Łódź Film Museum

Housed in the 19th-century Karl Wilhelm Scheibler Palace, Łódź Film Museum is a fitting overview of Poland’s significant contribution to world cinema, much of which originated in the city. There are exhibits featuring film technology, costumes, and memorabilia, as well as a focus on famous Polish directors, actors, and local film locations. The museum has a lovely garden cafe and a cinema.

Łódź Film Museum

Another recommended attraction, the Łódź Film Museum is a fascinating and fun journey through the entire development of cinema. Cleverly, though, the museum plays this story against the history of Łódź itself to give a unique perspective on both.

First up, the location is another grand house, linked to a local industrialist. While this doesn’t quite retain the grandeur of the Izrael Poznańki or the Herbst Palace, there are still some of the sumptuous original rooms, notably used as film sets. In this way, the museum reflects everything through this double perspective of cinema and Łódź itself.

The museum is clearly laid out, with a history of both the technical development of early cinema, as well as the glamorous roots of the domestic film industry. This moves into an exploration of the Polish directors and other talent who have had such an influence on filmmaking, many of whom studied at the film school a few blocks away. Highlights of the museum are the city as film set, the gallery of innovative movie posters, and the animation section on the top floor.

This busy museum is clearly a favourite with local residents, especially children who enjoy the animation room. But it’s also a nice place to drop in and have a cold drink in the garden – you won’t need to buy an exhibition ticket to use the cafe. One of the best museum giftshops in town as well!

Poster for The Palace of Animated Wonders

What To See In Łódź Film Museum

Housed in a handsome 19th century villa, once owned by industrialist Karl Wilhelm Scheibler, the Łódź Film Museum is a love letter to one of the city’s big contribution to Polish culture. Cleverly telling the history of Łódź through the growth of picture houses and its use as a film location, it also covers the technological developments of cinema and the wealth of talent that has passed through the nearby legendary film school.

With an intelligent balance of objects and text, a crash course in both cinematic technology and Polish cinema itself, as well as a fun section on children’s animation to round out the museum, this is one of the best attractions in the city.

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What To Expect When Visiting Łódź Film Museum

The museum is located away from the main road in an area of parkland to the east of Piotrkowska. Look for the long, squat villa building in front of Park Źródliska. At the Targowa end, you’ll see some gates, with the entrance to the museum directly inside to the left. Expect a queue if you arrive early at the weekend.

Once inside, there’s a ticket office directly on the right, with stairs to the cloakroom, toilets, and start of the museum in front of you, and an elevator to the left. There’s also a small staircase leading up to the museum’s small (but lovely) cinema.

There’s a floor plan inside the museum, which is mainly spread over three floors, and the layout is fairly easy to intuit.

I’ll walk through some of the highlights in the following sections:

Kaiserpanorama

City of Attractions

The museum begins with a selection of precursors of film technologies, including zoetropes, lightshows, and a vintage Kaiserpanorama around which members of the public could sit and view stereoscopic images. The information is clear and informative, and presented in English as well as Polish. There’s also quite a bit of humour and novelty in the displays, with protections of cartoon frogs and the like. Some of the exhibits are hands-on, although the space was quite crowded during my visit.

The Promised Land exhibit

The Promised Land

Next, the museum looks at Łódź itself as a cinematic city, both in terms of the growth of picture houses and as a location for movies. There are glamorous photos of film stars, film posters and clips, as well as some startling stats on how many film houses there were in the city at the height of cinema as an entertainment medium.

This section also looks at the first film version of Reymont’s novel set in Łódź, The Promised Land, which was a big hit.

Ornate room in Scheibler’s Palace

Scheibler’s Palace in Film

The museum now switches to focus on the lavish interior design of the original building it is housed in. The connection is that these gorgeously dark and moody period rooms provided the set for the Wadja version of The Promised Land. Cinematic items are spread through the space.

Editing suite

Capital of Film

The first floor begins with an examination of the place Łódź holds in Polish cinema history, with stills and clips from films with a connection to the local film school, as well as photographs of its influential students and alumni.

Map of Łódź film locations

Łódź as Film Set

For me, one of the most interesting sections of the museum. Stills are mapped on a street plan of the city, while a large screen plays clips from influential films shot in Łódź, which often doubles as another place. It’s fun to try and place these with places you have actually visited.

Stop motion character from an animation

Specific Directors and Studios

The museum moves on to look at case studies of the most influential production studios and their most important directors. Interestingly, this includes educational films and innovative animation.

Selection of Polish film posters

Poster Gallery

Another highlight for me. Poland has a unique culture of innovative graphic design around theatre and film. In addition to domestic cinema, many of the posters on display here show original and exciting takes of big Hollywood films.

