The Museum of History of the City of Łódź is housed in one of the most impressive buildings in Łódź, the former Izrael Poznański’s Palace, built at the turn of the 19th century. Decorative interior design and richly ornamented facades were to emphasize the power of Izrael Poznański. In museum visitors can admire exhibits documenting the tradition of industrial, multicultural and multi-religious Łódź. The museum also presents silhouettes of important persons related to Łódź: Władysław Reymont, Julian Tuwim, Jerzy Kosiński, Artur Dedecius, Artur Rubinstein and Aleksander Tansman.

At the beginning of the 19th century the Poznański family lived in Kowal, a small town in central Poland. After the second partition of Poland, in 1793, Kalman, the father of Izrael started to be named Poznański, because he lived near Poznań. In 1825 Kalman and his family moved to Aleksandrów Łódzki. Here they were engaged in textile business and dyeing. They lived in a small house, which was situated in a Jewish district. Izrael Kalman Poznański, the prosperous successor of the family was born in 1833.

The big crisis forced them to leave Aleksandrów and moved to Lodz in 1834. They settled in a Jewish district again. Here Izrael Poznański continued and developed his father's business. In this way he started to make a huge family fortune. Besides, he was very hard working and practical. In 1871 he started to buy the plots on which he built his factory and a housing estate for his workers. He produced very cheap cotton fabrics that were sold first to all the markets of East Europe. In 1877 he bought the land in Ogrodowa Street (from Karol Kronig). There was a small villa, which was the first step to create the palace. In 70-ies and 80-ies Izrael Kalman Poznański became the " King of cotton" in Łódz. He was the owner of the biggest palace and the textile factory in Lodz in the 19th century.

The Poznanski Palace has been listed as one of the largest and greatest residence of its type. The Poznanski family owned three other palaces as well one in Warsaw, the tenement blocks and a wood villa outside the city. But the palace at Ogrodowa Street was the biggest.

The history of the palace is rather short but very intensive. It started back to 1898. The effort of many architects, designers and artists resulted in the present shape of the building, which is much more decorative and comfortable than others in Lodz. The palace is functionally connected with a huge cotton production plant, a housing estate for workers and other accompanying buildings. In 1888 Poznanski commissioned a well-known architect Hilary Majewski to alter and enlarge the house. The front wall on Zachodnia Street was extended, the whole building acquired an " L" shape, and neo-renaissance forms were enriched with a winter garden located in the central part of a longer wing on the third floor. The palace was divided into three parts: representative part; dining room, ballroom and small salons: a living part with family and guest rooms and a commercial part on ground floor, which was assigned for offices, working rooms, shops and store rooms. The palace was again extended in 1898, when architects E. Rosenthal, J. Jung and A. Zeligson transformed it into a real residence. The work was finished in 1903, but the initiator of the reconstruction and the founder of the company did not survive to see, it finished, as they died in April 1900. The First World War brought huge losses to industry in Lodz and the family was forced to sell the Palace. It became the centre of the Regional Administration in 1927. Between the Wars it came to be the seat of local administration offices. During the Second World War the seat of German local administration had their offices there. The Museum of Lodz was found in 1975. The first director was Antoni Szram. The Museum began its first cultural activity with the exhibition devoted to Piotrkowska Street.

The front of the palace is very interesting and has its ideological program. The building is decorated with copulas, pinnacles, and shields with monogram "P", garlands of fruit and other architectural details. The main part of the building was designed in neo-baroque style. The main accent of the interior facade is the terraced portico.

The lots of different materials were used to decorate the palace, for example the coloured marble, a precious kind of wood (mahogany and oak). The final result was achieved by installing Belgian mirrors, mosaics and paintings. The walls were covered with wallpaper, wood panelling and upholstery. French typed stairs with arcade gallery follows the main entrance. You can admire a spectacular fireplace, made of grey marble with an art. nouveau relief of flowers and plants.

The dining room is the biggest and most beautiful room in the palace. Here, the owner used to celebrate family occasions, and it definitely was designed to make an impression on the guests. The image of this room brings back the atmosphere of baroque interiors. Is one of the most ornamented palace room. The room is very long and high, which make it appear monumental. On the ceiling there are very beautiful stucco works. Allegorical compositions show fortune and a power of owner. In the friezes you can see ancient human shapes, the motifs of ancient art., an oak wainscot with the inbuilt sideboard and a gas fireplace, allegorical carvings, garlands of fruit and very interesting and symbolical paintings of Samuel Hirszenberg. The artist painted these paintings on commission of Poznanski family in Monachium in 1903. Above the main door in the supraports you can see the painting entitled " The Arrival". It's a symbol of Poznanski's arrival to the Promised Land. There is also the painting entitled " The Farewell ", and the paining entitled " Muse ". Above the fireplace there is a very beautiful painting entitled " A Woman with fruit ". All of them create exceptional climate of this room. Above the big cupboard you can see a two-person group. It's an allegory of industry and trade. The man and the woman are leaning on the sphere, the symbol of Earth. In the dining room there is an authentic table and chairs with monograms "P".

