POST-WAR ATTEMPTS TO BUILD A MODERN METROPOLIS AND THE PROBLEM OF LODZ HISTORICAL HERITAGE

Large parts of Lodz underwent a significant transformation from 1945 to 1989. This largely concerned the city’s downtown area. Quarters of historic buildings were replaced with new buildings, constituting parts of the new center. The ambition of both the new authorities and the city's inhabitants was to create a representative area corresponding to the importance of the dynamically developing capital of the region. The article presents the views of residents – both professionals (architects, planners) and “ordinary” ones – regarding the city's historical legacy against the background of their ideas of the modern Lodz of the future. The work aims to present how these views evolved over several post-war decades. The research was based on an in-depth query of the Lodz daily press supplemented with information from industry or scientific studies and books and materials from archives. The results show a clear evolution in residents’ views regarding the city’s historical legacy. Starting from a rather dismissive attitude in the immediate post-war period to the complete recognition of its value and the need for protection in the decade of the 1980s.