based architecture practice Foroom, Piotrkowska Centrum is an unusually dramatic piece of tram architecture. If you like Santiago Calatrava’s work on railway stations, then you’ll like this. It has something of the same adventurous spirit and ostentatious engineering, but scaled down to the dimensions of Łódź’s narrow gauge (1,000mm) trams.
Wright claims the design of the station is drawing on the Art Nouveau details to be found on nearby buildings, but also the fact that it remains a practical piece of transport infrastructure.
The original plan had been to use glass panels in the roof, but instead a translucent plastic fabric, ETFE, was used – the same as in the roof at Southern Cross station in Melbourne. It is very light, but also very strong across a wide range of temperatures, making it ideal for Poland’s harsh winters.
This tram station has its own special beauty and a very suitable nickname: “The Unicorn Stable”. When I was a child, unicorns were all-white. These days, for some reason, most unicorns are represented with rainbow tails, and possibly manes, and some even have wings. So if they ever needed stables, this ethereal white structure with multi-coloured ‘glass’ roof would, I admit, be just the thing. In fact…I think I just caught a glimpse of…
Thursday Thoughts – Marvellous Murals
Several street art festivals are hosted by Łódź, and luckily, many of the murals are permanent. Some of them has got the artist’s name on, some not. Anyway – I hope you will ENJOY just as much as I and Viveka did! In her blog, Myguiltypleasures, you will get more interesting facts!
In the header is my favourite piece, and in case you should want more of this from Łódź – just click the links here, here or here.
Old Architecture in Łódź – Skansen
We visited an open – air museum(at The White Factory) – Skansen – where the collected objects are typical representatives of architecture in Łódź at the turn of the 19th-20th century. The museum was under construction from September 2006 until May 2008, and was finally opened for visitors in September 2008.
According to Wikipedia, these specimens include a church (transported from Nowosolna), a summer villa (transported from Ruda Pabianicka), a one-storey house for workers (from Mazowiecka Street), a wooden tram-stop (from Zgierz) and four craftsman’s houses (from Żeromskiego, Mazowiecka and Kopernika Streets).
Here are some of the most lovely ones – converted into ”painted” versions. I found that very fitting – hope you do as well!
Parks and Alleys – Light is Everywhere
For five years Łódź has been hosting the Light Move Festival, and last year there were 50 000 visitors. I can understand why. Let us count down…and walk with the crowd!
Many planets and clouds moving –
And, let us count down again…and have a spooky walk in the park…with wild animals, hanging tree witches and other creatures!
What about giant shining flowers made of plastic bottles? Or the traditional balloons!
In the big square we enjoyed the Grand Finale – The Rossman Building and the cathedral, dancing and moving in spectacular light shows …The short movies are on my Facebook and on Instagram – it is not possible to transmit the feeling with only photos…
My favourite birds though…over there to the right. Then we finished off with our own ”Rosegarden”, sparkling in the darkness. It has got a special and very touching story – go to Viveka at Myguiltypleasures to read it! Good night to you all!
The Light Move Festival
The Light Move Festival – the name says what it is about. Moving lights, dancing, changing – together with catchy music. The first night we went out only on our own street. And we loved it.
The gear and the people guarding it were very friendly and helpful – they even tried to walk us to the restaurant we could not find…
I was happy to see our own Sven Nykvist in the street!
This first night, before the big crowds, we could stroll and only enjoy. Saturday night there was really too much people around, and Viveka and I lost each other several times.
…and children wore red horns and anything full of ligh
On the walls of some houses there were spectacular light shows going on in 5 minute intervalls – grrreat music as well!
So, photographing is not the best thing to do here…instead I filmed some with my phone. Spectacular – but as my site does not let me show movies, I put the films on my Instagram and on Facebook. That is where you should go if you want to really understand what this festival is all about!
There are other things to show than the street lights though…I will be back with more glimpses of light inventiveness and fantasy from the parks and alleys!
Cheers!
Viveka treated me with a bottle of champagne on my birthday – the last day in Poland. So cheers to Viveka as well, and to the spectacular Light Move Festival!
I will post next week on some of the events – nights and days – in this lovely city of Łódź.
Just prepairing…
CFFC: Letter G – Dragons
For Cee this week – Letter G in Dragons. Found in our street in Łódź last week!
Thursday’s Special: Traces of the Past
For Paula’s Traces of the Past – a picture taken in Rom’s Ostia Antica. A magnificent place to stroll and marvel at our ancestor’s architecture.
Princess of Wales Conservatory – Part I: Cactus Country
When we reached this glasshouse I was so excited to get inside – I remembered my last visit, where this particular house was one of the highlights. This is Kew’s third major conservatory, designed by architect Gordon Wilson, and opened in 1987 by Diana, Princess of Wales The conservatory houses ten computer-controlled micro-climatic zones, with the bulk of the greenhouse volume composed of Dry Tropics and Wet Tropics plants. I will never forget the brilliance of different orchids, water lilies, cacti and bromelias.
But…as I was lost in the cacti department, there was some buzzling and I heard people saying ”they are closing now”. But that must be impossible! There was one and a half hour left before closing time…and when I checked the site four days ago, before our flight, only the Temperate House and the Pagoda was supposed to be closed, and the elevator to the walkway out of order, nothing else…
I became rather stressed and had to rush the photographing in order to at least see the giant, Victoria amazonica, waterlilies. Their very large green leaves lie flat on the water’s surface, and they are up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) in diameter, on a stalk up to 8 metres (26 ft) in length. The genus name was given in honour of Queen Victoria…
…and I managed some shots there too before we were ”thrown out” in the cold. It turned out that the whole place was hired for a wedding – so, sadly enough not all of my friends managed to see the giants. Some lovely shots were saved for my next post, tomorrow.
Leya 
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