YMCA Swimming Pool - Urbex in Poland | Check Photos

Łódź - The Most Interesting Polish City For The Urbex Trips

We travel all over the world to visit various urbex locations, but if you ask us about the most interesting city with the stunning objects, we choose Łódź. There is something for the industrial lovers (Uniontex Factory), luxury enthusiasts (Allart Mansion), and railroad fans (Łódź Locomotive Graveyard). But how about people interested in sport? Yes, Łódź has something for them as well. This winter, we visited a beautiful, old swimming pool. It is a relatively modern facility compared to factories and manors from the 19th century, but it adds variety to our urbex map of Łódź. We were really impressed by the architecture, mosaics on the walls, and also the water surface covered with marble dust. First, we were surprised by this dust, but the stuff explained us, that it protects water against evaporation. So thanks to this we still can admire the water surface, which is additionally decorated with marble patterns. Next unexpected thing, was the swimming pool depth. In the deepest part, swimmers could expect up to 3 meters. Ok, but let’s start from the beginning.

The YMCA Organization - What Does Exactly Mean?

Do you hear it? This song? Yeah… When we heard about YMCA swimming pool, we started to sing the Village People song. And there is no coincidence here, because the song is about the organization which owned this swimming pool among others. Ok, but did you know that the full name is Young Men’s Christian Association? So now you know, you’re welcome! To be clear, except swimming pool, the organization attendees could also have any others activities: cinema, sport on various playing fields, gymnastics, camping, and many others. The YMCA made it possible for young people to spend their spare time pleasantly, as well as to develop their skills. Actually, it still makes it possible, because it’s still active. The organization was established in London 1844 by sir George Willams and is still in operation.it is not a child’s play, but a real organization. In 1855 took place the first International YMCA Conference, during which was created a document defining the goals of the organization – the Paris Base. The YMCA has also observer status at the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

YMCA Near Me - The History Of Organization in Poland

The history of YMCA in Poland has started in 1919 when they arrived there together with the Haller’s Army. The Army consisted of over twenty tousand of Polish volunteers who emigrated from the United States via Canada. So when the Haller’s Army joined the Polish one, there was a huge need to regulate the status of the YMCA. First YMCA could work in Poland until the demobilization, and was paid only with USA funds. To be honest, it was so strange that the organization was treated as a military part, but that was the decision of the authorities. YMCA transports were treated as military, as were their telegraph correspondence and couriers. The organization was involved in running soldier’s shops, but also organizing cultural events and sports in Poland. The official establishment of the YMCA as a civil organization in Poland took place in 1923. Over the years, branches have been established in Warsaw, Kraków and Łódź, among others. Their buildings were equipped with a reading rooms, libraries, gyms, swimming poos or theater. But let’s go to the main goal of our trip – the YMCA swimming pool in Łódź.

YMCA Swimming Pool in Łódź - Nonindustrial Part Of Abandoned Łódź

In early 20’s YMCA in Łódź was focused on the sport activities. What is interesting, they didn’t want to compete with other sport clubs from the city. They were aware that they had the best conditions to train, so they would be unrivaled. That would discourage other sports associations from training their own teams. YMCA rather preferred the internal competitions. The organization developed dynamically, unfortunately it was closed during the WWII and had to wait for the resumption of activities until 1990. Nowadays, the building is partially used by YMCA, and the rest is rented out for example for theater or photography school. Of course, the most spectacular part of the building is the old swimming pool, which is currently not working. Even though it is not used, many people are interested in it. It was a plan for many Polish films and also a good scenery for photography.