The Palace of Animated Wonders

The Palace of Animated Wonders

For many, especially children, the top floor contains the best section of all. This fully interactive space has largely been designed with kids in mind and contains the most famous Polish animated characters, something which the Se-Ma-For studio in Łódź was a world leader. Here you’ll find Moomins, Barnaby the Bear (known domestically as Colargol), alongside characters less well known outside Poland.

The exhibits allow you to learn about the different techniques of animation by actually trying them out. It’s fun to watch the kids get excited by the cute characters and the adults get nostalgic for shows they watched when they were the same age.

The exhibition ties in nicely with the Łódź Fairyland Trail of little sculptures spread across the whole city, and usually attached to a child-friendly attraction.

Car boot full of VHS cassettes

Temporary Exhibitions

The top floor usually contains a temporary exhibition as well. There was an unexpectedly great display about the mania for VHS during the 80s in Poland, which had a lot to say about the collapse of Communism and the move to a market economy.

Film prop

Other Highlights

There is an additional Moomin exhibit in the basement that is easy to miss and some funny giant props in the garden. Although you may not find every section of the museum equally fascinating, I recommend taking your time and making sure you at least pass through everything.

Stop motion characters

How To Visit Łódź Film Museum

Łódź Film Museum is housed in a fine residential palace on plac Zwycięstwa, within a park, just off the al. marsz. Józefa Piłsudskiego main road, to the east of ul. Piotrkowska. It is served by the 8, 10A, 10B, and 14 tram lines, all of which pass through Piotrkowska Centrum. Get off at the Piłsudskiego-Targowa stop on al. marsz. Józefa Piłsudskiego. Go into the subway and turn left. Then take the footpath through the small park beside the main road. The museum is the white building on the other side of this green space. Use this official Łódź timetable to plan your journey.

You should see the low black gates with yellow film stock signage. Go through these and take note of the Filemon and Boniface Cat sculptures ahead. The entrance to the museum is directly on your left.

Łódź Film Museum address: plac Zwycięstwa 1, Łódź 90-312 Poland

The museum and ticket office are open as follows:

• Monday-Tuesday: Closed
• Wednesday-Friday: 9am-4pm
• Saturday-Sunday: 11am-6pm

Last entry is 45 minutes before the museum closes.

The museum is also likely to be closed on public holidays: Check the Łódź Film Museum website before visiting for confirmation.

Entry is 28zł (18zł for concessions). Group and family tickets are also available, as well as guided tours – see the official website for details.

Children under 7 enter for free and the permanent museums is free on Wednesdays.

All times and prices are subject to change, and opening hours may be different during public holidays.

Tickets to Łódź Film Museum can be purchased in advance, but the online shop is only in Polish.

Garden and cafe entrance behind the Scheibler Palace

Tips For Visiting Łódź Film Museum

• Expect to spend around 2 hours to visit the permanent exhibition. Add an extra hour if you are visiting one of the temporary exhibitions. You may also find that children get completely absorbed in the animation display.
• An audioguide is available for 10zł (plus a 20zł refundable deposit). Guided tours are available but these must be booked in advance for groups of 15 people.
• Key lockers and a cloakroom are available free of charge at the museum. These are downstairs, with the toilets, just after you’ve bought a ticket.
• You can take photos or film in the museum for private use, but there no flash photography is allowed.
• The animation section of the museum includes Moomins and is ideal for children and the space is adapted to accommodate prams.
• The museum building is accessible, although not all areas are fully open yet. The website offers accessibility information, although this is in Polish only, so you will need to use translation software. The museum offers supports for people with disabilities if you contact them at least 7 days before you visit.
• The excellent Kino Cafe is halfway through the museum, which you can also return to at the end or even visit without buying a ticket, by entering via the garden around the back.
• The ticket counter sells books and other items and there is a further selection in the cafe. Though small, these are probably the best museum giftshops in any museum in the city. You can get cute figures of cartoon characters and other toys, comic books, and really excellent tote bags.
• Payments at the museum can be made by card or with cash.
• The museum has a small cinema just up the stairs from the ticket office and theEC1 complex contains the National Film Culture Center, with a cinema, exhibition spaces, and educational facilities.
• The museum gets very crowded at weekends with constant queues to get in. This means you can get the odd bottleneck as people crowd in to see specific items. Be patient, wait your turn, and let people pass.
• Small statues of the cartoon cats Filemon and Boniface are there to greet you outside the museum, making this an essential stopping off point on the Łódź Fairyland Trail.