Plac Wolności

Plac Wolności closes off Piotrkowska Street from the north and has remained one of Łódź's central points for two hundred years. It has the shape of a regular octagon, rarely seen among city squares in Poland, and since 2015 has been listed as a Historical Monument.

New Town Market

The square was laid out in 1823 as the market of the cloth-making settlement New Town, given the shape of a regular octagon. It was originally called New Town Market, to distinguish it from the older market of Łódź, located about 450 metres to the north. Just four years later, in 1827, a town hall and evangelical church were built on its edge, and in 1857 a county school building was added, which today houses an archaeological museum.

From marketplace to representative square

Until the end of the nineteenth century, an ordinary marketplace operated on the square, typical of a trading settlement's centre. With the development of industrial Łódź and the construction of successive representative buildings around the octagonal market, the character of the place changed: from a marketplace it became a representative city square, worthy of the rank of a rapidly growing city.

In 1898 the tram arrived here, connecting the square with the rest of expanding Łódź and making it one of the city's transport hubs, a function the square fulfilled throughout most of the twentieth century, until the removal of the tramway tracks during the latest revitalisation.

Symbol of independence

In 1918, to commemorate Poland's regaining of independence, the square was renamed Plac Wolności. In 1930 a monument to Tadeusz Kościuszko was erected in its centre. During the German occupation the monument was destroyed on 11 November 1939, and the square itself was given successive names Freiheitsplatz and Deutschlandplatz. The Kościuszko monument was rebuilt in 1960 in a form identical to the original and stands in the square to this day.

Revitalisation 2022–2024

In 2022 a large-scale reconstruction of the square began, as part of which tram traffic was removed and vehicular traffic around the Kościuszko monument was eliminated. Work was completed in early March 2024, transforming the square into a pedestrian space, open and free from through traffic.

Monument "600 Cobblestones for 600 Years of Łódź"

In November 2023 a monument titled "600 Cobblestones for 600 Years of Łódź" was unveiled on the square, a pavement made up of 600 cast-iron plaques bearing the names of residents and companies connected with the city. The initiative, funded by residents, commemorates the 600th anniversary of Łódź.

Practical information

• Address: Plac Wolności, Łódź, at the northern end of Piotrkowska Street
• Access: by tram, bus, bicycle or on foot; the square is a reference point for street numbering in Łódź
• Accessible 24 hours as an open public space
• Worth seeing: the Tadeusz Kościuszko monument, the "600 Cobblestones for 600 Years of Łódź" monument and the former county school building housing the archaeological museum
• Following the 2024 revitalisation the square is largely pedestrian, without through traffic