Piotrków Trybunalski

According to tradition – not confirmed by historical sources – Piotrków was founded by Piotr Wlostowic, a powerful 12th century magnate from Silesia. The name of the city comes from the name Peter translated into Polish (Piotr), in a diminutive form (Piotrek). The town has been known in Yiddish as פּעטריקעװ or Petrikev, in German as Petrikau, and in Russian as Петроков or Petrokov.

At first a market town and a place of the princes' tribunals (in the 13th and 15th centuries), Piotrków became an administrative centre (the capital of the district since 1418), and in the later centuries it also became an important political centre in Poland. While the importance of Piotrków in the political life of the country had contributed to its development in the 16th century, the city declined in the 17th and 18th centuries, due to fires, epidemics, wars against Sweden, and finally the Partitions of Poland.

Piotrków had the first ghetto for Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland, built as early as October 1939. Approximately 25,000 people from Piotrków and the nearby towns and villages were imprisoned there. 22,000 were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp, while 3,000 were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps.

Public transport is operated by MZK Piotrków Trybunalski. The descriptions on bus stops are in Polish only. See the Polish phrasebook if you feel uncomfortable. The schedules are here

Taxis are another option, and they are quite cheap for a Westerner. However, you should make sure that there is a taxi sign atop the cab and that the driver has a permit. Best way is to use one of Taxi companies (phone numbers):

• Radio Taxi Pilica - 9625
• Radio Taxi Plus - 9623

• Trybunalski Square, located about 1 km east from the train station. Is the old market square, with antique tenement houses
• 🌍 Royal Castle (Zamek Królewski), plac Zamkowy 4 (nearby the Trybunalski Square (about 300 m east)), ☏ +44 6465272. Tu-Su: 10:00—17:00, M closed. This Gothic-Renaissance structure was built in the 16th century and turned into a museum in 1919. Especially in the 14th and 15th century the castle played an important role in Polish national history. 
• 🌍 Great Synagogue (Wielka Synagoga), Jerozolimska 29. Now a library. 
• Orthodox Church on Słowackiego street about 200 m east from train station
• Court of Law on Słowackiego street about 300 m east from train station

For more information visit the "Tourist Information Point" called "Informacja Turystyczna" on Czarnieckiego Square 10, 44 732 36 63 (next to Trybunalski Square)

• The main commercial street in Piotrków Trybunalski is Słowackiego Street

Shopping mall:

• Focus Mall, Juliusza Słowackiego 123, ☏ +48 44 715 90 00, FocusPT@apsysgroup.pl. M-Sa 09:00 - 21:00, Su 10:00 - 21:00. (updated Sep 2017)

Other places for small shopping:

• 🌍 Echo, al. Sikorskiego. M-Sa 9:00—21:00, Su 10:00—19:00. Shopping mall 
• Carrefour. Supermarket, and gallery of (about 20) small shops 
• Kaufland - supermarket on Lodzka street, with small gallery of shops (about 8)
• Stadium Market - big open air market located on Dmowskiego street, every Saturday you can buy here everything from vegetables, over clothes to live pets

• Bełchatów
• Łódź