Pasaż Leona Schillera

Pasaż Leona Schillera is a branch off Piotrkowska street in Łódź, at numbers 110–112, in the Śródmieście [city centre] district. Named after the theatre director, it features his monument, a public city fountain and a history reaching back to nineteenth-century factory buildings.

Monument to the director

A monument to Leon Schiller stands in the passage, unveiled in 1982. Schiller was a theatre director associated with Łódź, and the passage on Piotrkowska became a place commemorating his work.

City fountain from 2009

In 2009 a public mini-fountain was opened in the passage as part of the city programme Fountains for Łódź. It is a column with a basin decorated with motifs of children and fish. The project was prepared by Magdalena Walczak and Marcin Mielczarek, the architectural concept was developed by Krzysztof Wardecki, and the work was carried out by the Water Supply and Sewerage Company in Łódź.

History of the building at number 110

The history of the property at Piotrkowska 110 reaches back to 1834, when the plot was taken over by weaver Jan August Müller. From 1841 it belonged to the Nippe family, who ran a woollen textile mill there. In 1897 the facility employed 84 workers, demonstrating the scale of Łódź's textile industry in that period, when dozens of similar weaving and spinning mills operated along Piotrkowska. A modest wooden house that had stood at the front of the property from the start was due to be demolished in 1936, but it survived longer - it can still be seen in a photograph from the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Łódź Fire Brigade in November 1937. The front of the property was only cleared during the Second World War. Today only records of this history remain, while the passage itself serves as public space.

Venue for city events

Schiller Passage, alongside Rubinstein Passage and the Old Market Square, was one of the venues for the International Street Art Festival TrotuArt in Łódź. Here too, at Piotrkowska 112, on the last Friday of each month, the Łódź Critical Mass rides began – a regular cycling ride by city residents.

Practical information

• Address: Piotrkowska 110/112, Śródmieście, Łódź.
• Getting there: city centre, the main shopping street, numerous tram and bus stops in the area of the junction with Jaracza street.
• What to expect: monument to Leon Schiller, city fountain from 2009, an intimate space branching off from the main Piotrkowska route, accessible at all times as public space.