History of construction of the new building of the Museum of art in Łódź in the context of a political situation

Abstract

In 1931, an international collection of modern art works was presented for the first time in Łód´z, being then the second largest city in Poland and one of the most important industrial centres. It was a world-class event, since in the 1930s, Łód´z museum was the only Polish and European museum presenting works of the most important avant-garde artists as a part of its permanent exhibition. In the post-war period considerable efforts were taken to erect a new building of the Museum of Art in Łód´z. It was going to be an event on a national scale, since it would be the first modern multifunctional museum built from scratch during the period of People’s Poland. Yet, the lack of perspective thinking and ideological entanglement of cultural institutions, as well as propaganda dictate and the lack of consistency in actions of communist authorities prevented Łód´z from taking the chance of remaining in the very centre of pioneering museum activities.