Mural "Zgierz otwarty"

On a building at the intersection of Długa Street and aleja Armii Krajowej [Army of the Interior Avenue] in Zgierz, the mural "Zgierz otwarty" was created - one of several street art works in the city (alongside, for example, the mural "Policja"), which directly speaks to Zgierz's multicultural history. The composition depicts three places of worship: a synagogue, an Evangelical-Augsburg church and a Catholic church, and beside them greetings in German, Hebrew and Russian.

The idea behind the mural

The mural was created as part of the social campaign "Zgierz Otwarty", organised by the Association for the Development of Children and Youth Talents A. Gołąba in Zgierz. The aim of the project was to spark discussion about otherness and diversity in the city and to counter xenophobic attitudes. The greetings in three languages, deliberately without Polish, were explained by the project's creator Mateusz Mirys: he wanted in this way to greet foreigners arriving in Zgierz.

Three places of worship in one city

The composition draws on Zgierz's demographic history from over a hundred years ago. In the nineteenth-century city, Catholics made up 36 per cent of the population, Evangelicals 39 per cent, and Jews 24 per cent. The mural recalls this through three sacred buildings that represented these communities: a synagogue, an Evangelical-Augsburg place of worship and a Catholic church. Today the city is still home to the Evangelical-Augsburg Parish in Zgierz, heir to that same tradition.

Controversy and damage

The choice of languages without Polish sparked discussion and criticism in the city. Around six months after its creation, in November 2015, the mural was sprayed with paint. The mural's condition is worth checking on site before visiting.

Authorship

Materials contemporary to the mural's creation point to Mateusz Mirys as the leader and spokesperson for the "Zgierz Otwarty" project, while a later gallery on a local website attributes the artistic execution to the group WypiszWymaluj. A fuller history of the multicultural city to which the mural refers can be found in the Zgierz City Museum.

Practical information

• Address: intersection of Długa Street and aleja Armii Krajowej in Zgierz
• Getting there: city centre of Zgierz, accessible on foot or by public transport
• What to expect: mural on the wall of a residential building, viewable without restrictions; current condition unknown, advisable to verify on site before visiting