Stratification of the cemetery’s space reflects the social structure of the city, revealing an internal hierarchy, the worldview and the tastes of the inhabitants. The message that a headstone conveys is a resultant of the communication intended by those who commissioned it and the historical context. The means of visual expression, as well as the nature of the embellishments are the necessary tools for its reading. This text is concerned with the possibilities of analysing and interpreting historical forms found at the Jewish cemetery in Łódź, taking into account the time when they were created, the location, the patron and the historical context.
The article focuses on the issue of Jewish bourgeoisie’s artistic patronage in Łódź at the the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The selected time range (1890–1907) covers the period of both the city’s rapid development and flourishing of culture and artistic life until the outbreak of the 1905 Revolution. What’s characteristic of the Jewish bourgeoisie patronage in Łódź, is the tendency to finance projects that not only created a sense of community in a multiethnic city, but also emphasized the significant but distinctive role of Jews among townspeople. In this article, the issue of patronage is discussed on selected examples, taking into account shaping of public space and private initiatives in both architecture and fine arts.
Currently, Piotrków Trybunalski is one of many medium-sized towns on the map of Poland, yet at the end of the 19th century was the fifth largest in the Polish Kingdom, second only to Warsaw, Łódź, Lublin, and Częstochowa. The city was the seat of governorate authorities, the tax chamber, as well as the Warsaw-Vienna railway station. Until the outbreak of World War II, Poles, Germans, Russians, and Jews living next to each other gave the city its multicultural character. This paper attempts to characterize the economic activity of Jews and their role in trade and the process of industrialization of Piotrków. Selected examples of industrial buildings erected on the initiative of this mentioned group were also analysed.