The dining room is connected with salons, in which there are furniture, dishes, and musical instruments, which come from houses of rich bourgeois's from the19th century. In these rooms you can admire an old jewellery and paintings of Lodz artists from the 19th century, for example Maurycy Trębacz, Leon Hirszenberg or Leopold Pilichowski . They undoubtfully prove Poznanski family to be the Maecenas of Art. During the Poznanski's residence in the palace, there was a small gallery situated in the salons, where guests had meetings and could have coffee or tea after dinner.

Near the salons there is the ballroom in the Empire style, very often named a mirror-room. Here balls, concerts and performances took place. In the ceiling you can see the image of heaven. The walls are decorated with lamps, mirrors and baroque ornaments. A square shape chamber is enlighted balconies, oval and big windows.

In the palace you can visit a cabinet of Poznanski. In one of the rooms the aspect of the cabinet is arranged, where the owner of the biggest cotton factory in Lodz in 19th dealt with his clients. On this exposition you can see an authentic desk of Poznanski, his armchair with the monogram, a stand -clock and his portrait, painted by Stanisław Heyman in 1891. On the desk there are office accessories for example a telephone receiver, books, an inkstand or knife for newspapers and newspapers which come from 19th. On the wall there are photos of palace and members of Poznanski's family. In this room you can see the family tree of Poznanski.

Near the dining room there is a small room named "a man room" or "an acard room"- called once-"a card"-from ornaments crowning the caps of columns, making once game room destined for guests and trade contracting parties. It was a place of meeting for men. Here they were drinking coffee or alcohol, talking about business or playing billiards or cards. Now, there is the exhibition devoted to Karl Dedecius, a translator of Polish literature into German. This exhibition opens the series of permanent exhibitions dedicated to famous people who were connected by their activity or place of birth with Lodz. It's a Pantheon of Famous Citizens of the City of Lodz. Additionally in this room is exposed a collection of very decorative group-photographs (tableau), which were taken in the oldest photographic works in Lodz with the turn of the 19th century. They show the inhabitants of our city who lived here 100 years ago, the workers of factories, teachers, pupils and members of local governments.

In the museum ( in old living part of museum ) you can visit a very interesting exhibition devoted to Julian Tuwim, a writer and a poet, Jerzy Kosiński, a writer, Henryk Debich, a conductor, Aleksander Tansman, a composer. The most interesting exhibition is the Music Gallery devoted to Arthur Rubinstein, a famous pianist. There are a lot of original belongings of people, their photographs, personal things, awards and documents.

In the living part of the palace visitors can see the bedroom equipped with genuine furniture and sleeping accessories, which come from the 19th century for example: a chiffonier, a night-dress, bed-clothes and ...a chamber-pot. This room is connected with the wardrobe (a dressing table), where inmates got changed and had a bath. Here you can admire a very beautiful toilet-table and mahogany panelling with secessional ornamentation. These two rooms are joined by a very interesting wardrobe which has two entries...could be for lovers.

In next room there are typical furniture, which come from rich bourgeoisie houses: sofas, tables, furniture in Ludwik XV style, chairs and paintings. During the conservation works a genuine polychromy on the walls was discovered.

On the first floor there are two exhibitions which belong to exhibitions dedicated to famous people from Lodz. There is the cabinet of Jan Karski, a soldier, diplomat, scholar and famous politician who was born in Lodz and the cabinet of Stanisław Reymont, a writer, an author of very interesting book about Lodz in 19th entitled " Promissed Land ". In that rooms theirs remembrances are collected, photographs documents, correspondence, awards and furniture. All illustrate their life and activities.

The palace cellar is adopted for exhibition which talks about the rise and development of Lodz from 1423 to 1939, and about activity of three nationalities in Lodz. It's entitled " Triad - Poles, German and Jews". This story about Lodz finishes exposition devoted to ghetto. It was set up in our city during Second World War.

An exposition from the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt and Main belongs to our museum which contains photographs showing life in ghetto, living in Jewish conditions and their work in ghetto. This exhibition is entitled " Our only way is work ". The colourful photos were taken by Walter Genewein, a member of the German Administration of the Ghetto in Lodz. There are very interesting and impressive records of ghetto in Lodz collected during the Second World War.

The palace gallery is used to present of temporary exhibitions of modern or historical paintings, graphics and photographs. For example in 1999 the exhibition of collection of Wojciech Fibak took place, later graphics of Salvador Dali, Ernst and Miro were presented.

In Museum of City Lodz there is Artistic Agency which is engaged in organisation of musical, theatrical and another artistic meetings in the palace ballroom. An Art Agency was established in the Museum of Lodz, which is responsible for organising musical, theatrical and other artistic encounters in the magnificent ballroom of the palace.